Category Manager - F&O (9 month FTC)

Slaughter and May; England; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Slaughter and May is seeking an experienced Category Manager to join the Procurement team for Facilities and Operations (F&O). You will lead strategic procurement initiatives across facilities, shaping best practices and delivering commercial value across the organisation.

This autonomous role requires deep expertise, commercial acumen and a forward-thinking approach to procurement, with a focus on aligning strategies with the firm’s priorities and maintaining operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute category-specific sourcing strategies that align to F&O departmental objectives and overall business goals.
• Perform spend analysis to identify areas for spend optimization and ROI.
• Monitor, collate and analyze supplier performance data to assess value for money and opportunities.
• Monitor market trends and benchmarks to ensure competitiveness and market-leading innovation.
• Lead end-to-end category sourcing activities and build fit-for-purpose supply chains.
• Support negotiations and ensure robust supplier approvals and compliant contracts.
• Lead supplier performance reviews and develop improvement plans across horizons.

Job description

We are recruiting for an experienced Category Manager to join our Procurement team for Facilities and Operations (F&O). This role is integral to ensuring the firm acquires the right goods and services at the best value, supporting our strategic objectives while maintaining operational excellence.

As a Category Manager, you will lead and drive strategic procurement initiatives across facilities, shaping best practices and delivering commercial value across the organisation.

This role requires someone who thrives in an autonomous environment, bringing deep expertise, commercial acumen, and a forward-thinking approach to procurement. You will be part of a team fostering a high-performance culture and ensuring procurement strategies align with the firm’s overarching business priorities.

Key responsibilities

The key responsibilities of this role are set out below and there may be others which are not listed. You may be required on occasion to work outside our normal working hours of 9:30am to 5:30pm.

Category Strategy Development

• Develop and execute category-specific sourcing strategies that align to F&O departmental business objectives and overall business goals.
• Perform spend analysis to identify areas of spend optimisation and return on investment.
• Monitor, collate and analyse supplier performance data, to assess value for money and supplier improvement opportunities.
• Monitor market trends and benchmarks to ensure competitiveness and market leading innovation.

Strategic Sourcing

• Lead end to end category sourcing activity.
• Build a fit for purpose supply chain to deliver departmental objectives.
• Support, and in some cases lead, all relevant negotiations.
• Ensure application of robust supplier approval.
• Draft, review, and agree all relevant third-party contracts.
• Lead supplier performance reviews and development improvement initiatives.
• Identify and build plans mitigate risk in the short-, medium- and long-term horizon.
• Lead on segmenting suppliers and develop long term relationships and supply plans executed through cross-functional teams.

Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate in cross-functional teams such as finance, operations, and legal to align procurement goals.
• Provide procurement partnering support services within dedicated category department, and other categories when required.
• Manage and resolve supply chain performance related issues with the relevant department.
• Ensure compliance to internal policies, ethical standards, and regulatory requirements.

Data Analytics

• Use and build analytical dashboards to identify trends, risks, and opportunities within procurement.
• Provide regular reports on category performance, spend management, and procurement partner metrics.
• Develop dashboards and tools to enhance visibility of spend and performance.

We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment processes are barrier-free and as inclusive as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments for people who have a disability or long-term condition. If you have any questions or require any adjustments to be made to one or both of the application or interview processes, please contact the Recruitment Team.

We are a Disability Confident Committed employer and will offer an interview to applicants with a disability or long-term condition who best meet the minimum or essential criteria for our Business Services roles. You are disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. For more information about the Disability Confident scheme, please see the government website here.

We welcome applications irrespective of race, colour, ethnic or national origin, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, belief or marital status.