Category Manager

Have you got procurement Category Management expertise?

We've got a fantastic opportunity for Category Managers to join our busy Procurement team on a fixed term basis. Based from our head office in Basingstoke, you’ll combine home and office working to ensure a positive work / life balance.

It's a really exciting time to join us as Sovereign have joined forces with Network Homes to form SNG (Sovereign Network Group). Together we provide over 84,000 homes and invest in communities across London and the South of England - our purpose being to provide quality affordable homes and places that people love for generations.

The Role

As a Category Manager you will support the delivery of a number of key change sourcing projects, working collaboratively with project teams. Ideally, we're looking for Category Managers who have experience within Development, Construction, Property Services or Corporate Services procurement activities. Responsibilities include:

• Overseeing your categories and analysing trends in spend; supplier engagement; contracts to develop strategic procurement solutions to deliver effiencies and benefits to the business
• Delivering a portfolio of sourcing projects from end-to-end, ensuring the business receives value for money, meets project timelines and delivers to a high high standard
• Leading supplier engagement and sourcing activity from definition of requirements and sourcing, through to tender and life cycle management
• Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders to understand business plans and objectives as well as any challenges, opportunities and identifying any risks
• Undertaking market research, including on Suppliers, Markets and framework opportunities to support active procurement projects
• Ensuring all expenditure is identified with routes to market being clearly defined
• Identifying areas where Procurement can add measurable value in terms of sourcing exercises; onward effective supplier management and strategic procurement

What we're looking for

You'll need to have demonstrable experience within a similar role in procurement, ideally with a background in Development, Construction, Property Services or Corporate Services procurement activity. You'll also need:

• Strong experience in supplier relationship management, ensuring you seek value for money deals with suppliers who are committed to delivering a high service to Sovereign
• Understanding of the principles of procurement with the ability to transfer and apply this understanding to different projects across multiple categories
• To be well organised with a high attention to detail
• An agile approach with the ability to work successfully on multiple projects at different stages, effectively prioritising tasks
• To be self-motivated and an active collaborator, sharing ideas and working cohesively with the wider team
• An understanding of, or exposure to, PCR projects is beneficial to this role but is not essential

We work closely with one another and we're looking for someone who really invests time to form strong relationships with team colleagues. With a focus on customer experience, you'll demonstrate our values in everything you do.

Your benefits

We have some great benefits on offer at SNG, including:

• £450 flex-pot annually, discounted shopping & cycling scheme
• 25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays (with an extra day every year up to 30 days)
• Company pension scheme matched up to 12%, life cover at 4x your salary
• Flexible working - we're committed to giving people flexibility as widely as possible
• Options for private medical insurance, dental insurance & critical illness cover

At Sovereign Network Group, we are passionate about inclusion for all and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. We are committed to our Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategy and believe that you can truly be yourself at Sovereign. Take a look at our careers site to learn more about us and our values.

This is a great opportunity to join the team as we progress through an exciting period of change. What we do makes a real difference to people's lives and by joining us you can share the satisfaction of doing something that really matters.