Senior Procurement Manager - Technology

Tesco UK; Digswell; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Tesco UK in the Technology team within Corporate Services is seeking a Senior Procurement Category Manager to lead high-value technology categories, design category strategies, and manage major sourcing activities.

You will partner with senior technology stakeholders, lead a team of procurement managers onshore and offshore, and drive value for money, safety compliance, technology advancements, and total cost of ownership across the procurement lifecycle.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in technology procurement, including complex negotiations and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Lead category strategy development across Software, Infrastructure, Cyber, Retail Tech, Telecoms or Data/AI; translate into executable sourcing pipelines and commercial frameworks.
• Build strong relationships and influence senior management and leadership teams.
• Support annual planning, budgeting and forecasting for the category domain.
• Lead executive-level reviews, performance forums and contractual escalations.
• Deliver strategic sourcing events, commercial modelling, market assessments and negotiations.
• Drive large-scale negotiations, enterprise-wide cost optimisation, and supplier engagements including contracting.
• Utilise data, benchmarking, and TCO modelling to optimise contracts and track savings.
• Own strategic supplier relationships and align with ESG and digital strategies.
• Provide leadership in complex negotiations, governance, risk escalations and senior stakeholder engagements.
• Mentor Category Managers and foster data-driven decision making and cross-functional collaboration.

Job description

We are on the lookout for a Senior Procurement Manager to join our Technology team within our Corporate Services function here at Tesco. As a Senior Procurement Category Manager, you will lead complex, high value categories and are responsible for designing and delivering category strategies, major sourcing activities, and supplier performance frameworks.

You will act as the primary commercial partner to senior technology stakeholders. You will be responsible for managing a team of procurement managers onshore & off-shore. You will focus on achieving value for money and improving efficiency throughout the procurement lifecycle. Working closely with colleagues, you will help shape a robust procurement strategy that balances business needs with safety, legal compliance, technology advancements, & total cost of ownership.

This offers full ownership, fast paced delivery, senior leader visibility, & the opportunity to influence major technology decisions.

Some of the areas that we are looking for when it comes to experience are as follows:

• CX, Data & AI – Martech, Personalisation, Digital Commerce, and Data/AI-driven decisioning
• Enterprise Technology – HR, Finance, Enterprise Applications, and core business platforms
• Cloud & Infrastructure – Networking, Telecoms, and Cloud Infrastructure & Management
• Cyber Security & Engineering – Security platforms, SIEM, DevOps, and API/Integration tooling

Category & Supplier Strategies:

• Lead category strategy development across Software, Infrastructure, Cyber, Retail Tech, Telecoms, or Data/AI & being able to translate category strategies into executable sourcing pipelines, supplier strategies, and commercial frameworks.
• Have experience of building credible relationships and influencing senior management & leadership teams.
• Support annual planning, budgeting, and forecasting for their category domain.
• Leading executive‑level reviews, performance forums and contractual escalations.

Commercial Excellence & Cost Optimisation:

• Deliver strategic sourcing events, commercial modelling, market assessments, and competitive negotiations.
• Lead full procurement process driving large scale negotiations, enterprise wide cost optimisation initiatives, and strategic supplier engagements. Including contracting.
• Leveraging data, benchmarking, total cost of ownership (TCO) modelling, usage/consumption analytics, and contract optimisation tools.
• Tracking and reporting savings, cost avoidance, efficiency gains, and commercial risk reductions across the portfolio.

Supplier Relationship Management (SRM):

• Owning strategic supplier relationships to drive performance, innovation, continuous improvement, and alignment to our ESG and digital strategies.
• Leading executive level reviews, performance forums and contractual escalations.
• Collaborate with Legal, Security and Compliance teams to ensure suppliers meet required standards, including cybersecurity, privacy, responsible AI, and ethical sourcing.

Leadership & People Management:

• Setting team priorities, overseeing workload distribution, and ensuring alignment with category strategy and organisational objectives.
• Providing leadership in complex negotiations, governance forums, risk escalations, and executive level engagements.
• Mentor and guide Category Managers, supporting skill development and consistency in best practices.
• Creating a culture of empowerment, continuous improvement, data driven decision making, and collaborative cross functional working.

• Extensive amount of Technology procurement experience, including complex negotiation delivery and stakeholder management.
• Sourcing process excellence, negotiation, commercial analysis, supplier performance routines, tool proficiency (eSourcing, CLM, analytics).
• Have a proven record of accomplishment in delivering strategic technology sourcing projects.
• Have experience of building credible relationships and influencing senior management & leadership teams.
• Strong Project, Stakeholder & Programme management skills.
• Good reporting skills for projects, saving forecasting and governance reporting.
• Experience in category management and strategy development, including building multi-year technology category plans.
• Understanding of responsible procurement practices, sustainability frameworks, and ethical technology sourcing.
• Management & development of high performing team.

You might know us as a supermarket, technology company or even for our award-winning mobile network. Truth is, we’re all of those things, and much more. Our colleagues work with one goal in mind, helping to make every day a little better for our customers, colleagues and communities all over the world. No two customers are the same, neither are our colleagues.

At Tesco, we champion a balance that lets you thrive both in and out of work. Spend 60% of your week collaborating with colleagues at our office locations or local sites and the rest remotely. Whether you're just kicking off your career, juggling passions, or navigating big life events, we're here to support you. We always welcome a conversation about flexible working, so talk to us throughout your application about how we can support.

We’re proud to be an accredited Disability Confident Leader, where everyone’s welcome. That’s why we commit to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process.