Category Manager - Consulting & Professional Advisory

Prudential Distribution Ltd; Greater London, Stirling; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme up to 18%

Share Save and Share Incentive Plan

38 days annual leave (bank holidays +)

Time Off When You Need It

Inspiring Families policy

Private Healthcare

Job summary

M&G is seeking a Category Manager for Consulting and Professional Advisory, based in London or Stirling. You will drive the category strategy, lead supplier negotiations, and influence stakeholders at senior levels to secure best commercial outcomes.

The role requires substantial category management experience, strong financial acumen, and proficiency with BI tools. You will collaborate across UK and India teams to deliver value and governance.

Qualifications

• Substantial category management or strategic sourcing experience.
• Strong commercial and financial judgement, including TCO and should-cost analysis.
• Able to work from London or Stirling base offices with travel as required.

Responsibilities

• Develop category strategy for Consulting and Professional Advisory.
• Lead high-value sourcing events and negotiations with vendors.
• Manage senior supplier relationships under commercial pressure.
• Shape commercial terms, pricing mechanisms and governance.
• Utilise spend data and BI to identify trends and opportunities.

Skills

Category management

Strategic sourcing

Negotiation

Stakeholder management

Financial acumen

Data analysis

Education

CIPS or equivalent

Tools

Power BI

Market Dojo

Job description

At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions. Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions. Through telling it like it is, owning it now and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent. We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and offer workplace adjustments to ensure you have the support you need to succeed in your role. The Role: Category Manager - Consulting & Professional Advisory The Category Manager is the commercial owner of the Consulting and Professional Advisory category and acts as an internal commercial consultant to the business.

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy and Commercial Leadership

Build, own and execute the category strategy for Consulting and Professional Advisory, based on a detailed understanding of supply market structure, vendor commercial models, cost drivers and market trends. Maintain living category plans covering market analysis, supply base segmentation, demand profiling, route to market and savings opportunities. Develop commercial strategies for key vendors well ahead of renewal, so that M&G negotiates from a position of insight and has credible alternatives. Lead high-value sourcing events and negotiations, including setting the negotiation strategy, BATNA and walk‑away position, managing concessions and holding positions with incumbents. Manage senior supplier relationships under commercial pressure. Design sourcing events and evaluation criteria, and decide how much process each event needs based on its value, risk and complexity. Introduce competitive tension into renewals and new commitments, moving from single‑source and incumbent renewal to structured market engagement, preferred supplier frameworks and normalised rate cards.

Savings and Value Delivery

Build and own the category savings plan against an agreed share of the group cost reduction target, sizing and prioritising opportunities by value and deliverability. Agree baselines and savings methodology with Finance before work starts, and follow savings through until they show in budgets and run rates. Build total cost of ownership and should‑cost models, model the budget impact of sourcing options and how savings will be recognised in each department’s P&L cost reports, and make sourcing recommendations on that basis. Use price, volume and demand levers, including rate reduction, volume aggregation, supplier consolidation and specification change. Challenge demand and specification using category and industry knowledge: question whether a requirement is needed at all, and at what volume, service level, specification and term; identify over‑specification, duplicate purchasing and avoidable demand; and propose options such as a lower service tier, a shorter term or reuse of existing contracts, setting out the tradeoffs in commercial terms. Report savings and cost avoidance separately and accurately, and maintain a forward pipeline that gives Finance and the business visibility of upcoming activity.

Internal Consultancy and Stakeholder Influence

Act as a trusted commercial adviser to senior business owners across the Consulting and Professional Advisory spend area, engaging early in their planning rather than at the point of purchase. Influence stakeholder decisions on sourcing, demand and specification without formal authority, and present category insight, evaluation and commercial recommendations to governance forums. Act as the Procurement relationship lead for nominated senior stakeholders where assigned, bringing in other category colleagues as their agenda requires. Seek and act on stakeholder feedback, contributing to the improvement in how the business experiences Procurement.

Supplier Management

Set the commercial direction for key suppliers in the category and lead the commercial input to vendor strategy. Influence and partner with in‑business vendor management and vendor performance teams so that supplier reviews, contract changes and renewals secure the strongest commercial outcome for M&G. Find value in the existing supply base, including through rate review, supplier consolidation and contract optimisation. Working with the M&G India Procurement Team Direct category execution work delivered by the India team, providing clear briefs, priorities and commercial context. Review the quality of execution outputs and work with India leads to maintain a responsive, consistent service to the business.

Contract, Risk and Governance

Shape commercial terms, including pricing mechanisms, indexation, service credits and exit provisions, working with Legal. Apply third‑party risk management, outsourcing and regulatory requirements as they apply to Consulting and Professional Advisory, and identify regulatory risk such as material outsourcing. Apply procurement standards and governance proportionately, and record activity in the system of record and eSourcing tooling.

Data, Digital and AI

Use spend data, Power BI dashboards and AI tools to analyse trends and anomalies, identify future sourcing opportunities and present a clear commercial account of what the management information shows. Question data rather than accept it at face value, and work with India colleagues to keep category data accurate.

People and Capability

Coach and develop Category Specialists and India colleagues working in the category, reviewing their work and building category capability across the UK and India. Plan how onshore and offshore capacity is used across the category, so that effort is directed at the highest value work. Share category intelligence across the Procurement team and support cross‑category opportunities.

Person Specification Essential

• Substantial category management or strategic sourcing experience, with a track record of delivering measurable savings in a complex organisation.
• Category knowledge and experience as set out in the Category Knowledge Requirements above.
• Demonstrable experience of planning and leading negotiations on high‑value contracts with major vendors, including setting negotiation strategy and BATNA.
• Credibility with senior stakeholders, evidence of influencing business decisions without formal authority, and experience of presenting commercial recommendations to senior governance forums.
• Strong commercial and financial judgement, including total cost of ownership and should‑cost analysis, and the ability to explain budget and P&L impact to stakeholders.
• Confident using spend data and management information to identify trends, anomalies and sourcing opportunities.
• Able to work from the London or Kildean (Stirling) office for the majority of the working week.

Desirable

• Experience in a regulated environment such as financial services or insurance.
• Experience with eSourcing platforms such as Market Dojo, and with Power BI or similar analytical tools.
• Experience directing offshore or nearshore teams as an extension of the UK operation.
• CIPS or an equivalent professional qualification.

Working Pattern

This role is based in London or Kildean (Stirling). The postholder is expected to work from their base office for the majority of the working week. Regular, in person contact with senior stakeholders is central to the role, because building trust and influencing business decisions depend on it.

What we offer:

• A valuable pension scheme of up to 18% (13% made up of employer contributions and 5% employee contributions).
• Access to our Share Save and Share Incentive Plan, alongside financial wellbeing and support services to help give you real confidence to put your money to work.
• Enjoy 38 days annual leave (including bank holidays), with the opportunity to purchase up to five extra days.
• Our Time Off When You Need It policy gives you the flexibility - to balance work and personal commitments.
• Our market‑leading Inspiring Families policy includes comprehensive support and paid parental leave covering maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and paternity leave - because supporting families is an important part of our inclusive culture.
• Health & Protection cover includes Private Healthcare, Critical Illness cover and Life Assurance for you, with additional family options - for peace of mind.

M&G is a leading international savings and investments business, managing money for around 4.6 million individual clients and more than 900 institutional clients in 38 offices worldwide. As at 31 December 2024, we had £345.9billion of assets under management and administration. Our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions. Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long‑term investment and savings solutions.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds – across gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation and more – including neurodivergent individuals, career returners and those with military service experience. M&G is proud to be Level3: Disability Confident Leader under the UK Government Disability Confident employer scheme, and we welcome applications from candidates with disabilities and long‑term health conditions. If you would like to participate in the initiative, you will have the opportunity to indicate this on your application. We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process. All candidates have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments when applying. If you need any additional support at any stage, please contact us at: [e-mail]