Category Manager

Location: Milton Keynes / Hybrid working

Working Hours: Monday to Friday (8.45am - 5pm)

Salary: Competitive salary, plus an excellent benefits package, including:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Competitive pension
• Enhanced parental leave
• Eligibility to annual bonus scheme
• Access to a fantastic loan car scheme
• 4x basic salary life assurance

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the category strategy and sourcing activity for various direct and indirect categories. This role combines strategic category ownership with hands on operational delivery, ensuring high quality procurement execution, strong commercial governance, and effective supplier performance management. The Category Manager will work closely with Services, Marketing, Sales, Operations, H&S, Finance and Legal, supporting investment programmes, ensuring compliant day to day operations, and delivering measurable commercial value across all assigned indirect spend areas.

• Category Management expertise - a proven track record within Category Management is required for this role.
• Strategic thinker - create short and long term strategy for the business.
• Solutions orientated - seeking ways to aid the business succeed.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement - navigating conversations and influencing decisions with stakeholders throughout the business.
• Commercial acumen - able to understand business requirements and create understanding.

• Own and deliver category strategies across a diverse portfolio of indirect spend categories, providing clear strategic direction alongside hands on sourcing execution.
• Lead end to end procurement activity across core and smaller categories, including RFx development, supplier evaluation, negotiation, contracting and onboarding.
• Provide procurement and commercial support to a wide range of business initiatives and projects, ensuring sound sourcing approaches, risk management and value for money.
• Maintain strong commercial governance, ensuring compliance with procurement policies, delegated authority limits, contract management standards and audit requirements.
• Draft, review and negotiate contracts, ensuring appropriate commercial terms, risk allocation and compliance with internal standards.
• Provide day to day operational procurement support, resolving supplier issues, managing contract renewals, and supporting stakeholders with ongoing commercial needs.
• Manage a portfolio of smaller and tactical categories, applying proportionate sourcing approaches while maintaining control, visibility and value.
• Lead supplier relationship management, monitoring performance against KPIs and SLAs, addressing issues, and driving continuous improvement and innovation.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to align category strategies to business priorities, challenge specifications and demand, and provide pragmatic commercial advice.
• Contribute to sustainability, compliance and ESG objectives across the supply base, embedding responsible sourcing principles into category strategies.
• Improve procurement engagement with the business by driving earlier involvement, clearer governance, standardised workflows and smoother sourcing cycles across multiple categories.

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, supporting a family friendly environment, and encouraging a flexible future workplace.