Senior Category Manager (Infrastructure)

UCL is London’s leading multidisciplinary university and one of the world’s most successful research institutions, with more than 18,000 staff and over 51,000 students from more than 150 countries.

Our Commercial & Procurement function manages more than 900 million of third-party expenditure each year and plays an important role in ensuring UCL achieves excellent commercial outcomes while supporting our wider strategic and sustainability ambitions. Within Estates Development, we support the continued investment, development and improvement of UCL’s diverse and complex estate. Effective infrastructure is fundamental to the operation of the university, supporting the environments in which our students learn, our researchers undertake world-leading work and our staff deliver services.

We are strengthening our commercial capability and are looking for an experienced Senior Category Manager – Infrastructure to help shape how UCL procures and manages strategically important infrastructure requirements.

As Senior Category Manager – Infrastructure, you will take ownership of developing and delivering commercial and procurement strategies across infrastructure-related expenditure within UCL’s Estates Development portfolio. Reporting to the Head of Category – Estates Development, you will work closely with senior stakeholders to understand their priorities, future requirements and commercial challenges, translating these into effective category, sourcing and contracting strategies.

You will lead complex procurement activity from initial strategy and market engagement through to competition, negotiation and contract award. This will include determining appropriate routes to market, developing contracting and negotiation strategies and leading the delivery of frameworks, competitions and other commercial solutions.

Beyond individual procurements, you will take a strategic view of the category, using commercial insight and data to identify opportunities to improve value, drive efficiencies and deliver cost savings. You will challenge existing approaches where appropriate, identify opportunities within the supply market and help introduce innovation and new ways of working.

You will also act as a trusted commercial adviser to senior stakeholders, providing guidance on procurement, contractual, commercial and compliance matters and ensuring commercial considerations are embedded into infrastructure planning and decision-making. This is an opportunity to influence how a major organisation approaches infrastructure procurement and to help develop commercial solutions that balance value, quality, risk, sustainability and long-term operational requirements.

You will be an experienced procurement and commercial professional with significant experience of leading complex procurement activity and developing category or sourcing strategies. Ideally, your experience will include infrastructure, engineering, utilities, construction, estates or another technically complex environment, although we are particularly interested in the commercial capability and transferable experience you can bring.

You will have experience developing and implementing robust procurements and contracts and be a confident negotiator who has delivered complex, large-scale commercial solutions. You will be able to demonstrate how you have identified commercial opportunities, developed effective strategies and converted these into tangible outcomes.

You will be comfortable operating within a large and complex organisation and working with a broad range of stakeholders. You will have the credibility to influence senior colleagues, constructively challenge requirements and build strong relationships with both internal stakeholders and external suppliers. Strong analytical skills and commercial judgement will be important. You will be able to use data and market intelligence to inform decisions, manage competing priorities and communicate complex commercial information clearly and concisely.

You will be educated to degree level or have equivalent professional experience. Further professional development and accredited membership of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) would be advantageous.

If you are looking for an opportunity to combine strategic procurement expertise with the challenge of supporting a large, complex and evolving estate, we would be delighted to hear from you.

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave, 8 bank holidays and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Immigration loan
• Relocation scheme for certain posts
• On-Site nursery
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.