Senior Category Manager - Communities

£58,262 - £71,207 per annum

Role Purpose

As a procurement strategic lead for at least one directorate you will bring procurement and commercial expertise and acumen to senior level business planning and decision making. It is essential that you foster effective working relationship with the directorate, including the senior management team and Members. You will influence, advise and constructively challenge to achieve best possible outcomes for our residents through the Council’s considerable external spend. As the procurement specialist on commissioning and procurement boards, you will participate in decision-making and driving the increased integration and forward planning across the Council.

You will be required to provide strong leadership within the procurement service and to deputise for the Head of Procurement as needed. A priority of the leadership role will be the implementation, and ongoing development, of the Council’s strategic approach to procurement. As part of the procurement management team, you will also ensure a high quality, flexible and robust service in addition to having individual responsibility for a cross Council procurement theme, e.g. new procurement legislation, or social value.

In addition to the above strategic leadership functions, you will directly lead on identified category areas to drive savings, innovation and social and economic improvements from procurement activity. Driving the achievement of the Council’s financial strategy and procurement’s delivery of the Camden Plan ambitions will be key aspects of the role.

All category managers will bring commercial acumen, horizon scanning and market knowledge to focus on achieving outcomes for internal customers and Camden residents, while maximising the delivery of savings. Creating and maintaining effective relationships and influencing internal stakeholders at all levels will be critical to deliver these organisational outcomes. The role will include the allocation of procurement resources and management and monitoring the delivery of complex projects and programmes.

Example outcomes or objectives that this role will deliver

Procurement and commercial factors are key considerations in the directorate decision making
Continuous development of more efficient and improved governance and procurement processes across the Council
Motivated and high performing procurement service
Well led and innovative category areas, delivering savings and social and economic improvements in the area of procurement activity, achieving the outcomes in the Camden Plan, the Council’s financial strategy and the Council’s approach to procurement.
Generating local economic development and promoting opportunities for SMEs/ voluntary sector.
High levels of satisfaction and confidence from Members, directorate management teams, internal customers and suppliers about the procurement service
Successful market engagement processes delivered, identifying and incorporating innovation in service specifications and commercial models, prior to commencing the procurement process.
The successful delivery of procurement programmes in the category, resulting in the achievement of improved outcomes for residents over the life of the contract and achievement of the Council’s savings target.
Expert commercial advice and guidance is provided to members and senior officers
Increased ‘professionalism’ of procurement & commercial activity within the procurement team and across the Council, developing colleagues knowledge, skills, empowerment and experience in all general and technical commercial and procurement matters.
All procurement processes stand up to scrutiny and are fair, open, transparent with high levels of information security.
Significant contribution to the delivery of the Council’s financial strategy, using innovative commercial approaches to leverage savings and efficiencies

People Management Responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for the day to day management of staff.

Relationships

You will be largely self-managing and your personal management and development will be carried out within the Procurement service with an amount of cross-matrix management across the organisation.

You will have lead responsibility for developing and maintaining proactive relationships in one or more of the following areas

Cabinet members and other councillors where appropriate
Directorate Management Teams
Public sector partners and bodies across London
Supply-side market including voluntary and community groups

Work Environment

The role is office based and the post holder will be expected to work in an agile way in line with Camden’s flexible and paperless office environment.

Technical Knowledge and Experience

MCIPS certification or equivalent relevant number of years’ experience working within a professional / commercial procurement environment, ideally in public sector procurement projects and delivering significant savings against demanding timescales
Demonstrable technical knowledge and experience of managing the procurement and negotiation of complex and business critical contracts and services in line with public sector legislation
Substantial experience of successfully working with senior managers and stakeholders to develop and deliver organisational-wide procurement strategies and/or policies
Experience of leading, managing and developing staff and of developing and managing work programmes
Experience of managing risk in a commercial/political environment
Able to think creatively and strategically and be willing to progress innovative and creative ideas
Experience of gathering, analysing and reporting on data relating to the category
Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills including formal report writing

Camden Way Five Ways of Working

In order to continue delivering for the people of Camden in the face of ever increasing financial pressure, we need to transform the way we do things. We call this the Camden Way. The Camden Way is a key part of our transformation strategy often referred to as the transformation triangle which links the Camden Plan, the Camden Way and the Financial Strategy together.

The Camden Way illustrates the approach that should underpin everything we do through five ways of working:

Deliver for the people of Camden
Work as one team
Take pride in getting it right
Find better ways
Take personal responsibility

How to apply