Role: Category Manager Salary: £61,865 to £65,121 Location: Farringdon About Us Are you looking for a job that gives something back? Do you yearn for a role that contributes towards our vision that everyone should have a home and the chance to live well? Do you have strong commercial skills with a desire to collaborate to make a positive difference? If so, come and join one of the UK`s leading providers of affordable housing and care & support services. We employ over 2000 people to manage & develop our large portfolio of nearly 57,000 homes serving over 75,000 customers across London, the East Midlands, Southern and the East of England. We dare you to join us! This role As Category Manager for corporate, you will develop & lead strategic sourcing & purchasing programmes taking the commercial lead to contribute significantly to the delivery of allocated procurement projects. Reporting to the Head of Commercial Procurement, you will be responsible for identifying and working to exceed internal & external customer expectations by delivering demonstrable value for money from your category, creating innovative and robust approaches to getting the best from our suppliers and upholding compliance to all relevant regulation and legislation, including our own internal financial procedures. What you'll need to succeed You will already have relevant & specialist commercial / industry experience in purchasing & supply in a senior management role and ideally have experience in the Housing Sector. You will also have experience understanding and applying Strategic sourcing methodologies. You will have robust procurement knowledge comprising: advanced negotiation skills, knowledge of strategic sourcing methodologies, knowledge of supply chain theory, persuading and influencing and interpersonal skills, contract law and dispute resolution, statistical and data analysis skills, knowledge of market areas related to specific work categories, finance and leasing knowledge, business development and marketing plans, business accounting. At MTVH, you will support the Head of Commercial Procurement to create organisational excellence in procurement and purchasing and you will develop and lead a specific strategic sourcing programme for your defined categories, taking the lead on specific/allocated portfolio of sourcing categories, and contributing significantly to the delivery of allocated procurement projects. You will keep abreast of and ensure overall compliance to the latest internal financial procedures, relevant legislation & regulatory procurement compliance and work with your stakeholders to support a compliant balance of a flexible and commercial approach to project management. You will strive to exceed customer requirements by demonstrating best value for money and excellent customer service, through compliance with category priorities and contracts, and by actively managing the market place through development of key strategies for supplier and contract management. Additionally, you will support the successful development of supplier & contract management capabilities at MTVH to ensure your stakeholders are aware of their obligations and have access to the most appropriate resources. You will also adopt a Category Management approach, to ensure you are continually up to date and monitoring & reporting the detailed expenditure within your defined category, the suppliers & operating markets within, the products & services they provide, current performance & service levels, value for money & opportunities for efficiency, and you will work to understand existing supplier performance and contract compliance in liaison with stakeholders. You will be a Member of Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) or appropriate professional institute or relevant experience and you will have a degree level qualification (or equivalent) plus specialist procurement knowledge and experience. What you'll get in return You’ll be working in a fast-paced environment where you can benefit from our comprehensive in-house training to continue developing your skills. We offer excellent benefits, including: 28 days annual leave plus public holidays and an additional Belief Day, with the option to buy or sell up to 5 days leave Healthcare cashplan Matched contribution pension scheme (up to 9%) Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave Salary sacrifice schemes and season ticket loans Life assurance scheme Paid volunteer days Plus lots of voluntary benefits including cash back and discounts from high street names Our promise All employment decisions at MTVH are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy or maternity, race or religion, sex or sexual orientation. We are proud to have been recognised by Disability Confident for our commitment to disabled people and those with long term health conditions by providing fair and equal opportunities for all applicants enabling them to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. Please note :- we do not currently offer visa sponsorship. What’s in it for you? Our benefits include:- 28 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays (pro rata for part time) per year 2 volunteering days per year for things like helping out in local communities An additional ‘Beliefs day’ once a year to have an extra a day off Supported family friendly approach with extended parental leave Enhanced pension with matched contributions of up to 9% Option to buy or sell up to 5 days annual leave per year Life assurance cover 3 x your salary Cycle2work scheme Hybrid Working - Dependent on job role and department Health cash plan scheme for your everyday healthcare needs which you can add your family members too Tenancy deposit – interest free loan to help with rental deposits and season Ticket loan Access to extensive learning and training opportunities with Wisebox platform Colleague virtual social platform with our workplace pages where you can keep up to date with the organisational activity and link in with colleagues Career progression across the organisation with our mentoring/coaching programmes, apprenticeships and career planning support Employee Assistance Programme- We are committed to the wellbeing of our colleagues and support this as an organisation About us We are committed to developing and implementing or maintaining sustainability initiatives to reduce environmental impact and promote sustainable practices within MTVH. Learn more about our benefits and organisation by viewing our attached document Our promise Here at Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) we want to capture the value that difference brings and are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion. We work collaboratively ‘Serving people better every day’ to educate, support and develop all of our diverse employees and the communities that we serve. We want every employee and every customer to feel comfortable enough to be their true self and are working tirelessly in the background to create an environment that encourages our employees to challenge non-inclusive behaviours and to be mindful of their own and other’s wellbeing. We provide a platform of Network groups for employees to share views, tell us what we’re doing well and recommend improvements. We want to create a real sense of community and a workforce who feel that their opinions are valued. Our Networks groups are:- Gender Ethnicity LGBTQ+ Disability Our core values of Dare, Care and Collaborate demonstrate that we are a people focused business, solving social issues by working together! We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if a suitable candidate is found so we do encourage you to complete the application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.