Category Specialist

A.G. Barr; Greater London; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

34 days holiday

Flexible holiday trading

Pension

Healthcare cash plan

Staff sales discounts

Life assurance

Annual salary review

Professional development

Job summary

AG Barr is seeking a Category Specialist to drive end-to-end strategic sourcing across our UK hubs (Cumbernauld, Middlebrook, Milton Keynes, London). You will manage RFPs/RFQs, spend analytics, and SRM for assigned categories within a fast-moving consumer goods environment.

You will own contract lifecycle management, renewals, and risk reporting, while providing market intelligence and stakeholder guidance to optimise spend. Strong Excel skills and commercial focus are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience in Procurement, ideally FMCG environment.
• Commercial curiosity: challenge invoices to find better value.
• Advanced Excel skills (VLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables) and ability to present data clearly using AI prompts.

Responsibilities

• Lead the execution of RFPs and RFQs with market research and vendor pre-qualification.
• Lead tactical negotiations to secure best financial value while meeting non-financial requirements.
• Analyze spend patterns to identify savings opportunities and drive continuous improvement.
• Manage delegated supplier categories; track KPIs and address non-conformances in supplier meetings.
• Custodian of category contracts; plan renewals 6 months ahead and manage risk reporting.
• Monitor external market factors and feed learnings into category strategies.
• Counsel internal stakeholders to define needs versus wants to prevent overspending.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Negotiation

Spend analytics

SRM

Contract lifecycle

Market intelligence

Stakeholder influence

Project management

Communication

Commercial curiosity

Tools

Excel

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

#IND1