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Category Manager

  • Location

    Chichester, West Sussex

  • Sector:

    Procurement

  • Job type:

    Permanent

  • Salary:

    £50000 - £55000 per annum + Excellent Public Sector Benefits

  • Contact:

    Amy Redsell

  • Contact email:

    amy.redsell@butlerross.co.uk

  • Job ref:

    RS1672_1543249123

  • Published:

    over 5 years ago

  • Expiry date:

    2019-02-24

  • Startdate:

    ASAP

This County Council are undertaking a major transformation of their Procurement and Contract Management functions. The new team will focus on category management, stakeholder management, compliance and savings delivery.

Key to the success of this transformation will be the recruitment of a number of category managers across 3 main categories:

  • Category Manager - People (Children, Health, Adults, Family, Education)
    • Spend £400M, with significant spend in social care
  • Category Manager - Place (Leisure, Waste, Construction, Highways, Utilities, Built Environment)
    • Spend £200M across c. 300 plus suppliers with significant spend in sub-categories of highways, construction and waste
  • Category Manager - Resources (HR, IT & Telecoms, Consultants, Professional Services, FM, Fleet, Office Supply)
    • Spend £120M, with significant spend in professional services and labour

The purpose of these category manager roles within the procurement team is to manage sub-categories within the wider category management structure. You will provide procurement expertise across the category portfolio and collaborate with Directorates/Services to champion a new best practice commercial approach to external spend to deliver value for money outcomes and transform the ways services are delivered.

You will develop and implement a robust category management strategy for your category that optimises performance for the business in terms of cost, quality, delivery and responsiveness - sharing best practice guidance for the procurement of the subcategories as listed above. You will manage projects and sub-categories within the wider category and be the primary interface for your sub category with stakeholders, developing your category and procurements and leading stakeholders in best practices.

What you'll need to succeed

Able to demonstrate the relevant skills and experience, you will be someone that provides strong, visible, and collective leadership for specific categories of spend. Key competency areas include: procurement, influencing, leading, change and stakeholder management; both internally and externally to achieve outcomes within a complex operating environment.

Required Experience & Skills of the Category Manager

  • Negotiation: A skilled negotiator with a broad range of skill sets.
  • Analysis: Skilled in being able to conduct analysis on complex data sets to provide concise insights.
  • Stakeholder Management: Strong stakeholder management skills, demonstrating ability to engage with stakeholders at multi levels
  • Leading and Managing Others: Strong project leadership and management capabilities and experience, with capacity to manage multiple small and medium sized projects
  • Change Management: Understands change management and process improvement with experience in supporting business process / organisational change
  • Strategy Delivery: Experience of delivering and implementing category and sourcing strategies, delivering strategies for various sub-categories

Qualifications and/or experience required of the Category Manager

  • Knowledge and experience of EU procurement processes, using Government procurement frameworks
  • Experience of identifying and implementing relevant commercial terms and a good understanding of commercial risks and exposures
  • Demonstrable experience of delivering total cost of ownership savings
  • Understanding of supplier management and can demonstrate development of a supplier over time
  • Can demonstrate an understanding of the latest market and procurement trends within the sub-category area of expertise

Key Responsibilities of the Category Manager

  • Managing sub-categories of spend whilst leading best practice for your category.
  • You will implement the category strategy through proactive management of programmes and projects involving multiple stakeholders and teams.
  • You will deliver robust processes and plans, helping implement a stage gate procurement process.
  • You will implement change within your category, whilst supporting the wider transformation of the procurement department.
  • You will play a leading role in providing procurement and commercial advice in relation to all major and complex contracts in your category.
  • You will be responsible for managing risk and ensuring your supply base performs as contractually agreed, running regular review sessions with your identified critical suppliers.
  • You will own and manage the end to end procurement process within your category, whilst being the subject matter expert for EU procurement compliance.

Key Words: Category Manager, Procurement Manager, Purchasing Manager, Senior Buyer, Category Lead, Senior Buyer, Category Specialist.