Vacancy Name
Category Manager

Employment Type
Permanent

Country
United Kingdom

Location
Liverpool

Business Area
Commercial

Workplace Type
Hybrid

About Princes
The Princes Group has over 7,000 employees with offices and production sites in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, France and Mauritius. Princes manufactures 350 different food and drink products responsibly sourced and enjoyed by consumers every day. None of this would be possible without striving to be an employer of choice, where our colleagues are proud to represent our business.

Role Description

Category Manager / Buyer (Packaging)
Liverpool

Princes are seeking an experienced Category Manager to join our Packaging team at our Head Office in Liverpool City Centre. This role is great for those with a background in FMCG procurement / buying roles, particularly within packaging. You will use your expertise to strategically source goods and services, with the support of two direct reports.

Role Purpose:

• Strategically source goods and services to improve quality and provide for innovative opportunities at the lowest total cost of ownership.
• Collaborate, create, publish and implement comprehensive category management strategies and lead cross functional teams in delivery.
• Ensure all goods and services are sourced responsibly in line with regulatory, ethical technical sustainability and customer requirements.
• Be a consultative partner, demonstrating knowledge across spend categories and providing insight to support and help to shape strategy.
• Be a champion for business processes and governance, and support the Head of Procurement with the development of other colleagues.

Key Responsibilities:

• Create and develop category and sourcing plans in conjunction with business stakeholders.
• Obtain the lowest possible total cost of ownership through negotiation, market intelligence and supplier knowledge.
• Conduct regular reviews with key stakeholders and provide regular reporting on initiatives and cost reduction projects.
• Utilise ERP system to drive analytics and provide appropriate reports for use within category plans and for sharing and analysis with appropriate teams.
• Utilise appropriate tools to maximise value delivery (e-auctions, should cost modelling, TCO, value lever analysis)
• Demonstrate commercial awareness and lead negotiations across all allocated areas of third party spend.
• Develop a network of strong supplier relationships that create innovative opportunities to drive value.
• Make use of SRM tools and performance measures to drive supplier effectiveness.
• Maximise opportunities to mitigate risk across area of spend responsibility.
• Manage all aspects of spend throughout the life cycle.
• Operate as a subject matter expert across all allocated spend and act as a trusted partner to the business.
• Excellent working knowledge of the key personnel at each major supplier, their processes, internal systems and moreover understand cost drivers.
• Drive working capital reduction across the category.
• Develop and maintain responsible suppliers ensuring they are maintained to a standard to meet Princes / Industry standards (e.g. BRC).
• Ensure all suppliers comply with Princes ethical standards, are SEDEX registered (where appropriate) and may be audited.
• Manage contracts professionally and accurately, while maintaining cost conditions and source lists.
• Control currency requirements in line with group policy if required.
• Professionally resolve problems both internally and externally in a fair and ethical manner while protecting the long-term interests of the team and company.
• Support fully the efforts of other departments in achieving 100% stakeholder satisfaction.

Role Requirements

Key Qualifications, Knowledge & Experience:

• Thorough understanding of procurement processes and frameworks
• Previous experience in a category management role
• Excellent working understanding of category management, strategic sourcing, supplier development and value chain mapping.
• Excellent working knowledge of allocated areas of spend is desirable.
• Understanding of contract principles and clauses and be able to construct and interpret agreements.
• SAP analytics and reporting would be preferred.
• Degree level qualification or similar (e.g. CIPS) is desirable but not essential.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office.

Benefits:

• Cash Car Allowance
• Free Parking Pass
• 25 Days Annual Leave, Plus Your Birthday Off!
• 14.5% Pension - 5% employee opt in / 9.5% employer
• Hybrid & Flexible Working - 4 days in office / 1 day WFH
• Flexible Holiday Option - option to buy up to 5 additional days
• Enhanced Family Friendly Policy
• Life Assurance Cover
• Private Medical Insurance
• Critical Illness Cover
• Learning & Development Opportunities
• Corporate Incentive Scheme (company performance based)

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