Higher Level Procurement and Supply Chain Apprenticeship

Babcock International

Plymouth (PL1 4SG)

Closes on Thursday 12 March 2026

Posted on 3 December 2025

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Summary

Join our 2.5-year Higher Level Procurement and Supply Chain Apprenticeship and gain the essential skills, knowledge, and experience for an exciting future career in procurement and supply chain management.

• Wage:

  £21,641 a year

  Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

  Year 1: £21,641 ; Year 2: £27,412

• Training course: Procurement and supply chain practitioner (level 4)
• Hours: Monday to Friday between 9am to 5pm.

  35 hours a week

• Start date:

  Tuesday 1 September 2026

• Duration:

  2 years 6 months

• Positions available:

  2

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

Whether designing, building, operating, managing, or maintaining vital equipment, one thing is certain – procurement and supply chain management lie at the heart of our operations and plays a pivotal role in our business success.

From day one we will assign you a mentor who understands your business area and can guide you through your development programme. With support from your line manager and our Emerging Talent team, you'll get opportunities to work on interesting projects, meet key stakeholders, and deliver outputs that make a real difference. 

Rotating through our supply chain planning, requisition to pay, source to contract and warehousing and transport departments, you'll develop a broad range of skills in: 

• Strategic sourcing and procurement
• Supplier relationship management
• Inventory and warehouse management
• Transportation logistics
• Contract development, management, and monitoring
• Financial tracking and reporting 

On each placement, you’ll interact with multiple teams and develop an understanding of how the Procurement and Supply Chain function operates at Babcock.

Your days will vary across placements, involving a diverse range of tasks and responsibilities – from conducting market research and analysis, managing tendering processes, placing purchase orders and contracts with suppliers, to overseeing supplier order books and negotiating terms and conditions. Everything you do will help the business and our customers deliver essential products and services around the world.  

This is an amazing opportunity to work on real projects to equip the Royal Naval fleet and play an integral role in creating a safe and secure world. With mentoring and on-the-job training, the vast knowledge you’ll build from these experiences will equip you with some of the most in-demand skills right now.

Where you'll work

Devonport Royal Dockyard
Devonport
Plymouth
PL1 4SG

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

APA PROCUREMENT TRAINING LIMITED

Training course

Procurement and supply chain practitioner (level 4)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents

• Manage relationships with stakeholders.
• Interpret business requirements by assessing the demand for the product or service.
• Undertake market analysis to establish potential routes to market.
• Conduct benchmarking to evaluate costs against industry standards.
• Prepare or contribute to the drafting of a sourcing plan which meets business needs, including corporate social responsibility factors.
• Use the organisation's documentation designed for commercial procurement processes for the supply of goods and services.
• Notify potential suppliers of proposal requirements.
• Use selection and award criteria to source requirements from external suppliers evidencing how supplier bids are evaluated against them.
• Analyse the financial implications of decisions and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Liaise and negotiate with suppliers and stakeholders to ensure the timely delivery of purchased goods and services.
• Support contract award and briefing of suppliers in line with the organisations processes and governance.
• Monitor and manage contract performance to meet time, costs, service, and quality objectives.
• Manage contract performance and advise suppliers on any areas for improvement.
• Maintain contract documentation such as change control, version control.
• Use IT and software to produce spreadsheets and presentation packages to communicate information.
• Identify, raise, and facilitate discussions with stakeholders to resolve any issues or risks.
• Analyses sustainability challenges and risks at each stage of the product or contract life cycle.
• Manage information in accordance with policy and processes.
• Continuously review work processes to identify and eliminate inefficiencies and simplify workflow.
• Use available systems and tools to identify relevant data.
• Interpret, analyse, and evaluate data through questioning to drive actionable intelligence and support decision making.
• Use horizon scanning to identify future changes in procurement and contracting.
• Manage relationships with stakeholders.
• Interpret business requirements by assessing the demand for the product or service.
• Undertake market analysis to establish potential routes to market.
• Conduct benchmarking to evaluate costs against industry standards.
• Prepare or contribute to the drafting of a sourcing plan which meets business needs, including corporate social responsibility factors.
• Use the organisation's documentation designed for commercial procurement processes for the supply of goods and services.
• Notify potential suppliers of proposal requirements.
• Use selection and award criteria to source requirements from external suppliers evidencing how supplier bids are evaluated against them.
• Analyse the financial implications of decisions and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Liaise and negotiate with suppliers and stakeholders to ensure the timely delivery of purchased goods and services.
• Support contract award and briefing of suppliers in line with the organisations processes and governance.
• Monitor and manage contract performance to meet time, costs, service, and quality objectives.
• Manage contract performance and advise suppliers on any areas for improvement.
• Maintain contract documentation such as change control, version control.
• Use IT and software to produce spreadsheets and presentation packages to communicate information.
• Identify, raise, and facilitate discussions with stakeholders to resolve any issues or risks.
• Analyses sustainability challenges and risks at each stage of the product or contract life cycle.
• Manage information in accordance with policy and processes.
• Continuously review work processes to identify and eliminate inefficiencies and simplify workflow.
• Use available systems and tools to identify relevant data.
• Interpret, analyse, and evaluate data through questioning to drive actionable intelligence and support decision making.
• Use horizon scanning to identify future changes in procurement and contracting.

Training schedule

You'll study towards obtaining a Level 4 Diploma in Procurement & Supply from the prestigious Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS).

This comprehensive programme will equip you with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to excel in the field of procurement and supply chain management.  

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

• Any subject (grade 4(C) and above)
• Any subject (grade 4(C) and above)
• Any subject (grade 4(C) and above)
• English (grade 4(C) and above)
• Maths (grade 4(C) and above)

A Level in:

• Any subject (grade A-C)
• Any subject (grade A-C)
• Any subject (grade A-C)

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

• Communication skills
• Attention to detail
• Team working

Other requirements

Many of our apprenticeship programmes are subject to Security Clearance and Trade Control restrictions which mean that your place of birth, nationality, citizenship, or residency you hold or have held may impact which programmes you are eligible for. For this programme, you must be able to achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) and Security Check (SC) clearance. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels

About this employer

Babcock is an international defence company providing support and product solutions to enhance our customers’ defence capabilities and critical assets. We provide through-life technical and engineering support for our customers’ assets, delivering improvements in performance, availability and programme cost. Our c27,700 employees deliver these critical services to defence and civil customers, including engineering support to naval, land, air and nuclear operations, frontline support, specialist training and asset management. We also design and manufacture a range of defence and civil specialist equipment, from naval ship and weapons handling systems to liquid gas handling systems. We also provide integrated, technology-enabled solutions to our defence customers in areas such as secure communications, electronic warfare and air defence.

https://earlycareers.babcockinternational.com/apprenticeships/ (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

Fully funded qualification. Personal development training and opportunities. Minimum 28 days holiday allowance, including bank holidays. Competitive pension scheme. Employee share scheme. Flexible benefits including cycle2work scheme.

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

After successfully completing the programme, you’ll be well-equipped to pursue a range of roles in the field. These may include positions such as Buyer, Procurement Specialist, Procurement Advisor, Material and Inventory Planner, or Supply Chain Analyst.

Through the Babcock Role Framework, you’ll have a clear view of how your career can progress, with mapped-out pathways, development opportunities and the tools you need to get wherever you want to go.

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

APA PROCUREMENT TRAINING LIMITED

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000003519.

Apply now

Closes on Thursday 12 March 2026

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