Category Lead, Technology Procurement

NatWest Group; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services provider is looking for a Category Lead in Technology Procurement in Edinburgh. In this visible leadership role, you will develop global procurement strategies, manage supplier relationships, and lead a team to improve procurement processes. Ideal candidates will have substantial experience in procurement, supplier management, and stakeholder engagement, along with a relevant degree.

Qualifications

• Deep category and supplier management knowledge in technology categories.
• Experience leading and developing teams through direct and indirect management.
• Ability to manage senior-level stakeholder relationships effectively.

Responsibilities

• Lead global procurement strategies and solutions for the business.
• Manage and improve supplier performance aligned with strategy.
• Develop strong networks across the supply market and external organizations.

Skills

Supplier management knowledge

Stakeholder management skills

Problem solving

Contract law knowledge

Data driven decision making

Team leadership

Education

Degree or equivalent

Tools

AI technology

Cloud services

Job description

Join us as a Category Lead, Technology Procurement

• We’ll look to you to give us a competitive advantage and improve our customer experience
• By partnering with business leaders, you’ll be supporting, developing and delivering innovative procurement solutions that align with our cost and risk appetite expectations
• This is an opportunity to achieve excellent exposure in a highly visible leadership role and to make a real impact with your work

What you'll do

As a Category Lead, you’ll be leading joined-up, global procurement strategies and solutions that incorporate the full contract life cycle, focussed on enabling your business partners to achieve their goals.

Leading a global team of procurement managers both directly and indirectly, you'll also be leading the development and management of our supply base in line with our strategy, including owning and developing key strategic suppliers on behalf of the bank, identifying potential new suppliers and managing and improving supplier performance.

In addition, you’ll be:

• Delivering proactive plans and prioritising all available resource to ensure efficient delivery and management of the supply base in line with business goals
• Leading and building strong networks across the supply market and other external organisations, including peers, and developing deep insights and analysis
• Developing powerful internal and external relationships through a deep understanding of your assigned business area’s strategy and goals and its supply chain
• Be recognised as a business partner for developing supply chain strategies that accelerate achievement of business goals
• Implementing the stakeholder management strategy and be recognised for delivering an excellent supply chain service to those stakeholders

The skills you'll need

To succeed in this role, you’ll need deep category and supplier management knowledge and experience across a variety of technology categories with a demonstrable track record of success in implementation. You’ll be educated to degree level or equivalent, and you’ll have experience in leading and developing teams through direct and indirect line management. You'll be able to manage stakeholder relationships at a senior level and business critical supplier relationships and contracts to deliver sustainable improvement.

You’ll also demonstrate:

• An inquisitive, data led approach to problem solving and decision making
• Knowledge of contract law and legal knowledge relevant to procurement
• Experience in applying procurement and business partnering skills and techniques to positively disrupt business strategy and outcomes
• A proven track record in taking ownership of resolving issues within a procurement environment
• Experience in designing and implementing a variety of supply chain models leveraging technology such as AI and cloud services as well as more traditional offshore, outsourcing, utility and make versus buy techniques
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to build and maintain complex and multiple business stakeholder relationships