Job Description

Have you got procurement IT Category Management expertise?
We've got a fantastic opportunity for an IT Category Manager to join our busy Procurement team on a permanent basis. Based from our head office in Basingstoke, you'll combine home and office working to ensure a positive work / life balance.
It's an exciting time to join us as Sovereign have joined forces with Network Homes to form SNG (Sovereign Network Group). Together we provide over 84,000 homes and invest in communities across London and the South of England - our purpose being to provide quality affordable homes and places that people love for generations.
The Role
As a Category Manager, you will play a pivotal role leading and delivering on a number of key sourcing projects, working collaboratively with project teams and range of stakeholders across the business. You'll ensure that procurement support is aligned to the objectives and culture at SNG, enabling the fulfilment of our Corporate plan ambitions.
Ideally, we're looking for someone with experience in IT procurement to focus on current and future projects across CIO, particularly in Networks and Telephony, Hardware, Software and IT cloud-based technologies. Responsibilities include:

• Overseeing your categories and analysing trends in spend, supplier engagement, and contracts to develop strategic procurement solutions to deliver efficiencies and benefits to the business
• Delivering a portfolio of sourcing projects from end-to-end, ensuring the business receives value for money, meets project timelines and delivers to a high standard
• Leading supplier engagement and sourcing activity from definition of requirements and sourcing, through to tender and life cycle management
• Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders to understand business plans and objectives as well as any challenges, opportunities and identifying any risks
• Undertaking market research, including on suppliers, markets and framework opportunities to support active procurement projects
• Ensuring all expenditure is identified with routes to market being clearly defined
• Identifying areas where procurement can add measurable value in terms of sourcing exercises, onward effective supplier management and strategic procurement

What we're looking for
You'll need to have demonstrable experience within a similar role in procurement, leading sourcing procurement projects across IT / Technology categories. You'll also need:

• Strategic procurement category management expertise, evidencing the use of data and analysis to drive decision making
• Strong experience in leading on end-to-end procurement projects, including tenders
• Experience in supplier relationship management, ensuring value for money deals with suppliers who are committed to delivering a high service to SNG, and managing the commercial performance of procurement contracts
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with proven ability to engage and influence others to deliver the best outcomes
• Understanding of the principles of procurement with the ability to transfer and apply this understanding to different projects across multiple categories
• To be well organised with a high attention to detail
• An agile approach with the ability to work successfully on multiple projects at different stages, effectively prioritising tasks
• To be self-motivated and an active collaborator, sharing ideas and working cohesively with the wider team
• An understanding of Procurement Act 2023 or exposure to PCR projects is beneficial to this role

Your benefits
We have some great benefits on offer at SNG, including:

• 25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays (with an extra day every year up to 30 days)
• Chance to buy or sell holiday as part of our flexible benefits package
• 3 additional Wellbeing days and 2 paid volunteering days
• Generous matched pension scheme up to 12% and Life cover at 4x salary
• Options for private medical insurance, dental insurance and critical illness cover
• Wellbeing discounts, including Gym Memberships and access to a 24/7 virtual GP service

At Sovereign Network Group, we are passionate about inclusion for all and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. We are committed to our Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategy and believe that you can truly be yourself at SNG. Take a look at our careers site to learn more about us and our values.
This is a great opportunity to join the team as we progress through an exciting period of change. What we do makes a real difference to people's lives and by joining us you can share the satisfaction of doing something that really matters.

Skills Required