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About the Role

The Category Manager is the commercial owner of the Consulting and Professional Advisory category, acting as an internal commercial consultant to the business. This role offers senior stakeholders deep category knowledge, strategic sourcing capability, and negotiation expertise to build and own the category strategy and savings plan, compete with vendors on commercial strategy, and influence business purchasing decisions. Success is measured by realized cost reduction and the value placed on Procurement's advice.

Responsibilities

Build, own and execute the category strategy for Consulting and Professional Advisory.
Maintain living category plans covering market analysis, supply base segmentation, demand profiling, route to market and savings opportunities.
Develop commercial strategies for key vendors well ahead of renewal.
Lead high-value sourcing events and negotiations.
Manage senior supplier relationships under commercial pressure.
Design sourcing events and evaluation criteria.
Introduce competitive tension into renewals and new commitments.
Build and own the category savings plan against an agreed share of the group cost reduction target.
Agree baselines and savings methodology with Finance.
Build total cost of ownership and should-cost models.
Use price, volume and demand levers.
Challenge demand and specification using category and industry knowledge.
Report savings and cost avoidance separately and accurately.
Act as a trusted commercial adviser to senior business owners.
Influence stakeholder decisions on sourcing, demand and specification without formal authority.
Present category insight, evaluation and commercial recommendations to governance forums.
Act as the Procurement relationship lead for nominated senior stakeholders.
Seek and act on stakeholder feedback.
Set the commercial direction for key suppliers in the category.
Influence and partner with in-business vendor management and vendor performance teams.
Find value in the existing supply base.
Direct category execution work delivered by the India team.
Review the quality of execution outputs.
Shape commercial terms, including pricing mechanisms, indexation, service credits and exit provisions.
Apply third-party risk management, outsourcing and regulatory requirements.
Apply procurement standards and governance proportionately.
Use spend data, Power BI dashboards and AI tools to analyse trends and anomalies.
Question data rather than accept it at face value.
Coach and develop Category Specialists and India colleagues.
Plan how onshore and offshore capacity is used across the category.
Share category intelligence across the Procurement team.

Requirements

Substantial category management or strategic sourcing experience, with a track record of delivering measurable savings in a complex organisation.
Demonstrable experience of planning and leading negotiations on high-value contracts with major vendors, including setting negotiation strategy and BATNA.
Credibility with senior stakeholders, evidence of influencing business decisions without formal authority, and experience of presenting commercial recommendations to senior governance forums.
Strong commercial and financial judgement, including total cost of ownership and should-cost analysis, and the ability to explain budget and P&L impact to stakeholders.
Confident using spend data and management information to identify trends, anomalies and sourcing opportunities.
Experience in a regulated environment such as financial services or insurance (desirable).
Experience with eSourcing platforms such as Market Dojo, and with Power BI or similar analytical tools (desirable).
Experience directing offshore or nearshore teams as an extension of the UK operation (desirable).
CIPS or an equivalent professional qualification (desirable).

Skills

Category knowledge and experience
Strategic sourcing capability
Negotiation expertise
Commercial strategy
Spend data analysis
Management information analysis
Power BI
AI tools
eSourcing platforms
Market analysis
Supply base segmentation
Demand profiling
Route to market
Savings opportunities
Vendor commercial models
Cost drivers
Market trends
Total cost of ownership
Should-cost models
Price levers
Volume levers
Demand levers
Specification challenge
Contract terms
Risk management
Third-party risk management
Outsourcing
Regulatory requirements
Procurement standards
Governance
Coaching
Development
Capacity planning

Location

London
Kildean (Stirling)

Work Type

Flexible working arrangements
Majority of the working week in base office

Experience Level

Senior

Education Level

CIPS or an equivalent professional qualification (desirable)

Benefits

Pension scheme of up to 18%
Share Save and Share Incentive Plan
Financial wellbeing and support services
38 days annual leave (including bank holidays)
Opportunity to purchase up to five extra days of annual leave
Time Off When You Need It policy
Inspiring Families policy
Comprehensive support and paid parental leave
Private Healthcare
Critical Illness cover
Life Assurance
Additional family options for Health & Protection cover

About the Company

M&G's purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work.
Heritage dating back more than 175 years.
Long history of innovation in savings and investments.
Combines asset management and insurance expertise.
Offers a wide range of solutions.
Two distinct operating segments: Asset Management and Life.
Strives to have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture.
Policies and employee-led networks offer networking, support and development opportunities.
Welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds.
Proud to be Level 3: Disability Confident Leader under the UK Government Disability Confident employer scheme.
Committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process.

Equal Opportunity

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds – across gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation and more – including neurodivergent individuals, career returners and those with military service experience.
M&G is proud to be Level 3: Disability Confident Leader under the UK Government Disability Confident employer scheme, and we welcome applications from candidates with disabilities and long-term health conditions.
We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process.
All candidates have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments when applying.