Commercial Category Lead

Our local government client is seeking an experienced and commercially focused Procurement Category Lead to drive strategic procurement and category management initiatives across the organisation.

This role will be responsible for leading category planning, sourcing strategies, supplier relationship management, and procurement governance activities to ensure best value outcomes for the organisation and community.

The successful candidate will partner closely with internal stakeholders to deliver innovative, compliant, and sustainable procurement solutions while supporting operational and strategic business objectives.

• Support procurement and category management activities across designated spend categories.
• Develop and implement category strategies that deliver value for money, cost optimisation, risk mitigation, and service improvement.
• Manage end-to-end procurement processes including market analysis, tendering, evaluations, negotiations, and contract awards.
• Provide specialist procurement and commercial advice to business units and senior stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong supplier and stakeholder relationships to support collaborative outcomes.
• Monitor supplier performance and contract compliance to ensure service delivery standards are achieved.
• Ensure all procurement activities comply with local government legislation, policies, governance, and probity requirements.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement, innovation, and sustainable procurement practices.
• Prepare procurement reports, recommendations, and briefing papers for senior leadership.
• Support organisational objectives relating to social procurement, ESG outcomes, and local supplier engagement.

• Extensive experience in strategic procurement, category management, or sourcing within a local government environment is essential.
• Strong commercial acumen with proven experience delivering procurement savings and operational efficiencies.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, negotiation, and influencing skills.
• Sound understanding of public sector procurement legislation, governance, and probity requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex tenders, contracts, and supplier relationships.
• Strong analytical, planning, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Ability to work autonomously while managing multiple priorities and deadlines.
• High level of professionalism, integrity, and attention to detail.
• Minimum CIPS Level 4 qualification is essential.
• Proven experience managing procurement activities within a regulated or public sector environment.