Supply Chain, Procurement and Vendor Management Recruitment Bulletin June 2025
Global geopolitical instability, wars in Europe and the Middle East, US trade policy upheaval, domestic fiscal challenges and cost rises for UK employers from recent UK employment legislation changes; all continue to create significant challenges for organisations planning their Permanent Staffing and Interim labour resourcing. This uncertainty has meant the market has been ‘pretty stop-start’ for the team at Beaumont Select over much of 2025. We have however, experienced increased activity over the last couple of weeks; particularly at the more senior job levels, which is encouraging. These roles include a Category Lead - Indirects for a rapidly growing IT organisation; a Head of FM Category for a Global R & D; a European Senior Sourcing Manager for a Global Pharma; a Procurement Manager- Transformation for a financial services PLC; and a Head of Procurement for a rapidly growing travel and events company.
Recent economic indicators suggest a slightly more positive outlook for the UK economy than we saw earlier in the year; and the uptick in recruitment activity we have seen suggests there may be some strengthening in business confident amongst UK employers. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has marginally upgraded the UK's 2025 GDP growth forecast to 1.2%, citing a robust first-quarter performance and a recovering economy; however, it warns of downside risks, including global trade tensions and weak productivity. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) forecasts a 1.5% increase, potentially making the UK the third-fastest-growing G7 economy this year; while The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projects a 0.3% growth in real GDP per person for 2025. Amid all this uncertainty, one thing is certain; motivated, highly skilled procurement and supply chain professionals will be in strong demand.
“Finding, attracting, securing and retaining truly skilled, analytical, adaptable and motivated Procurement & Supply Chain Professionals; has become ever more critical to meet with these challenges.”
❖ RENEWABLE ENERGY ANDUTILITIES ~ Busy with high demand fortalented people,to support growth derived primarily fromchanges inUK government policy and investment . In particular, the Water sector ~ investment in environmental / pollution solutions and in the Energy sector ~ working towards net zero, minimizing UK energy vulnerability. Roles UK wide.
❖ FINTECH ~ Driven by changing global trading relationships, technology investment and movement from traditional high street banking to on-line and new financial services / banking products. Roles primarily London based.
❖ LIFE SCIENCES AND BIOTEC ~ increased investments and advancements in healthcare technologies is leading growth in the sector, further supported by the UK's strong research institutions and infrastructure. Roles UK wide, Cambridge,Oxford.
❖ LOGISTICS sector is attracting significant investment, demanding supply chain professionals with a strong emphasis on ESG and Quality across all logistics environments. Roles UK Wide.
❖ DEFENCE ~ We are seeing an increase in activity in this sector. Responding to the conclusions of this months Defence Review recommendations, the UK Government has committed to increase defence spending to 2.5 % of GDP from April 2027 with an “ambition” (but no firm commitment) to increase it to 3% during the next parliament. Roles UK wid
CATEGORY SPECIALISTS most in demand… .
❖ IT ~ led by rapid changes in technology, remote working, cloud migration, rapidly rising software / cloud costs and cybersecurity vulnerability Including:
❖ Software category Specialist ~ SaaS and licenses
❖ Data Centre specialists ~ including IT equipment, support systems, and services
❖ Cloud Services specialists ~ Microsoft 365, ServiceNow etc.
❖ AI & Data Services specialists ~ AWS, Azure, Snowflake etc. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ~ across the board ~ traditionally high cost and low transparency category. Driving rate benchmarking, value-for-money reviews and fostering internal knowledge transfer clauses.
❖ HR
❖ Legal
❖ Management Consultancy ~ strategy and operations FACILITIES MANAGEMENT ~ primarily led by energy efficiency, sustainability pressure, cost control, supply chain restructuring and shortage of labour.
❖ DIGITAL MARKETING ~ SEO, SEM, social, influencers etc. Balancing marketing brand quality and speed v decentralised spend and ROI.
INTERIM Recruitment
❖ FIXED TERM CONTRACTS (FTC) ~ Legislation changes to day one worker’srights, is causing reluctance among some employers to engage permanent staff. We are seeing more businesses recruiting on an FTC basis (with the possible option of moving to a permanent contract). A ‘try before you buy’ approach allows employers to reduce the risk and cost of bad permanent hires. An overall Increase in Interim activity ~ ‘Day-One Rights for Employees’ and general uncertainty in the market is causing employers to rethink whether a permanent hire is the best option. Interim recruitment option allowing greater flexibility to weather economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Amid fears of a global recession, we would normally expect to the balance of recruitment engagements to move towards Interim (contract) solutions over permanent engagements; and we expect the interim market to strengthen comparatively while significant economic uncertainty persists.
❖ OFF-PAYROLL WORKING~OUTSIDE IR35 ~ Larger corporate entities remain cautious of the potential reputational risk of falling foul of the IR35 regulations, with a significant majority of hires still engaged on an inside IR35 basis.
PERANENT Recruitment
❖ MARKET RATES: Overall Slow UK recruitment activity has kept Permanent Salary Rates fairly static for most procurement specialists with procurement salary inflation sitting on par with othersectors. Individuals with particularly ‘hard-to-find’skill sets can however secure salary and packages well ahead of market rates.
❖ SMEs: We are seeing more demand from SMEs needing their first procurement person to develop their procurement function (and small team) as their organisation reaches a size that demands a fit for purpose procurement function. These are exciting roles for Permanent (and sometimes experienced Interims) with wide ranging greenfield procurement skills sets and a ‘role up your sleeves’ and get things done approach.
❖ INACTIVE CANDIDATES: We are talking to a lot of great candidates not active in the market, but happy to receive ideas. These people are looking for very specific roles and employers; and they are using specialist agencieslikeusto keep themaware of possibilities.
❖ EMPLOYEE & CANDIDATE EXPECTATIONS: We continued to see the dichotomy between many organisations demanding their staff ‘back in the office’ and employees seeking good hybrid working options, meaning some employers are not securing the best talent available. It is essential that candidate and client expectations are understood early in any hiring process to ensure positive hiring outcomes. Market competitive Employers Brand Value, reputation, interview processes, on-boarding process, hybrid working options and salary / package offered; will all have a significant effect upon employer’s ability to attract and secure the best people.
If you would like more information about Interim or Permanent Recruitment Solutions for Procurement, Supply Chain and Vendor Management disciplines please get in touch:
T: +44 (0)1403 248 448
E: info@beselect.co.uk
W: www.beselect.co.uk
The Beaumont Select Recruitment Team
Beaumont Select Market Bulletin, June 2025