Procurement Category Lead - Indirects

Exciting Category Lead – Indirects opportunity ~ Take ownership of a broad and strategically important range of Indirect spend portfolio for a major Financial Services Group.
We are supporting a leading Financial Services group who are undertaking a transformation across their procurement function and subsequently are looking to looking to recruuit an experienced Procurement Lead across their Indirects spend.

This is a great opportunity for a commercially minded geeneralist procurement professional who enjoys operating at both strategic and operational levels, developing category strategies, leading complex sourcing activity and delivering measurable value across a broad category estate.

You’ll be responsible for developing and delivering sourcing strategies across FM, Marketing, HR, Prof Services, Operations ensuring Business Services investment is cost-effective, scalable, secure and aligned with wider business and digital transformation objectives.

You’ll lead the end-to-end procurement lifecycle across Indirect categories, managing significant spend and working closely with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Leading the end-to-end procurement lifecycle across Indirects categories.
• Developing and implementing effective category and sourcing strategies..
• Negotiating complex commercial agreements, contracts and SLAs with key technology suppliers.
• Identifying opportunities for cost optimisation, supplier consolidation and improved commercial value.
• Supporting the adoption of procurement technology and automation to improve efficiency, visibility and governance.
• Ensuring procurement activity aligns with data security, regulatory and cyber-risk requirements.
• Building strong relationships with stakeholders across Technology, Finance, Legal, Risk and the wider business.
• Driving continuous improvement and bringing innovation into the Indirects procurement function.

We’re looking for an experienced procurement professional with a strong commercial mindset and a proven track record of delivering value.

You’ll ideally bring:

• Strong procurement experience across non-IT categories.
• Proven experience delivering cost savings, cost optimisation and wider value creation.
• Experience using procurement platforms such as SAP Ariba, Coupa or Oracle.
• Strong negotiation, commercial and contract management skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence both technical and non-technical audiences.
• A data-driven approach with a genuine focus on continuous improvement and innovation.
• Experience working within a complex or regulated environment would be advantageous.
• A professional procurement qualification such as CIPS, CPSM or equivalent is preferred.

*** Our client has offices in Manchester or Peterborough and can be located in either location - 3 days a week on site, 2 from home ***