Category Specialist

We use cookies on this site to enhance your user experience By clicking the Accept button, you agree to us doing so. Accept No, thanks Skip to main content Main navigation My B&D Logout Search Search Services Help improve your council website! We're redesigning our website and we'd love your help! Whether you've got two minutes or twenty, every piece of feedback helps us create a better experience. See the surveys available right now Hide Category Specialist Apply online About this job If you want to use your procurement expertise to create lasting public benefit, this is an opportunity to help shape how LBBD turns public money into better services, stronger communities and improved outcomes for residents. As Category Specialist, you will lead allocated sub-category procurement projects from early market insight and strategy development through to tender, award and initial implementation. You will develop category plans, identify new contract opportunities, shape specifications, evaluation models, KPIs and social value commitments, and lead Gold procurements that are compliant, commercially robust and focused on the outcomes that matter most. This is more than a technical procurement role: you will help services think differently about how they buy, how they design contracts, and how they use supplier markets to secure maximum value, quality, innovation and wider social, economic and environmental benefit. Working with colleagues across the Council, suppliers and partner organisations, you will use data, market intelligence and stakeholder insight to manage risk, challenge assumptions and unlock opportunities for better public value. You will play a visible role in embedding sustainability, social value and continuous improvement into procurement activity, helping LBBD buy well, spend wisely and deliver contracts that make a real difference for residents and communities. Special requirements for this post You should hold MCIPS Level 6, or be able to demonstrate equivalent professional knowledge and experience. We are looking for someone with a strong track record of leading high-value or high-risk procurements and managing governance, risk and stakeholder expectations through to contract award and early-life implementation. Continuing professional development in public procurement, commercial practice, contract management, supplier relationship management, sustainability or social value would be welcomed. Experience of supporting or developing team members, assuring quality and encouraging continuous improvement would also be valuable. You will be expected to work in line with LBBD Contract Rules, Financial Regulations and wider Council policy requirements, using these as enablers of good decision-making, transparency and public value. In return, you will join a service with ambition, influence and a clear purpose: helping LBBD buy well, spend wisely and secure the maximum public benefit from every pound invested. About you You will be a procurement professional who is motivated by more than process: you will want to use your commercial expertise to help public money go further and deliver tangible benefits for residents and communities. You will bring the confidence, judgement and curiosity to lead complex procurement activity in a fast-moving public sector environment, with significant experience of end-to-end procurement or category management, including market engagement, tendering, evaluation, award and mobilisation. You will understand public procurement legislation, contract law, governance and frameworks, and know how to apply them in a way that is practical, proportionate and focused on outcomes. You will be comfortable using spend analysis, cost modelling, stakeholder mapping and category tools to shape strategies that maximise value, quality, social value, sustainability and innovation. Above all, you will be a trusted adviser and constructive challenger: someone who can influence senior stakeholders, nego