Procurement Manager (5 months fixed term)

At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.

Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and offer workplace adjustments to ensure you have the support you need to succeed in your role.

The role:

The Procurement function's purpose is to balance opportunity, risk and responsibility to drive better business outcomes through the third party supply chain. The Director of Procurement reports into the Director of Finance Transformation, Ops and Data in the Finance function. The aim of the function is to protect the business against commercial, operational and regulatory risk whilst delivering value for money for business budget holders. The role holder will report into and work closely with the Senior Procurement Manager (who reports into Head of Procurement) to ensure a cohesive and collaborative partnership with Business Leaders within specific Business Units.

The Procurement team has two main focus areas:

• To lead and drive forward all third party engagements supporting allocated business units. This role is responsible for building partnerships and executing contracts with suppliers to support business divisions to optimise cost base, operating models and deliver innovation. This will include leading complex activities involving strategic or material suppliers, such as negotiating and contracting for new BPO deals, and delivering renewals of existing deals. The role will also include informal management of resources out of India and will maintain accountability of executing buying activities to drive lower costs and ensure appropriate mitigation of risks associated with third parties.
• To provide Business Partnering Services for all Procurement activities for allocated business units, improving engagement between Procurement and business functions to develop and deliver a savings pipeline and demonstrating the value add of the by identifying opportunities for improved cost base, innovation or transformation through the use of third parties.

Key Responsibilities:

• Supporting the development and delivery of the procurement strategy for indirect spend, driving efficiencies and savings for the business and supporting delivery of business strategy and third party supply chain control
• Delivering an excellent procurement service to internal customers/stakeholders
• Managing supplier relationships during the procurement projects and interventions
• Creating a supply chain that aligns with the Commercial & Business Strategy

You will have:

• Good knowledge of strategic procurement and category management theories and concepts, financial risk and liability, including understanding the commercial risks associated with indirect supply chain
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to cut through information and draw out key trends / insight to support the development and improvement of the category
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills, and the ability to communicate to a range of stakeholders at all levels of the organisation
• Strong knowledge of procurement best practice, good network/links with external bodies and individuals in category management across other industries
• Strong knowledge of UK indirect supplier marketplace in terms of pricing, breadth of suppliers and geographical coverage, supplier financial standing, including broad understanding of the market trends and dynamics
• Experience drawing key trends and insight from a complex range of data and driving action from that insight
• Experience of working with a range of external suppliers, able to tailor approach based on the n