Category Specialist

3 days ago

Slough, United Kingdom John Crane Full time

About Us

Founded in 1917, John Crane is a global leader in the design, manufacturing, and engineering of mission critical flow control solutions for increased efficiency, emission reductions and energy transformation. Our products include mechanical seals and systems, couplings, bearings, filtration systems and predictive digital monitoring technologies. John Crane customer service is accessed through a global network of more than 200 global sites in over 50 countries employing more than 6,000 employees worldwide. We partner with our customers and help them meet the latest environmental standards and keep their operations safe and controlled.



Please double check you have the right level of experience and qualifications by reading the full overview of this opportunity below.

John Crane is part of Smiths Group, For over 170 years, Smiths has been improving our world through smarter engineering. Our technology benefits millions of people every day – making travel safer, supporting sustainable energy transition, efficiently heating, cooling our homes, and helping our world stay connected.


Connect with us on LinkedIn: John Crane: LinkedIn


Job Description

Manages and leverages global spend and global suppliers for assigned category. Responsible for products and services delivery according to the requirements set by the global operations. Assist in conceptualizing and implementing a global strategic procurement vision, strategy, and methodology in support to the Company’s goals and objectives. Responsible for Global Supplier performances and continuous improvement requirement deliverables.


This role is open to being based from any of our European offices and requires both international and national travel.


Duties & Responsibilities

  • Manages the global category spend across all global operations
  • Monitors global markets trends to mitigate the impact of supply shortfall risks or price increases
  • Designs and develops the supplier-base to leverage global spend opportunities, reduce lead times, and total cost of ownership
  • Develops and implements category global sourcing plans and spend strategies to support broad business objectives
  • Manages the entire supplier lifecycle, from approval to disqualification
  • Defines the strategy for supplier consolidation and reduce costs whilst maintaining or improving service level and quality
  • Leverages spend and optimizes quality, delivery, and cost by continuously identifying opportunities to reduce waste
  • Negotiates proper global contracts and develops frame agreements for strategic spend that endure volatility, solo source
  • Be the main contact for global supplier relations through single point of contact Supplier Management organization. Engages key stakeholders as required including Senior Management
  • Sets performance objectives to assigned suppliers (quality improvement, on-time delivery, lead-time reduction, cost reduction). Defines baseline, improvement targets and monitors progress through a regularly updated supplier scorecard
  • Benchmarks performance and audits suppliers with assistance from key stakeholders
  • Promotes technical innovation by ensuring John Crane access to new technologies


Specific deliverables of the position:

  • Meeting stakeholder, customer requirements and needs (cost, capacity, quality, and delivery)
  • Thorough global markets (related to assigned Category) understanding including benchmarking
  • Global leverage
  • Global contracts and frame agreements
  • Strategic category plan definition, implementation, and communication to key stakeholders
  • Quarterly Supplier Performance Reviews and Annual Business Reviews.


Key Skills:

  • Good supplier management skills
  • Integrity and excellent negotiation skills
  • Ability to work in teams
  • Excellent communication and presentation skills
  • Ability to work with a global footprint organization and meet deadlines.


Key Performance metrics that relates to the job:

  • Formal category and sourcing strategic plans with the list of preferred suppliers, deployed and reviewed twice a year
  • Quality and On-time delivery improvements
  • Lead-time and costs / pricing reductions
  • Supplier base rationalization
  • Percentage of spend allocated to preferred / global suppliers
  • Percentage of spend covered by global contracts and frame agreements


The Individual

  • Bachelor's degree; Master's Degree -
  • Adequate knowledge of the category management
  • A working knowledge of Quality Management Systems, API standards along with the experience of qualifying and auditing suppliers is essential. Experience with Continuous Improvement, Lean or Sic Sigma is a plus
  • Knowledge of Instrumentation & Fluid Sealing Systems is an added advantage


We believe that different perspectives and backgrounds are what make a company flourish. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, economic status, disability, age, or any other legally protected characteristics. We are proud to be an inclusive company with values grounded in equality and ethics, where we celebrate, support, and embrace diversity.


At no time during the hiring process will John Crane, Smiths Group nor any of our recruitment partners ever request payment to enable participation – including, but not limited to, interviews or testing. Avoid fraudulent requests by applying jobs directly through our career’s website (Careers – John Crane)

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