Product and Procurement Manager

Arco Limited; Hull and East Yorkshire; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance

32 days holiday

Company pension

Life assurance

Employee discounts

Job summary

Arco Limited is seeking a Product & Procurement Manager to drive the Hand Protection category. You will own commercial performance, develop range strategy, and lead supplier negotiations to deliver growth and margin improvements.

The role blends product, procurement and commercial performance across a leading PPE portfolio. You will shape strategy, manage tenders, and collaborate with Sales, Marketing, and Supply Chain to ensure timely launches and category competitiveness.

Qualifications

• Strong commercial product, category or procurement experience in PPE or B2B environments.
• Proven track record delivering sales, margin and supplier performance targets.
• Experience running tenders and supplier negotiations.

Responsibilities

• Own category sales, gross margin and budget targets across PPE areas.
• Set commercial direction translating market insight into range and procurement plans.
• Lead tender-led sourcing, cost negotiation and supplier selection.
• Manage vendor performance across service, availability, quality and cost.
• Develop proprietary brands and own-label products to maximise margin.
• Drive own-label development from specification to launch with commercial viability.

Skills

Commercial acumen

Negotiation

Supplier management

Category management

Procurement strategy

Product development

Job description

About The Role

Are you ready to shape the future of our Hand Protection range and drive commercial growth across this category? As our Product & Procurement Manager, you’ll own the commercial performance and product direction of our Hand Protection categories. From managing strategic suppliers and leading tenders to developing innovative own-label products, you’ll play a key role in shaping our range and delivering growth. This is a role for someone who thrives across product, procurement and commercial performance. You’ll turn customer and market insight into effective range strategies, drive supplier performance and ensure our products deliver the right balance of quality, value, service and profitability. The role is for our Hand Protection category, but we are open to receiving applications from candidates in similar roles who may have owned a different safety product or PPE category. Our Product & Procurement role is a hybrid position, with a mix of home working and from our Head Office in Hull.

Key responsibilities include:

• Owning and delivering category sales, gross margin, contribution and budget targets across your assigned PPE product areas
• Setting the commercial direction for the category, translating market insight, customer demand and business priorities into clear range, supplier and procurement plans
• Leading tender-led sourcing and procurement activity, ensuring robust cost negotiation, supplier selection, value creation and risk control
• Managing day-to-day vendor performance across service, availability, quality, cost, innovation and commercial support
• Building and controlling a balanced portfolio of proprietary brands and own-label products to maximise category relevance, competitiveness and margin return
• Driving own-label development from specification through launch, ensuring commercial viability, compliance, customer fit and differentiated market positioning
• Controlling product lifecycle decisions, including range entry, exit, consolidation, substitution and rationalisation
• Using sales, margin, stock, service and supplier performance data to identify underperformance and take corrective commercial action
• Establishing and maintaining pricing, rebate, cost and margin controls to protect profitability and improve competitiveness
• Partnering with Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, Technical and Compliance teams to deliver effective launches, campaigns, availability and customer solutions
• Challenging supplier performance through structured reviews, clear KPIs, corrective actions and commercially focused governance
• Monitoring competitor activity, regulatory change, product innovation and customer trends to protect and improve category position
• Providing clear reporting on category performance, risks, opportunities and progress against agreed targets

On top of working for the UK’s leading integrated health and safety experts, you’ll also receive:

• A competitive starting salary plus bonus and a car allowance
• 32 days holiday inclusive of bank holidays
• Opportunity to purchase 5 additional days annual leave each calendar year (subject to qualifying salary)
• 2 fully paid Community Volunteering days every year
• An excellent pension (up to 8% Arco contribution) and x4 Life Assurance scheme
• A huge range of discounts to help with cost of living via Perkbox plus Employee Discount on Arco products
• Free, 24-hour access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Health Cash Plan where we'll reimburse up to 100% of everyday healthcare costs
• Access to our Learning Management System, to support your personal and career development
• Long-term service awards – we’re proud to have employees who have worked for us for 40 years

The ideal Product & Procurement Manager will be/have:

• Strong commercial product, category or procurement experience within PPE, safety, industrial distribution or a comparable B2B environment
• Proven delivery of sales, margin, budget and supplier performance targets
• Demonstrative experience managing proprietary vendor relationships and own-label product development
• Experience running supplier tenders, negotiations, cost reviews and commercial award processes
• Strong understanding of product lifecycle, range architecture, pricing, rebates, margin management and promotional effectiveness
• Ability to manage supplier service performance, including availability, fulfilment, quality, responsiveness and innovation delivery
• Confident user of commercial data, with the ability to convert performance insight into direct action
• Sound knowledge of PPE standards, compliance requirements, customer applications and market dynamics
• Strong negotiation, influencing and stakeholder management capability
• Formal qualification in business, procurement, product management or supply chain preferred; equivalent experience accepted
• Comfortable operating at pace, managing competing priorities and holding suppliers accountable for measurable outcomes

About Us

With a proud 140-year legacy, you’ll be part of something special when you join the UK’s leading safety experts. As the only integrated safety products and services business, Arco’s size, scale and reputation are why we have such an impressive portfolio of satisfied customers. It’s an exciting time for us, and whatever your role, you’ll play a part in Arco’s journey to become more profitable and sustainable. To drive a performance culture, we consistently invest in our people to ensure we push for shared success. We respect and value everyone’s unique skills, experience and ideas so you’ll have ample opportunity to help shape our future growth and be rewarded for delivering against our targets. At Arco, inclusion means ensuring everyone feels valued, respected and able to be their best. We celebrate the unique skills, experiences and perspectives each colleague brings, and we’re committed to creating a supportive environment where everyone can thrive. As part of our journey to everyday inclusion, we recognise that individual needs may vary. If you require any reasonable adjustments or additional support during the recruitment process, please let us know. Be Safe, Be Yourself, Be Your Best.