Category Manager

Salary:
£55,000.00 - £65,000.00 Per year
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Are you an experienced Procurement Manager or Category Manager with proven procurement experience in property services?
We have a fantastic opportunity for an experienced Category Manager to join our Procurement team at SNG (Sovereign Network Group).
Based from our offices in Basingstoke or Wembley, this is a great opportunity to combine home and office working to ensure a positive work / life balance. Occasional travel to other offices may be required, and there will be a requirement to attend our Basingstoke office once a week for team days.
The Role
As a Category Manager, you’ll play a pivotal role within our team, delivering a number of strategic and priority sourcing projects, collaborating with stakeholders to develop category plans and identify opportunities, supporting occasional operational procurement requirements, and maintaining procurement compliance. You’ll support our teams across property services - asset management and estate services.
Main responsibilities include:
Overseeing nominated category areas, suppliers and contracts to develop strategic procurement solutions to deliver efficiencies and benefits to the business
Delivering an agreed portfolio of sourcing projects from end-to-end, ensuring outcomes represent value for money, meet timelines and facilitate high standards
Maintaining compliance with the public procurement rules on individual projects and throughout the overall category portfolio
Leading supplier engagement and sourcing activity throughout the tender process, during the contract life cycle and for the overall category
Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders to understand business plans and objectives as well as any challenges, opportunities and identifying any risks
Undertaking market research, on suppliers, markets, frameworks, etc. to actively support own procurement projects
Ensuring all expenditure is identified with routes to market being clearly defined
Identifying areas where procurement can add measurable value in terms of sourcing exercises, onward effective supplier management and strategic procurement
What we're looking for
You should have demonstrable experience within a similar role in procurement, ideally with knowledge of relevant category areas, such as property services - repairs and maintenance, asset management, building compliance or hard FM. You'll also need:
Strategic procurement category management expertise, evidencing the use of data and analysis to drive decision making.
Practical experience of carrying out tenders and competitions in accordance with the public sector procurement rules
Excellent stakeholder management skills with proven ability to engage and influence others to deliver the best outcomes
Experience in supplier relationship management, ensuring value for money deals with suppliers who are committed to delivering a high service to SNG, and managing the commercial performance of procurement contracts
An agile approach with high attention to details and ability to work successfully on multiple projects at different stages, effectively prioritising tasks
An understanding of the Procurement Act 2023 and PCR 2015 is relevant and beneficial to this role
Experience of working for a registered social housing provider, local authority or similar public sector body, and/or a provider of repair, maintenance or facility management services, or a developer of new homes, would be advantageous
Job Description
We have some great benefits at SNG, including:
25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays (with an extra day every year up to 30 days)
Chance to buy or sell holiday as part of our flexible benefits package
3 additional wellbeing days and 2 paid volunteering days
Generous matched pension scheme up to 12% and Life cover at 4x salary
Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption pay
Options for private medical insurance, dental insurance and critical illness cover
Wellbeing discounts, including Gym Memberships and access to a 24/7 virtual GP service
At Sovereign Network Group, we are passionate about inclusion for all and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. We are committed to our Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategy and believe that you can truly be yourself at SNG. Take a look at our careers site to learn more about us and our values.