Senior Category Manager – IT Software
Your Consultant
Christian Rowles
We are a £2BN global defence and security company delivering mission-critical solutions that protect lives and enable operational advantage. Our vision is “to be the chosen partner around the world innovating for our customers’ advantage”.
To do this, we combine deep technical expertise with a bold approach to innovation – helping our customers solve complex challenges across land, sea, air, space and cyber. We employ circa 8,000 people in 50 locations across the UK, Europe, US and Australia.
About Procurement and Supply Chain
Finance is a Global Group Function with Procurement and Supply Chain, a key department, reporting directly to the Chief Financial Officer and influencing £1BN spend across directs and indirects. The Procurement and Supply Chain department has several key pillars including Business Partnering, Category Management, Supply Chain, Responsible Procurement and Operational Excellence.
To deliver QinetiQ’s five-year growth strategy, we need to foster and enable a progressive mindset. We aspire to be a key business enabler and a value creator. To do this we need to shape and influence stakeholder strategies, drive value, deliver excellence and manage supply chain opportunities and risk.
IT & Tech
The IT category has a spend of circa £100m across key categories including Software, Hardware, Networks & IT Services. This role is responsible for the Software Category.
Key Responsibilities
- Build and maintain strategic relationships with senior stakeholders, driving early engagement to influence business planning and ensure alignment with organisational priorities
- Own, develop and execute category strategies for IT Software, using market insights and data to challenge existing approaches and maximize value
- Lead complex sourcing activity, including the design of sourcing strategies, working with the business to support investment case development, lead competitive tenders, and negotiation of high-value & high-complexity contracts
- Identify and manage category-specific risks, including information security, data protection, supply resilience, geopolitical, financial and sustainability considerations
- Support stakeholders to drive Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) across key contracts to ensure performance, innovation and value realisation from strategic partnerships
- Support the Finance and Business Systems transformation, including transition from SAP Ariba to Oracle Fusion and establishment of a mature Source-to-Pay model
Key Person Attributes
- Communicates complex commercial and strategic concepts clearly and confidently adapting style to suit senior stakeholders
- Aligns diverse stakeholders behind shared objectives
- Confident decision-maker, balancing commercial, operational and risk considerations to drive the best outcomes in ambiguous or dynamic environments and collaborates x-functionally to achieve this
- Builds collaborative and trusted relationships with stakeholders and suppliers
- Demonstrates resilience and adaptability during transformation
- Role-models integrity, accountability and a growth mindset
- Proactively improves processes, challenges existing ways of working and contributes to Supply Chain and Procurement functional development
Experience and Qualifications
- Degree or equivalent professional experience
- MCIPS qualified or working towards completion
- Minimum five years’ strategic category management experience in similar categories of spend
- Proven track record of building successful relationships with senior stakeholders
- Demonstrable experience negotiating high-value contracts
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Practical experience with Source to Pay (S2P) technology
Talent Drive are committed to promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace. We review all applicants on equal merit and we do not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, sex, relationship status, disability, race, religion/beliefs, or sexual orientation.
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