Senior Manager, Sourcing & Procurement

Job Summary

The Senior Manager, Sourcing & Procurement is responsible for leading strategic sourcing and procurement activities across the organisation, ensuring the delivery of best value, commercial advantage, and supply assurance. The role develops and executes sourcing strategies, manages high-value supplier relationships, and leads procurement initiatives that support business objectives, cost optimisation, risk management, sustainability goals, and operational excellence. This position provides leadership to procurement teams, drives continuous improvement and governance initiatives, and acts as a trusted commercial partner to senior stakeholders across the business.

• Develop and implement category and sourcing strategies aligned with organisational and commercial objectives, leading end-to-end sourcing activities including market engagement, supplier evaluation, tendering, supplier selection, and contract negotiation to deliver cost savings, value creation, and supply continuity.
• Support long‑term sourcing strategies and support operational resilience through proactive sourcing initiatives.
• Ensure all procurement activities are conducted in compliance with internal governance, procurement policies, and applicable UK regulations.

• Manage and develop strategic supplier relationships through effective performance management, continuous improvement initiatives, and contract lifecycle oversight, ensuring commercial, legal, and operational compliance.
• Lead complex negotiations, contract renewals, dispute resolution, and supply chain risk mitigation activities to support resilience and business continuity.

• Lead procurement performance reporting across savings, supplier KPIs, risk, and compliance metrics, using data‑driven insights to support operational and strategic decision‑making.
• Champion process optimisation, digital procurement tools, sustainability, ESG, and ethical sourcing initiatives, while supporting audits and governance reviews as required.

• Act as a strategic business partner to Finance, Operations, Legal, and Executive leadership teams by providing clear commercial guidance and challenge to support value‑driven decision‑making.
• Lead, mentor, and develop procurement team members while promoting procurement best practices and continuous improvement initiatives across the organisation.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional stakeholders to align sourcing strategies with broader business and operational objectives.
• Understand and actively participate in Environmental, Health & Safety responsibilities by following established Universal policy, procedures, training, and team member involvement activities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent professional experience in procurement, supply chain, business, or a related field is required.
• Progressive procurement and sourcing experience required, including leadership responsibilities; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Preferred experience across multiple procurement categories including indirect spend, professional services, IT, construction, or manufacturing environments.
• Preferred experience working within public sector, regulated, or governance‑driven environments, including familiarity with procurement policies and compliance frameworks.
• Must have significant experience in senior sourcing or procurement management roles.
• Preferred experience using ERP and e‑procurement systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, Ariba, Jaggaer), along with knowledge of sustainability, ESG, and supply chain risk management principles.
• CIPS Level 5 or 6 (or equivalent) strongly preferred.
• Membership of CIPS or another relevant professional body desirable.
• Must have strong commercial and financial acumen, with excellent negotiation, stakeholder engagement, influencing, and relationship management skills across multiple levels of the organisation.
• Must have experience leading, mentoring, and developing procurement teams, along with a strong understanding of UK procurement…