IT Category Manager

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IT Category Manager

We are actively looking to secure a Category Manager to join Experis as one of our expert consultants, delivering services to our clients.

Experis Consultancy is a Global entity with a well-established team with over 1000 consultants on assignment across 20 clients globally. Our UK operation is growing and has very aggressive plans for expansion over the coming years. We form part of the Manpower group of companies that turn over $20 billion a year collectively.

Experis UK have partnerships with major clients across the UK spanning multiple industries; our approach is a very personal one, with both our clients and our own employees. We are passionate about training, technology and career development.

The Role

The Category Manager assists the clients with strategic sourcing, buying, and spend analytics. In addition to Procurement and consulting experience, the ideal candidate will have an in depth working knowledge in one or more of the following categories (in order of priority):

* IT Procurement Category Experience.

* Marketing Procurement Category Experience.

Highly valued candidates will have strong, broad based consultative skills to enable support where needed in these categories.

Key Responsibilities

* Primary responsibility is to achieve client success against all contractual commitments at a category level (strategic and tactical).

* Responsible to understand and achieve category deliverables, savings commitments, milestones and obligations, and establish a project plan to meet each.

* Develop client category charter, baseline, and market intelligence documents, overarching sourcing strategy and category management approach.

* Develop integrated (tactical and strategic) category sourcing strategy which delivers short term savings and drives category transformation through time.

* Developing category and sourcing strategies and perform sourcing execution activities.

* Development of negotiation strategies and successful closure of documented plans.

* Provide category leadership and direction to Sourcing Buyers and Sourcing Analysts in conjunction with the Project Manager.

* Responsible for on-going category management (strategy management) activities including driving supplier performance, demand management savings, and increasing category compliance.

* Communicate, negotiate, and own the relationship with clients and suppliers through all levels of the client organization.

* Develop client category charter, baseline and market intelligence.

Key Skills

* Proven experience in IT Sourcing and knowledge of the current trends in the market place for the IT Category.

* Must have in-depth knowledge of strategic sourcing within a large corporation and be able to drive and identify additional opportunities with client resulting in additional scope. At least four years of sourcing experience in the aforementioned categories is preferable, with knowledge of current market conditions for such categories in the UK.

* Supplier Relationships: Experience in working with multiple suppliers in development of win/win sourcing strategies.

* Network: Ability to operate in a matrix organization and interact with a variety of procurement professionals and client stake holders (council members, consultants, GPS team members)

* Tools: Knowledge of procurement tools and systems as well as procurement techniques (i.e. reverse auctions)

* Project and Risk Management: Must have the ability to develop concurrent detailed project plans and execute against these plans.

* Client Interaction: Client insight and experience in conveying messages in an external environment as well as managing conflict internally and externally.

* Workplace Tools: Ability to effectively use Microsoft Office tools (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Project).

* Business Process: Knowledge of procurement processes.

* Reliability: Proven track record on prior projects. Must be able to execute in a complex and rapidly changing environment

* Proven ability to run complex Request For Proposals

* Proven ability to analyse complex data sets and take meaningful insight from those data sets.

* Areas of experience required but not limited to

* Software Sourcing with established industry enterprise providers

* Software As a Service sourcing knowledge to support our clients front office sourcing requirements.

* OEM Hardware sourcing from Enterprise suppliers.

* Hardware Maintenance for OEM hardware.

* Proven experience in supply chain and supply relationship management

Interested candidates should submit their CV in the first instance. For more information, please contact Gemma Grayson via