Risk & Insurance Category Manager in London

Exciting opportunity with our client to help build global infrastructure and teams from the ground up. What makes this especially compelling is that you’re not just stepping into a role—you’re helping shape how the business operates moving forward, with real visibility and impact. It’s a chance to be part of a well-known global brand at a pivotal moment of transformation and growth.

Location: United Kingdom- London- Hybrid

Role Overview

• Owns the end-to-end Risk & Insurance procurement category, including strategy development, sourcing, contracting, and ongoing carrier/broker management across key insurance spend areas (e.g., property, casualty, auto, cyber, D&O, E&O, general liability, workers’ compensation, specialty lines, umbrella).
• Acts as the primary commercial partner to Risk Management, Finance, Legal, and business stakeholders, translating risk and coverage requirements into effective category / sourcing strategies and contract structures.
• Leads commercial negotiations with insurers and brokers to deliver optimal total cost of risk, cost savings and avoidance, robust coverage, and risk mitigation while ensuring that service-level outcomes align with business priorities.
• Plays a critical role in standing up and maturing the indirect procurement function, with specific focus on insurance program design, provider selection, and contract execution in a separation / stand‑up environment.
• Ensures all insurance-related providers, their selection, and contracts comply with regulatory requirements, the company’s code of conduct, and internal procurement and risk policies.
• Participates as an invited member of the senior risk/finance leadership forums, acting as the bridge between business leadership and procurement, while providing commercial input and ensuring strategic alignment of insurance programs with enterprise risk appetite.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a multi-year risk & insurance category strategy, including detailed spend and loss analyses by line of coverage, demand and exposure assessments, sourcing roadmaps, and policy renewal calendars.
• Ensure category strategies support the organization’s objectives for resilience, safety, sustainability, and operational continuity.
• Lead scoping, RFPs, market exercises, and negotiation of insurance policies and broker agreements, including commercial terms, coverage limits and sub-limits, deductibles/retentions, SLAs, pricing models, and risk provisions.
• Partner closely with Risk Management, Finance, Treasury, Legal, and business units to understand risk exposures and coverage needs, align on priorities, and ensure contracts support operational, strategic, and legal requirements.
• Establish and manage ongoing performance and governance for insurers and brokers, including scorecards, QBRs, issue and claim escalation, service quality, and value realization tracking across the insurance portfolio.
• Support transition and stand‑up activities as part of the separation (e.g., Day 1 readiness, stand‑up of new master policies/programs, novation or migration from legacy contracts), ensuring continuity of critical insurance coverage.
• Drive standardization and optimization of insurance procurement processes, documentation, and controls as part of building a scalable indirect procurement model.
• Monitor insurance market trends, regulatory changes, and emerging risks; provide insights into the budget process, sourcing strategies, renewal plans, and risk financing recommendations.
• Collaborate with internal risk owners to identify opportunities for loss prevention and risk engineering that can improve terms and reduce total cost of risk.
• Act as an agent of change by respectfully challenging the status quo to ensure optimum outcomes are achieved between Risk Management, Finance, and Procurement.

Experience & Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of experience in procurement, category management, strategic sourcing, or risk/insurance management, with direct experience managing insurance and/or risk financing categories (carrier or broker side experience a plus).
• Proven track record of leading complex commercial negotiations with insurers and brokers and managing strategic vendor relationships in a matrixed, global environment.
• Strong understanding of insurance products, program structures, and market models (e.g., primary/excess towers, captives, global programs, brokerage models, TPA arrangements).
• Experience supporting organizational change, separations/carve‑outs, or procurement function stand‑ups is strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree and/or professional designations (e.g., CPCU, ARM, or procurement certifications such as CPSM) are a plus.
• Strong analytical and financial skills, including comfort with exposure and loss data, scenario modeling, and total cost of risk analyses.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills, with an ability to work effectively across risk, finance, legal, and business teams.

What Makes This Opportunity Unique

• Shape and build a new indirect procurement organization from the ground up, including stand‑up of critical insurance contracts and development of the overarching insurance sourcing and risk financing strategy for the new company.
• Play a visible, strategic role with senior leadership at a pivotal moment for the business, ensuring that insurance programs enable growth while protecting the company’s balance sheet.