Category Manager

eporting to the Head of Procurement, the Category Manager (Non-IS) is responsible for contributing to, and executing, LR’s overall procurement and sustainability strategies for Non-IS spend.

Working closely with budget-owner stakeholders in Corporate Functions and in LR’s Service Lines, he/she will also be responsible for developing and implementing individual category strategies, for a wide range of professional services, travel and mobility,and employee-related services.

With an immediate focus on value-for-money - and on reducing LR’s number of suppliers and meeting carbon reduction targets over the medium term - the Category Manager (Non-IS) will lead commercial negotiations with 3rd party suppliers on behalf of LR, maximisingthe leverage available from LR’s scale.

He / she will be responsible for establishing and maintaining good procurement practices and vendor management disciplines, while also supporting related process improvement initiatives.

He / she will be expected to build trusted partnerships with LR’s major suppliers, monitor and review their performance and impact on customers’ and colleagues’ satisfaction, and ensure value is being obtained through the use of appropriate metrics - drivingcontinuous, as well as initiating step-change improvements, as necessary

**Responsibilities**
- Developing strong relationships with internal business and functional leaders in order to influence behaviours and ensure the appropriate and timely involvement of Procurement in all sourcing activities; influencing, challenging and jointly developing strategicsourcing strategies.
- Designing and managing procurement project plans for individual initiatives, evaluating processes and identifying risks and issues to ensure contracts are delivered on time, to budget, with improved benefits and savings for LR.
- In conjunction with business and functional leaders, leading on requests for information, requests for quotations, requests for proposals and other commercial information on specific projects.
- Managing the commercial bid process, negotiation of terms and conditions, assessing risks and implementing suitable strategies to mitigate risk.
- Forging and maintaining trusted partnerships with LR’s suppliers and partners; holding suppliers to account, managing performance through the use of metrics and improving LR colleagues’ satisfaction.
- Driving continual improvement of existing suppliers and contracts, while managing contract lifecycles / timescales effectively, to (re-)negotiate terms of greater value to LR.
- Working within LR’s governance model, ensuring procurement methodologies and standards are maintained, appropriate and are complied with, and that risks are appropriately managed.
- Being an active advocate for the Procurement team; educating the business and showing the value and benefit that involving Procurement early on in sourcing initiatives can bring.

**To be considered**
- 10+ years demonstrable experience in a Commercial, Procurement or Supply Chain related role.
- Holds Professional Membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (MCIPS).
- Degree-level educated.
- Strong commercial acumen, with extensive and relevant experience of 3rd-party negotiations, commercial terms, contracting and subsequent vendor management; strong negotiator that achieves optimal results.
- Sound understanding and experience of, partners and suppliers, including supplier development and relationship management.
- Pragmatic in approach, with an ability to interpret a range of differing priorities and influence the outcome across a range of senior stakeholders.
- Able to foresee and solve challenges that may have a broad impact on the wider business strategy or outcomes. Sensitive to needing to manage impacts on colleagues / managing change.
- Results-driven and highly customer-focused; concerned with meeting, and exceeding, customer expectations. Able to manage to deadlines.
- Ability to structure RFPs, evaluate and summarise responses against a broad set of criteria and provide recommendations regarding vendor selection. Experience of larger, more complex RFPs desirable.
- Financially literate and analytical in nature.
- Proven ability to operate in a complex and diverse environment, with strong stakeholder engagement, written and oral communication skills.
- Highly developed influencing skills and ability to work collaboratively, both upwards and at peer level, with functional and business colleagues.
- Sound understanding and experience of how to overcome the barriers to achieving significant change that can result from a new (procurement) approach.