Supply Chain Manager in Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh

Supply Chain Manager – Employability & Jobs Guarantee

Location: Edinburgh, Fife or surrounding areas (Home-based / Hybrid with regional travel)
Salary: £35,000 basic per annum
Contract: Permanent, Full-time
Hours: 37.5 hours per week

The Opportunity

We are recruiting an experienced Supply Chain Manager to oversee the performance, quality and contractual management of delivery partners supporting the Jobs Guarantee programme across East Scotland.

Ideally based in Edinburgh, Fife or the surrounding areas, you will take responsibility for managing a portfolio of subcontractors and delivery partners, ensuring they meet agreed performance targets, contractual obligations and quality standards.

This is a key management position, requiring someone who can build strong working relationships with delivery partners while maintaining clear accountability for performance, compliance and participant outcomes.

Working closely with the Operations Manager and internal teams, you will identify opportunities for improvement, address underperformance and ensure consistent, high-quality programme delivery across the region.

Geographical Coverage

The role will support partner delivery across the East of Scotland, including:

• Edinburgh and the Lothians
• Scottish Borders
• Fife
• Dundee and Angus
• Perth and Kinross
• Aberdeenshire

The position offers a home-based / hybrid working arrangement, with regular travel across the delivery area to meet partners, conduct performance reviews and undertake quality assurance visits.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of subcontractors and delivery partners against contractual requirements, service level agreements, budgets and performance targets.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with delivery partners, acting as the main point of contact for operational performance, compliance and continuous improvement.
• Lead regular partner performance reviews, monitoring referrals, participant engagement, job starts, sustainment and programme completions.
• Monitor performance against KPIs, identifying underperformance and implementing improvement plans where required.
• Maintain performance dashboards, RAG ratings, action plans and escalation records.
• Conduct scheduled and unannounced quality assurance visits, compliance checks and file audits.
• Ensure delivery partners meet Grant Funding Agreement requirements, safeguarding obligations, GDPR and contractual standards.
• Monitor management information and ensure accurate and timely reporting through ICONI and other relevant systems.
• Work alongside Finance and Central Operations to validate expenditure, supporting evidence and subcontractor invoices.
• Manage referral allocations and delivery capacity across the region, ensuring appropriate geographical coverage.
• Support the mobilisation, onboarding and ongoing development of new delivery partners.
• Identify operational risks and implement appropriate actions to maintain service quality and contractual compliance.
• Prepare performance reports and provide recommendations to senior management.

About You

We are looking for an experienced and commercially aware manager who can balance strong partner relationships with clear contractual accountability.

You will be confident managing performance, challenging underperformance and working with a diverse range of organisations to achieve agreed outcomes.

Ideally, you will have:

• Experience in supply chain, contract, partnership, supplier or subcontractor management.
• A background in employability, skills, education, public services or government-funded programmes.
• Experience managing external delivery partners against contractual targets and performance indicators.
• A strong understanding of performance management, quality assurance and contractual compliance.
• Experience identifying underperformance and implementing effective improvement plans.
• Excellent relationship-building, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• The ability to interpret performance data and produce accurate management reports.
• Knowledge of safeguarding, GDPR, audit requirements and risk management.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• A full UK driving licence and the ability to travel regularly across East Scotland.

Knowledge of the Scottish employability landscape, local labour markets and the challenges of geographically dispersed delivery would be advantageous.

Experience of programmes such as Jobs Guarantee, Restart, Connect to Work, employability contracts, skills programmes or other government-funded initiatives would be beneficial.

Apply Now

If you have experience managing supply chains, subcontractors or delivery partnerships and are looking for your next opportunity within the employability sector, we would like to hear from you.

This is an excellent opportunity to take on a key management position, supporting delivery partners and helping drive performance and positive employment outcomes across East Scotland.