Central Procurement Manager
- Manchester
- Permanent
- Full-time
- Managing Category Strategy: Leading category initiatives to drive value, innovation, and cost efficiencies across key spend areas.
- Owning the Supplier Approval Process: Ensuring all new and existing suppliers meet company standards for quality, compliance, and risk.
- Enhancing Supplier Relationships: Building strong partnerships to ensure performance, compliance, and continuous improvement.
- Supporting Operational Demands: Providing expert procurement support to meet increased workload and ensure timely, compliant sourcing.
- Driving Consistency: Aligning procurement practices with company and client policies across all business units.
- Strengthening the Central Function: Acting as a key link between operational teams and strategic procurement, embedding best practices and scalable processes.
- Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing Central Procurement Team.
- Inspire and motivate team members to achieve individual and collective goals.
- Foster a collaborative, customer-focused, and positive team culture.
- Act as the escalation point for procurement-related queries and challenges.
- Oversee people planning, budgeting, workload allocation, performance reviews, and training needs.
- Oversee supplier onboarding to ensure compliance and mitigate risk.
- Support audits and ensure alignment with internal policies.
- Monitor supplier performance and drive continuous improvement.
- Manage key supplier relationships to maximise value.
- Provide final approval on supplier evaluations.
- Develop and execute category procurement strategies aligned with business goals.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to meet operational needs.
- Analyse market trends and risks to inform sourcing decisions.
- Manage category plans and supplier engagement.
- Lead tender processes, including ITTs/RFQs and evaluations.
- Support negotiations on commercial terms, KPIs, and service levels.
- Drive cost optimisation while maintaining quality and service.
- Ensure adherence to procurement policies, contracts, and regulations.
- Implement best practices and drive continuous process improvement.
- Promote sustainable procurement aligned with business values and ESG objectives.
- Maintain and optimise the P2P system, ensuring clean and accurate data.
- Prepare and present regular board-level reports on procurement performance.
- Act as the key contact for supplier stability and risk communication.
- Develop and monitor KPIs to assess team and individual performance.
- Take on additional responsibilities as required, in line with the role.
- Represent the department and organisation professionally in all interactions.
- 2+ years' experience in category management within a senior procurement role.
- Advanced knowledge of category management and procurement models.
- Customer-centric approach to procurement delivery.
- Strong leadership, communication, and negotiation skills.
- Excellent analytical and decision-making abilities.
- Organised, resilient, and deadline-driven.
- Proficient in P2P and reporting systems, Excel, Power BI, and ideally Visio.
- Demonstrable success in delivering cost savings and operational improvements.
- Strong understanding of supply chains, frameworks, and contract law.
- Experience shaping procurement policies and procedures.
- Confident and constructive stakeholder engagement
- Experience in category management and supplier segmentation.
- Knowledge of ISO standards, ESG compliance, and ethical sourcing practices.
- Experience in regulated industries (e.g. utilities, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, food).