Category Manager

at  Coop

CATEGORY MANAGER – IT

£52,000 – £55,000 plus excellent benefits (Work Level 5)
Manchester city centre, hybrid (find out more about our hybrid working policy at colleagues.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy)
We’re looking for a Category Manager to join our dynamic procurement function here at Co-op and drive the procurement strategy across our IT function. You’ll be working with colleagues across procurement as well as others across the wider business, establishing needs and finding the most cost-effective solutions. By finding the best value for money, we can re-invest savings into local communities and make them great places to live.
In this role, we’ll also look to you to build relationships with our current and future external partners and use commercial tools to help us deliver big projects. Our growing procurement team has a £1.3 billion annual spend – so it’s a big job. But if you can bring us the skills we’re looking for, we can offer you the change to make a make a huge impact on our entire business.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Help to deliver a number of transformation programmes by getting involved in sourcing projects (including analysis and supplier selection), negotiating statements of work, supporting business cases for budget provision, and participating in project governance
• Run supplier governance processes with the key suppliers supporting the programme
• Develop a strong understanding of the associated software licencing models
• Offer advice and challenging on costs and budgets
• Drive innovation through leveraging your knowledge of the IT and digital markets
• Build positive relationships with colleagues at all levels, acting as a procurement business partner
• Monitor and minimise risk through proactive contract management, working closely with our legal teams to make sure our contracts are effective

THIS ROLE WOULD SUIT PEOPLE WHO HAVE

• Category management experience with IT systems implementations and in software negotiations
• Attention to detail and the ability to analyse and interpret data
• Good interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to build relationships with suppliers and partners, able to challenge in a positive way
• Experience of complex negotiation and sound commercial thinking ability