Category Manager - Local Authority in London

About The Role

Contract Length: Until 31/03/26

Location: Remote

IR35: Inside

Pay Rate to Intermediary: £44.08 per hour

Spinwell is recruiting for a Category Manager for an excellent opportunity within the public sector.

Responsibilities of the Category Manager

• The principal responsibility of the Category Manager is to strategically lead and deliver a South West Police Procurement Service (SWPPS) on behalf of the five SW forces and OPCC's across the South West Region.
• The role drives forward the effective direction and control of a range of professional, commercial or specialist procurement skills across multiple professional disciplines of the key category areas, applying a sound knowledge of public procurement law with an understanding of broad political, economic, and legislative trends.
• The role is expected to facilitate, mediate and in some cases lead on national collaborative agreements, requiring a political awareness and ability to understand formal and informal politics at regional and national level.

SWPPS Development and Management

• Provide expert commercial, category, and procurement advice, driving strategic collaborations across the five Forces, determining potential innovation and operational solutions.
• Play an integral role in leading both regional/national strategic and operational delivery groups for specific category areas, building effective relationships with key stakeholders.
• Direct responsibility for delivering the end-to-end sourcing process.
• Manage complex multi-force contractual relationships.
• Demonstrate long-term strategic thinking, going beyond personal goals.
• Direct line management and development of Senior Category Buyers and Category Buyers, by leading a learning culture, recognising, and promoting innovative activities, provide guidance, advice, and quality assurance to their work.
• Key project board roles for strategic and major projects providing significant commercial, procurement and collaboration advice and skills.
• Determine the appropriate delegation of responsibility to Senior Category Buyers and Category Buyers as the size, urgency, complexity, and risk profile requires.

Client Relationship Management

• Initiate, develop and maintain robust relationships with senior level staff and stakeholders within each of the five regional Forces and OPCCs and act as the lead representative of the SWPPS for your Category area.
• Act as a conduit for all procurement queries from your host force/OPCC.
• Understand the wider business requirements and individual strategies of the five Forces and OPCCs in line with Category Specific Requirements and their markets.

Category Strategy

• Develop a clear understanding of the key supply market drivers, and legislative trends for the category areas.
• Drive improved access to both Force/OPCC and supplier data, information and develop a deep understanding and capability for the analysis of such and apply the findings in a strategic manner.
• Analyse impacts of each the five Forces and PCCs strategies on future requirements for the category area; how they compare and contrast against each other, where correlation can drive collaboration and where differences may need addressing.
• Pro-actively engage on a regular basis with stakeholders to create and agree robust category strategies and deliver savings targets as appropriate.
• Measure achievement of agreed targets.
• Ensure the Category strategy delivers 'Best Value', Innovation and improvement.
• Ensure that all aspects of the Procurement, from strategic sourcing through to Supplier Relationship Management are applied in accordance with legislation and procurement law.

Category Sourcing

• Lead and report progress on complex, high value/high risk procurements, developing and approving the sourcing strategy, specification, evaluation criteria, procurement route, the commercial model and terms and conditions of contract.
• Responsible for ensuring overall compliance including critical examination of contracts and awards.
• Responsible, where appropriate and agreed with stakeholders, for new contract implementation until implementation phase has been completed effectively.
• Frequent influencing and negotiation on behalf of the five Forces/OPCCs demonstrating a full understanding of the overall strategic context.
• Make decisions/recommendations that will significantly influence costs, balancing risks, costs, and benefits.
• Be willing to challenge the status quo, particularly when potentially beneficial to the performance of the police service.

Category Management

• Leading and managing a geographically dispersed team. In addition to having responsibility for the category team and their individual performance, motivation, discipline, development, and appraisal, this can extend informally (during Project and Programme delivery) to senior level stakeholders of Other Forces/OPCC's.
• Development of processes, systems, practices, and procedures, to drive innovation and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement service.
• Development of tailored criteria to measure supplier performance in terms of cost, risk, stakeholder satisfaction, category performance and drive continuous improvement.
• Collate, analyse, critically review, interpret report, act upon data in order to exploit potential for savings and improvements on service delivery.
• Lead, test and implement initiatives measuring internal compliance, usage and demand for contracts that have been implemented.
• Recognise the changing business needs and supply market developments, implement, test and communicate new ways of working that can maintain the performance of the category strategy.

This list of duties is not restrictive or exhaustive and the post-holder may be required to carry out duties from time to time that are either commensurate with/or lower than the grade of the post. In some posts this might include the ad-hoc provision of guidance and informal training of new colleagues.

Skills / Experience of the Category Manager

• Graduate Level CIPS qualification (MCIPS), a Business Qualification e.g. MBA, or significant commercial experience at a senior level. Desirable: Prince 2, MSP, Management of Risk.
• Ability to think strategically with autonomous judgement, applying substantial creativity and innovation to support the development of new, improved practices, procedures or policies across Forces/OPCCs in the South West Region.
• Proven procurement ability, ideally in category management and funding approaches, a sound knowledge of Public Procurement Law accompanied with an understanding of broad political, economic, and legislative trends.
• Ability to work under pressure managing multi-layered, highly complex and commercially sensitive, high risk and demanding workloads, working within strict timescales and deadlines.
• Proven capability in leading complex business requirements/supply market analysis, understanding the views and priorities of outside organisations and government bodies, and their effect on the five SW Forces.
• Excellent negotiating and influencing skills - ability to focus on the important elements of complicated issues to sell the viewpoint to internal and external stakeholders negotiating successful outcomes.
• Experience in the creation of effective strategies across a diverse range of areas, promoting collaborative working and partnership with stakeholders within the five SW forces and external organisations.
• Experience in creation of performance goals and quality standards to determine the category team structure, in order to facilitate stakeholders from the five Forces/OPCCs across the SW region.
• Excellent IT skills including proven ability to manage complex data analysis to interpret/report/act upon on data from the five Forces/OPCCs.
• Ability to create staff development opportunities and be active in supporting people's development by personally acting as a coach and mentor. Recognising when the right people at the right level are given management opportunities.

If you are a Category Manager, apply now or send your CV to Spinwell!

We welcome all applications regardless of background, in line with our commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion.