Category Specialist

A.G. Barr; Cumbernauld; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Up to 34 days holiday

Flexible holiday trading

Living Wage Employer

Healthcare Cash Plan

Peppy Health

Flexible benefits e.g. discounts &

Life assurance

Save as you earn scheme

Staff sales discount

Free AG Barr products throughout your

Pension

Annual salary review

Ongoing professional development

Job summary

AG Barr is seeking a Category Specialist to support end-to-end strategic sourcing across assigned spend areas. You will lead RFPs/RFQs, run spend analytics and drive value through supplier performance management in a FMCG environment.

Based in our UK hubs (Cumbernauld or others), the role requires strong Excel skills, effective negotiation and stakeholder collaboration to optimise costs while maintaining quality and service levels.

Qualifications

• Experience in Procurement, ideally within a FMCG environment.
• Commercial Curiosity: An ability to look at an invoice and ask, 'Why are we paying this, and is there a better way to buy it?'
• Technical Skills: Advanced Excel (VLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables) to clean spend data and create a clear story; AI prompting to improve data interrogation and automate repetitive tasks.
• Negotiation: Principled negotiation focusing on value and long-term partnership.
• Project Management: Manage multiple sourcing projects and track contract expiry deadlines; provide progress summaries.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication to maintain relationships.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Sourcing: Lead RFPs and RFQs, market research, vendor pre-qualification, and category strategies.
• Negotiation: Lead negotiations to maximise financial value with non-financial considerations.
• Spend Analytics: Analyze spend patterns to identify savings opportunities and improve the savings funnel.
• Supplier Performance Management: Track KPIs and address non-conformances through supplier meetings.
• Contract Lifecycle Management: Manage renewals, PPV delivery, risk registers, and reporting.
• Market Intelligence: Monitor inflation, raw material indices, and labor shifts affecting costs.
• Stakeholder Influence: Act as a consultant to internal departments to prevent overspending.

Skills

Procurement

Advanced Excel

Negotiation

Project Management

Communication

Tools

AI prompting

Job description

Job Title: Category Specialist

Location: Any of our HUBS (Cumbernauld, Middlebrook, Milton Keynes, London)

Contract and working pattern: 37.5 hours per week

Are you ready to Be Your Best Barr None?

Lets Grow!!!

We are all about Being Your Best Barr None and having a career with real Moments that Matter!

Employing around 850 people across the UK, we are proud to be a responsible business that takes care of our people, values diversity, gives something back to our communities and works to minimise our environmental impact.

For 150 years AG Barr has been building great brands and is home to some of the nations favourite flavours.

At our core is IRN-BRU, launched in 1901 and still going strong today, the vibrant RUBICON fruit based brand, Boost making every moment better with a caffeine kick, hydration hit or tasty treat, and FUNKIN where real fruit means authentic taste.

We also have a number of exciting owned brands within our portfolio including MOMA, which crafts quality oats into great tasting oat drinks and porridges.

There's never been a better time to join us!

What we’re looking for…

A new opportunity has become available in the area of outsourced procurement supporting the end-to-end strategic sourcing process and manage the commercial health of specific spend categories.

As our Category Specialist you will be responsible for…

• Strategic Sourcing Support: Lead the execution of RFPs (Request for Proposal) and RFQs (Request for Quote). This includes market research, vendor pre-qualification, analyzing complex bid submissions and the creation and maintenance of assigned category strategies.
• Negotiation: You are able to lead tactical negotiations to ensure the best financial value is delivered for the business balanced with non financial requirements.
• Spend Analytics: Use data to identify "Savings Levers." You will analyze spend patterns to spot opportunities for consolidation or specification improvement and ensure the savings funnel is continuously filled with new ideas.
• Supplier Performance Management (SRM): Manage delegated categories of our supplier base. You will track KPIs to ensure they meet contractual obligations and ensure through regular suppliers meetings any non conformance is addressed .
• Contract Lifecycle Management: Act as the custodian of the category’s contracts. You’ll ensure that all renewals are planned at least 6 months in advance and the category manager is fully aware of the renewal plan. Including monthly PPV delivery, proactively managing risk registers and ensuring all other reporting requirements are met.
• Market Intelligence: Stay abreast of external market factors (inflation, raw material indices, or labor shifts) that might impact the cost of your categories and ensure learnings are built into Category strategies
• Stakeholder Influence: Act as a consultant to internal departments. You help them define what they need versus what they want to ensure the business doesn't overspend on unnecessary specifications.

What you’ll bring…

• Experience in Procurement, ideally within a FMCG environment.
• Commercial Curiosity: An ability to look at an invoice and ask, "Why are we paying this, and is there a better way to buy it?"
• Technical Skills: Advanced Excel is a must (VLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables) to clean "messy" spend data into a clear story. AI prompting to ensure AI is deployed to improve data interrogation and automate repetitive tasks. Ability to quickly create compelling presentations for internal and external purposes.
• Negotiation: Comfortable with "principled negotiation"—focusing on value and long-term partnership rather than just the lowest price.
• Project Management: Ability to manage multiple sourcing projects simultaneously without missing contract expiry deadlines. Represent Procurement on Mid tier Commercial projects ensuring active participation in all project meetings, all actions are completed and provide management summaries on progress. .
• Communication: Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) to maintain professional relationships internally and externally.

What we offer…

We believe in creating a diverse and inclusive culture where your voice can be heard. Our skilled, loyal and committed people are critical to the future success of AG Barr which is why we are continually investing in our employees to develop their talent.

We look after our employees by offering a competitive salary and benefits package which includes;

• Up to 34 days holiday (depending on shift pattern)
• Flexible holiday trading
• Living Wage Employer
• Healthcare Cash Plan
• Peppy Health
• Flexible benefits e.g. discounts & cashback, gym memberships, technology purchases etc
• Life assurance
• Save as you earn scheme
• Staff sales discount
• Free AG Barr products throughout your working day
• Pension
• Annual salary review
• Ongoing professional development

And much more!

To find out more about what it is like to work for AG Barr, please visit our careers platform here.

We are an equal opportunities employer and happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments that may be needed for successful candidates with a disability, health or mental health condition.

Latest closing date for applications is 21st September

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