P2P Process Lead

Job details
Posting date:	10 April 2026
Salary:	£34,765 to £37,080 per year
Additional salary information:	HEO National: £34,765 - £37,080 plus industry leading pension and benefits. For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’.
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	24 April 2026
Location:	Warrington
Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Job type:	Permanent
Job reference:	456315/1

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Summary

Defra is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

Digital, Data, Technology and Security (DDTS) is the trusted team for digital across the entire Defra Group.

We have around 1000 colleagues across DDTS and our ambition is to make it easier and faster than ever for people to interact with Defra. If you are ready to drive innovation and push boundaries, we want to hear from you. Join us and together we will create a great place for living, and a green and healthy future for all.

Find out more about DDTS:

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P2P Process Lead - Driving Excellence in Supplier Spend Operations & Governance

Are you ready to play a crucial role in delivering supplier spend operations & governance across DDTS? As a P2P (purchase to pay) Process Lead, you’ll sit at the heart of our operational activity, using internal tools and processes to drive high‑quality, consistent outputs against P2P and contractual compliance targets. You’ll manage and process data to deadlines, support projects in securing Value for Money, and build strong relationships with stakeholders and suppliers.

Why Join Us?

Make a Meaningful Impact – Take ownership of more complex cost models and contracts, acting as an escalation point within the team and ensuring high quality P2P delivery from contract mobilisation through to exit. You’ll support the P2P Operations Manager by driving consistent, compliant processes and may provide line management for specific team members

Exciting Challenges – Work at the centre of fast moving supplier and P2P activity, supporting stakeholders across DDTS and our Suppliers as a trusted subject matter expert. You’ll shape and refine processes, drive continuous improvement, and ensure every stage of the P2P cycle lands with accuracy, pace and quality through your own delivery and by providing guidance to the team.

Collaborative Culture – Build strong, productive relationships with Suppliers and internal teams to keep spend compliant, controlled and aligned to our P2P standards. You’ll help stakeholders navigate our processes, resolve issues quickly and ensure our operational spend activity runs smoothly and transparently across a range of contracts.

The P2P Process Leads play a pivotal role supporting the P2P Operations Manager delivering successful Supplier engagements. The team support multiple contracts & currently process more than £500m of spend annually.

The work includes:

Governance – Own and manage a portfolio of cost models, ensuring accuracy, control and alignment with contractual and financial requirements. Oversee contract headroom and lead key P2P activities including raising requisitions, PO (purchase order) management, receipting, forecasting and reconciliation. You’ll maintain the data quality and auditability needed for confident, transparent spend management.

Stakeholder Engagement – Build trusted relationships across Suppliers, Supplier Management, Delivery Groups and cross departmental teams, guiding stakeholders through P2P processes and ensuring spend remains compliant and well controlled. You’ll promote consistent, high quality use of our tools and help resolve operational issues quickly and collaboratively.

Financial/Contractual Oversight – Maintain accurate, reliable inputs and outputs across P2P tools and processes, ensuring alignment with policy, governance and financial controls. You’ll uphold strong audit trails, support reconciliation and reporting activity, and help ensure contractual and billing data is robust, complete and ready for scrutiny.

Responsibilities

Hold Suppliers to account for meeting P2P contractual requirements, timelines and quality standards.
Own and manage a portfolio of cost models, ensuring accuracy, control and alignment with contractual and financial requirements.
Resolve Supplier billing issues escalated from the team or delivery groups, ensuring timely, compliant and well evidenced outcomes.
Maintain high‑quality P2P data to support internal reporting on billing, contract spend and responses to NAO or audit requests.
Lead the team in delivering timely, accurate record keeping, ensuring governance is followed and audit trails are complete across all tools and processes (e.g. Cost Models, SharePoint).

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

About Disability Confident

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.

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