Category Manager

Your new role Highways England is investing 27bn from 2020 - 2025 across the strategic road network. Our job is to manage and improve the road network to make journeys safer, smoother and more reliable. Here at Highways England we are constantly challenging ourselves and our supply chain to achieve more for our customers. As a Category Manager you will work closely with the supply chain to identify new opportunities for a defined Infrastructure/Construction category and manage existing arrangements. Utilising your excellent relationship skills you will actively engage (at senior level) with a wide range of suppliers. You will be responsible for leveraging the best possible value, identifying opportunities for innovation and capturing changes in the marketplace to meet the strategic objectives for your assigned category. The role would suit an individual with knowledge of the procurement lifecycle and an understanding of a variety of forms of contracts such as NEC3/4. Our frameworks have values of up to circa 3.3bn across our investment projects and so this is a great opportunity offering exposure to a variety stakeholders across fast past innovative categories. We are pleased to offer this role from our Leeds or Birmingham office. A flexible attitude to travel is needed as the successful candidate will be required to travel to other Highways England and supplier sites on a regular basis. What you'll be doing Develop specific plans to deliver Highways England wide category management strategy within assigned product areas Managing and building effective relationships with key internal and supply chain stakeholders to promote and support the embedment of category strategy arrangements and initiatives (including frameworks) Identifying and managing category product risks that impact performance and delivery, and ensure that Corporate Governance is maintained at all times Working with the Commercial, Procurement and Supply Chain teams to develop appropriate procurement approach for assigned category area Actively identifying and driving opportunities for innovation with category stakeholders within assigned category and apply best practice that meets strategic objectives (e.g. improved safety, customer experience, etc.). To be successful You are passionate about Procurement with demonstrable experience of working in a Procurement, Commercial or Supply Chain development environment, with a working knowledge of the procurement lifecycle and associated regulations You have a wide breadth of industry knowledge specific to the Infrastructure/Construction sector with the drive to seek out changes in the market and sector insights to inform strategy You will have the ability to operate strategically and at times tactically where appropriate You are a natural at managing multiple improvement projects with an awareness of risk management You actively build, maintain and nurture relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders and management stakeholder relationships effectively. A bit about us There's never been a better time to join our Commercial and Procurement team. We're a growing, vibrant team helping to drive the most ambitious roads investment programme our country has ever seen. You'll be involved in ensuring that our customers and road workers get home safe and well every day while travelling or working on our road network. Want to know more? To request a copy of the role profile please contact charlotte.randzio@highwaysengland.co.uk quoting reference number HIG03582. Why you should join us At Highways England we believe in a connected country. We are passionate about creating a culture where colleagues feel connected, included and enjoy greater wellbeing to achieve this. We're proud that as an organisation we are continually striving to do better and actively encourage and support our colleagues to do the same with their careers. So if you put safety first, take ownership of your work, show passion for what you do, work effectively in a team, and demonstrate integrity in how you do it - then you'll be a great fit for our organisation. And finally And finally we reserve the right to close before the advertised closing date, so we recommend completing your application as soon as possible.