Senior Category Manager - Property in Blackburn

At Places for People, we hire People, not numbers! Experience and track record are important, but we’re more interested in hiring someone that embodies our People Promises. That’s someone that does the right thing, is enthusiastic and motivated to grow, believes in Community spirit, is respectful and enjoys their work. As the UK’s leading Social Enterprise, we’re dedicated to creating inclusive and thriving Communities for both our Customers and Employees.

We’re looking for an experienced Senior Category Manager to play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering strategic procurement across the organisation. Leading complex, high value categories, you’ll drive value, manage risk, and ensure strong commercial outcomes that support our long-term strategic objectives. Working closely with senior stakeholders, you’ll develop and implement category strategies, lead major sourcing initiatives, and design robust commercial and contractual arrangements that enable effective supplier and contract management throughout the lifecycle.

The role is working in our Armitage, South Rings Office in Preston 1-2 days a week.

You’re an experienced procurement professional with strong expertise in category management, strategic sourcing, and the design of effective commercial and contractual models. With proven commercial acumen and the ability to engage senior stakeholders, you deliver value, manage risk, and drive sustainable outcomes across complex categories.

The Essential criteria for this role is listed below:

• Significant procurement experience in a public sector environment with strong expertise in category management, strategic sourcing, and commercial strategy development, including the design of robust commercial and contractual models (KPIs, SLAs, performance frameworks, payment mechanisms, risk allocation, indexation, social value requirements, and outcome based specifications) to enable effective post contract management.
• Experience in providing strategic commercial advice to senior stakeholders, influencing requirements, challenging demand, supporting options appraisals (make/buy, insource/outsource, standardisation), and improving compliance to preferred routes and policies.
• Proven leadership experience, including coaching and developing teams and driving high performance.

We are a large diverse and ambitious business, which will give you all the challenge you could wish for. We know that there’s always more we can do to make you smile, that’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits package with each role, yours will include:

• Competitive salary, with a salary review yearly
• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Excellent holiday package up to 35 days annual leave with the option to buy or sell leave
• Cashback plan for healthcare costs up to £500 saving per year
• A bonus scheme for all colleagues at 2%
• Training and development
• Extra perks including huge discounts and offers from shops, cinemas and much more

If you meet the criteria and are ready to make the next step in your career then click apply. You will be redirected to our careers site where you can discover more about the role, read a full job description and apply directly to us.

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application. We are dedicated to creating a supportive and accessible recruitment process for all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview experience, please let us know. We’re happy to work with you to ensure you have the opportunity to perform at your best.

If you are a Places for People customer and you’re looking for support with your application, please contact our skills and employment team. We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours.

Safeguarding At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment. By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities.