Senior Category Specialist in Birmingham

Location: Remote (Birmingham Office)

Benefits: Competitive Salary, Bonus, Standard UK Benefits

Profile: As a Senior Category Specialist, you will be responsible for developing and implementing category strategies to optimize sourcing, reduce costs, and ensure a reliable supply chain for critical materials and services within your assigned categories.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• E&C companies’ procurement and negotiation of medium to large contracts 2-10 MUSD.
• Experience and understanding of contractual framework and its applicability and risks (Re-measurable, NEC, FIDIC, GMP, Turnkey, others).
• Knowledge and understanding of risk identification and mitigation.
• Knowledge and understanding of the European (UK) E&C market, subcontractors and drivers.
• Experience and knowledge of category management techniques (market analysis, SWOT, Purchasing chessboard, Krojic Matrix, others).
• Technical knowledge and background of E&C within the power sector.
• Experience and knowledge of procurement methodologies.
• Experience and understanding of quality methodologies such as Six Sigma.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Independent and capable of working with limited information.
• Well versed on MS tools – Excel, Power Point, SharePoint, Power BI, etc.

Main Accountabilities:

• Sourcing Strategy – Leveraging the Continuous Improvement Process Sourcing (CIPS) process, implementing effective sourcing strategies for Contracted Services Category in line with business strategy ensuring that the supply base of contractors have the capability and capacity to meet current and future business requirements.
• Negotiations – Negotiates agreements with main contractors, and periodically renews pricelists, terms and conditions.
• Supplier Agreements – Ensures identification, investigation, and selection of appropriate contractors (focusing on quality, delivery, cost and sustainability) in accordance with Company policies.
• Supplier Performance – On-boards new suppliers in close collaboration with the respective local buyer and runs regular supplier evaluations and provides supplier reports to Businesses and Category Managers.
• Excellence – Runs benchmark studies for the category team and for specific sourcing initiatives and designs and implements cost-out programs and/or processes to reach financial targets.
• Contract Management – Creates local contract amendments to frame agreements on behalf of a country and updates/maintains frame contracts.
• Risk Management – Actively identifies and mitigates risks associated to the contractual framework used on the projects.
• Support – Supports regional/global sourcing initiatives within a defined set of categories, working closely with key stakeholders to implement regional category strategies.
• Orders – Runs regional sourcing initiatives under a defined threshold. Initiates purchase orders (PO) in the system, according to the Purchase Requisitions and in alignment with standard procedures, and confirms delivery with suppliers, monitors and tracks supplier performance to purchase order requirements.
• Budget & Performance Targets – Contribute to and participates in setting and implementing budget and targets within the framework.
• Procurement – Manages planning and tracking of procurement activities, cost budgets, emerging country spending and savings forecasts.
• Communication – Fosters communication internally (Sales/Tender, Engineering, SCM, others), externally (E&C Companies, Forums), and between different Divisions, Business Units and Functions.

Ideal Background:

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Business Administration, Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, or category management, preferably within a manufacturing or energy sector.
• Proven track record of developing and implementing successful category strategies and delivering significant cost savings.
• Strong negotiation skills with experience in complex contract negotiations.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities, with proficiency in data analysis tools (e.g., Excel, SAP Ariba, or similar).
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team in a fast-paced, global environment.
• CIPS qualification or equivalent is highly desirable.

The Company: NES Fircroft are currently working on behalf of a global power technology business which have a presence in almost 100 countries. Leading innovation for over a century, they partake in offering products, solutions and services within the energy industry. Helping their customers, improve efficiency, optimize resources, and reduce emissions.

With over 90 years' combined experience, NES Fircroft (NES) is proud to be the world's leading engineering staffing provider spanning the Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Construction & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Mining and Manufacturing sectors worldwide. With more than 80 offices in 45 countries, we are able to provide our clients with the engineering and technical expertise they need, wherever and whenever it is needed.