Boden Group is looking for a Category Manager to join our clients team on a permanent basis. This is a full-time role working 37.5 hours per week. On offer is a competitive salary, company vehicle or allowance, bonus and benefits package.   This is a hybrid role and thus flexible on where you are based.    The Category Manager role is within the Central Procurement team and is responsible for managing key procurement soft and hard service categories across our facilities management, projects and regeneration businesses. The role involves creating and implementing a long-term sourcing plan for the development of the categories to achieve the best value. The role involves identifying opportunities and leveraging the combined category spend in negotiating strategic frameworks with key suppliers in ensuring the best outcomefor its external spend.    The Category Manager will own the category structure that allows the company to segment its supplier base. Using the segmentation, the Category Manager will create a category strategy in coordination with a network of internal stakeholders belonging to operations, sustainability and health&safety, identifying key focus areas for the year by leveraging company-wide spend.   The role requires building and driving relationships with key suppliers to improve quality of service and generate savings for the company by collaborating with operational stakeholders including operational procurement teams in implementing the overall category plan and realising saving targets. The role also requires delivery of category expertise across all service lines driving a tangible link to profit improvement with a strong focus on optimising best business practice, fiscal performance, risk management and compliance. We are looking for an individual with previous experiencewithin a procurement/category role dealing with wholesale. An excellent communicator, commercial acumen, excellent stakeholder management and strong analytical skills. Strong analytical abilities, and the ability to analyse complex category data to drive supply chain selectivity and risk mitigationWhat will you deliver? Creating long-term category plans following a gap-analysis and assessing future procurement requirements Negotiating and management of key strategic Frameworks Creating an internal stakeholder network around key categories with representation from all business lines. Develop the central category strategy supported by targets and KPIs for implementation in all areas of the business Build and Maintain Excellent Supplier Relations Conduct commercial negotiations with new strategic suppliers including but not limited to pricing and offering (scope) besides support on key strategic topics of innovation&sustainability Monitoring category spend and compliance within the category across all businesses Identifying and allocating and monitoring local category actions for operational teams Identify risks and potential ESG considerations related to the categories and create adequate controls through available channels to address such risks Communicate industry / supplier related information to all relevant stakeholders in a timely manner to manage business risks Organise periodic business review meetings with key preferred and strategic suppliers Liaise with key suppliers to introduce new ideas, innovations to the business that may result in internal business process improvements or improving our business offering to our clients Maintain and publish regular and accurate reports to demonstrate the effectiveness of our preferred supplier agreements Supporting any Group category management initiatives and transversal actions Support Business Development teams and wider Procurement team in order to align bidding activities and improve mobilisation process Act as a point of escalation for supplier disputes for strategic suppliers under the allocated categories Who are we looking for? Previous experience in a senior procurement/category role Experience in procurement with a proven track record of delivery of savings and team management Experience in Soft Services Category Management is a plus Category understanding from a Facilities Management&Construction industry perspective Strong and established network of category suppliers and subcontractors and the ability to make informed supply chain selection decisions based on project scope Strong analytical abilities, and the ability to analyse complex category data to drive supply chain selectivity and risk mitigation