Category Manager (Non-Production) in Birmingham

Main Purpose of the role

The Procurement Category Manager for Non-Production, Aftersales, and New Product Development (NPD) is responsible for leading strategic sourcing across indirect goods and services, aftermarket components, and procurement support for new product development programmes. The role supports business objectives by driving value, ensuring supply continuity, and enabling innovation through early supplier engagement. To manage the strategic and operational procurement of Ishida Europe with approx. spend portfolio of £30 - £40mil. This includes management of key supplier partnerships and selection and development of new suppliers domestically and globally.

Primary Responsibilities

• Category Management: Lead the end-to-end development of category strategies for assigned spend areas, ensuring alignment with organisational goals and operational needs. Conduct detailed spend analysis, demand forecasting, and market intelligence gathering to identify opportunities for cost savings, process improvement, and supplier consolidation. Define sourcing roadmaps, preferred supplier lists, and category governance frameworks, ensuring compliance with internal policies and regulatory requirements. Monitor external trends and innovation across the category landscape to proactively adapt strategies and inform sourcing decisions. Establish multi-year plans for supplier development, risk mitigation, and sustainability, including ESG (environmental, social, and governance) criteria. Drive alignment across internal business units and functions to consolidate requirements and optimise total cost of ownership. Promote supplier diversity and inclusion initiatives where applicable, ensuring a competitive and resilient supply base. Regularly review category performance against KPIs (e.g., cost savings, supplier performance, quality, and delivery metrics) and adjust strategy accordingly.
• New Product Development (NPD): Represent procurement on cross-functional NPD teams, ensuring supply chain readiness throughout the development lifecycle. Engage suppliers during early design phases to influence cost, manufacturability, and lead time. Align sourcing timelines with key programme milestones and product launch targets. Support make vs buy analysis and design-to-cost initiatives.
• Supplier Management: Identify, evaluate, and manage suppliers across all categories, including those involved in NPD. Lead supplier performance reviews and drive continuous improvement and innovation. Build strong supplier relationships to support both operational stability and NPD agility.
• Tendering, Contracting & Negotiation: Lead RFPs, RFQs, and contract negotiations for goods and services in scope. Negotiate robust contractual terms including service levels, warranties, and commercial protections. Ensure all contractual agreements are aligned with category strategy and business objectives.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders across departments, building strong relationships to understand business needs and priorities. Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders, providing category insight and procurement leadership during planning and delivery phases.
• Cost Management & Value Delivery: Deliver year-on-year cost savings through sourcing, supplier development, and value engineering. Track and report cost impacts for NPD, aftermarket, and non-production spend.
• Data & Reporting: Maintain accurate spend data, supplier records, and sourcing documentation in the ERP and procurement systems. Provide regular reports on category performance, risks, savings, and NPD sourcing progress.

Standards of Performance

The following are the minimum performance standards expected by the Company: To ensure that Ishida standards are upheld at all times. To ensure that the spend remains within budget. To communicate and collaborate as required with all other departments involved in the production process. To manage the training and development of your team. To approach all objectives, tasks and communication with positive enthusiasm. To maximize supplier performance KPI especially with regards to on-time-delivery and Quality. Consistently achieve ‘Right First Time’ performance against cost and time scale targets. Consistently produce a high standard of service to internal and external customers. Maintain commercial confidentiality in all discussions and activities. Expected to exercise considerable independent judgement. Demonstrates superior customer service, integrity and commitment to innovation and efficiency. Flexibility and a regular amount of planned travel is expected, including overseas.

What skills are we looking for?

To be successful in the role; you must have previous experience in a leadership/management position within Procurement, experience with ERP & MRP systems and previous experience in a manufacturing role or similar with project management experience. You will be a self-motivated, team player, with a willingness to learn and develop and willing to take ownership and accountability. You must be able to problem solve and demonstrate high levels of accuracy and attention to detail with excellent communication skills.