Procurement Category Manager

A large food manufacturer are seeking an experienced Procurement Category Manager to join their procurement team. This role is looking after packaging, raw material and direct consumables and the chance to lead sourcing activity that protects service levels, strengthens supplier performance, and delivers measurable savings. What You Will Do:- Own the commercial and operational performance for Direct Spend category areas, including packaging and ingredients as a Procurement Category Manager.- Develop and maintain category plans by analysing spend, supplier performance, pricing trends and market conditions.- Lead sourcing activities such as RFQs, tenders, supplier evaluations and commercial negotiations for the Procurement Category Manager portfolio.- Deliver savings, cost avoidance and supplier consolidation opportunities, ensuring recommendations balance cost, quality, service, risk and operational needs.- Manage key supplier relationships, run supplier review meetings, and drive improvement actions against agreed KPIs.- Coach and support two Buyers, allocate workload, review outputs, and act as the escalation point for operational buying issues. What You Will Bring: - Strong procurement and/or category management experience, ideally with direct spend such as packaging, ingredients, raw materials or comparable categories within food manufacturing or FMCG.- CIPS qualification (preferred) or the confidence to work towards it, combined with strong contract terms and conditions ..... full job details .....