Category Director in Manchester

A great opportunity to join our Product & Supplier Management department, lead a major category area, and a team of 14 category management professionals with an awesome track record of delivering brilliantly. P&SM at RS is a great place to build on your career and support others with their development journey. So if you have the passion and energy to make amazing things happen, we would love to talk to you.

The Category Director is accountable for developing the category strategy/business plan aligned with group, regional and local stakeholders enabling targeted profitable growth, customer acquisition and ROI in addition to effective supplier management through delivery of the best in class regional offer for our customers. The strategy defines and details the regional supplier portfolio, product range and growth initiatives. The category strategy and business plans are developed collaboratively with key stakeholders across the business. Most importantly this incorporates support of local go-to-market strategies, e.g. focus on specific industry verticals and local hero brands.

Alongside the development and execution of the aligned Category strategy, the Category Director is accountable for delivering the budgeted category revenue and margin performance of the category whilst maintaining the relevant stock metrics (stock turn, inventory holding and provision management). Supporting their team in optimising the commercial terms from each supplier managed within the category, usually linked to regional initiatives that rely on supplier support. The Category Director also leads the development of senior / C-suite relationships with the most important and strategic suppliers, facilitating strategic partnerships to optimise joint business growth and provide a point of escalation to defuse any conflict. They should also support the development of relationships of RS leadership with their supplier equivalents.

Accountable for the people management of the category team, supporting their personal development and coaching to optimise their portfolio and supplier management execution against the strategy. Ensures high potential talent is identified and supported with corresponding personal development plan. Succession plans in place for the category to support smooth transition as key individuals progress. Defines KPIs and category priorities for the team with associated objectives and review cycle. Takes the lead in managing the cross functional category leadership team supporting the E2E teams and maintaining alignment around the holistic category strategy. This provides a point of escalation for the end-to-end "cell" teams and facilitates removing blockers that are preventing execution of the strategy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Achieving budgeted category revenue, margin and stock turn targets for the Category.
• Executing on aligned category strategy supporting the region's and markets' go to market strategies.
• Achieving agreed targets for regional initiatives reflected in the regional budget (e.g. Direct Procurement).
• Market share growth for Strategic and Key suppliers and for the category as a whole.
• Achieving rebate and marketing funding targets for the Category.
• Executing agreed NPI plan for Category and delivering budgeted NPI revenue.
• Effective alignment and management of the E2E category team to achieve all cross functional E2E KPIs.
• Supporting growth and development of top talent within the Category and subsequent execution of the succession plan to ensure continuity.
• Develop a digital mindset within the team to make better business decisions.

Key opportunities for growth in this role:

• Help shape the strategic direction for the region through offering insight at a category level, informed by suppliers investment plans/strategic direction.
• Opportunity to develop influencing skills and build cross functional relationships across the region.
• Develop senior external supplier relationships, broadening understanding of external markets (suppliers/industries/technologies).
• Optimise negotiation skills through Supplier interactions to optimise commercial returns for RS Group.
• Interaction with the broader P&SC leadership team to better understand the E2E dynamics of buying and distributing products.
• Opportunity to be an evangelist for RS Group with suppliers, selling our value proposition and embedding RS as a preferred partner within their go to market strategy/approach.
• Driving innovation through adapting to new technology or finding new solutions to solve problems/challenges.

Essential experience required for this role:

• Demonstrable expertise at managing within a matrix organisation.
• Experience of both Buying and Product management (Category management) delivering great growth results whilst improving commercial profitability.
• Successful development and execution of a category strategy that has delivered profitable growth and market share gains.
• Ability to function effectively across cultures, to think and act appropriately and to communicate and work with people from different cultural backgrounds.
• Successful supplier management experience, including negotiation expertise.
• Collaborative team player finding common ground to find a way forward.
• Strong commercial acumen and communication skills.
• Proven ability to lead and develop high performing teams.
• Problem solving capabilities, finding positive solutions from challenging circumstances.
• Can demonstrate effective working and adaption to a changing environment, quickly accepting and driving the change through themselves and their team.

We are RS Group. At RS we've been solving engineering problems for over 80 years: big ones, small ones, easy and difficult ones. We turn the 'what ifs' into the 'why nots', the impossible into the possible. Our purpose? Making amazing happen for a better world. We offer service and product solutions. We send out a parcel every 2 seconds, to over 130 countries. We provide over 700,000 in-stock and over 3 million unstocked products to more than 1.2 million customers. We want people like you, as you are curious about things, you like doing things differently and also in a human way with empathy. Because that's exactly how we partner with people – our customers, suppliers, colleagues and communities – to solve problems. We'll also invest in your development and wellbeing – because building a more diverse and inclusive culture, being ethical, responsible and committed to our Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) action plan is at the heart of everything we do. Come and join us and over 9000 employees worldwide – and we'll help you to think big, do more and unleash your brilliance, so you do amazing things too.