Jobs in Lidlington

SGB

Category Manager

Location: Milton Keynes / Hybrid working

Working Hours: Monday to Friday (8.45am – 5pm)

Salary: From £40,000 plus an excellent benefits package, including:

•    25 days annual leave plus bank holidays 
•    Competitive pension

•    Enhanced parental leave 
•    Eligibility to annual bonus scheme
•    Access to a fantastic loan car scheme 
•    4x basic salary life assurance 

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the category strategy and sourcing activity for various direct and indirect categories. This role combines strategic category ownership with hands-on operational delivery, ensuring high-quality procurement execution, strong commercial governance, and effective supplier performance management.The Category Manager will work closely with Services, Marketing, Sales, Operations, H&S, Finance and Legal, supporting investment programmes, ensuring compliant day-to-day operations, and delivering measurable commercial value across all assigned indirect spend areas.

A quote from Emma Wilkins – Director of Business Operations

This is an exciting opportunity to make a real impact as Category Manager at a pivotal moment in our journey. Join us and help shape the future of our organisation through innovation, strategic thinking, and driving positive change.

About you:

Category Management expertise – a proven track record within Category Management is required for this role.
Strategic thinker –create short and long-term strategy for the business.
Solutions orientated – seeking ways to aid the business succeed.
Excellent stakeholder engagement – navigating conversations and influencing decisions with stakeholders throughout the business.
Commercial acumen - able to understand business requirements and create understanding. In this role you will:

Own and deliver category strategies across a diverse portfolio of indirect spend categories, providing clear strategic direction alongside hands‑on sourcing execution.
Lead end‑to‑end procurement activity across core and smaller categories, including RFx development, supplier evaluation, negotiation, contracting and onboarding.
Provide procurement and commercial support to a wide range of business initiatives and projects, ensuring sound sourcing approaches, risk management and value for money.
Maintain strong commercial governance, ensuring compliance with procurement policies, delegated authority limits, contract management standards and audit requirements.
Draft, review and negotiate contracts, ensuring appropriate commercial terms, risk allocation and compliance with internal standards.
Provide day‑to‑day operational procurement support, resolving supplier issues, managing contract renewals, and supporting stakeholders with ongoing commercial needs.
Manage a portfolio of smaller and tactical categories, applying proportionate sourcing approaches while maintaining control, visibility and value.
Lead supplier relationship management, monitoring performance against KPIs and SLAs, addressing issues, and driving continuous improvement and innovation.
Partner with internal stakeholders to align category strategies to business priorities, challenge specifications and demand, and provide pragmatic commercial advice.
Contribute to sustainability, compliance and ESG objectives across the supply base, embedding responsible sourcing principles into category strategies.
Improve procurement engagement with the business by driving earlier involvement, clearer governance, standardised workflows and smoother sourcing cycles across multiple categories.  

Closing date: 28.04.26

Please note, the closing date for this role is subject to change pending volume of applications.

Next steps:

If you like the sound of this position, please apply today.
Your application will be reviewed by the hiring manager or a member of the Scania Recruitment Team.
If you are successful at this stage, you will be invited to have a conversation and discuss the role further.   

We understand that every candidate is unique, and we strive to accommodate your needs. If you require any adjustments during the application process, please reach out to our Recruitment Team, we’ll be happy to discuss these with you