Category Lead

Job Description:

Salary: 59,000 - 70,000

Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.

You can be based from our Edinburgh site with monthly travel to Basildon or you can be based from our Basildon site with monthly travel to Edinburgh.

Your Impact We have an excellent opportunity for a Category Lead to join the optics Strategic Category Management Organisation within the Procurement & Commercial Function of the Electronics Division.  You will report to the UK Category Procurement Manager for Optics and Mechanical.

What you will do:

Develop and implement category strategies aligned to business objectives, taking ownership of category performance and proactively identifying opportunities for cost, value, and risk improvement.

Help build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders across projects, sites, and functions, acting as a trusted adviser and ensuring procurement priorities support operational needs.

Serve as the lead commercial contact for strategic suppliers, managing supplier relationships and collaboration initiatives to drive continuous improvement and value creation.

Facilitate and chair regular stakeholder meetings, coordinating cross-functional engagement and ensuring alignment on category plans, priorities, and outcomes.

Analyse, manage, and present procurement and category data to identify trends, generate insights, and support evidence-based decision making, translating complex information to inform business decisions

Be responsible for developing the optics category strategy  which will have an impact on a number of different sites across the UKBe accountable for the timely execution of contracts within your category (or sub-categories) across the UK Represent your category team across a number of projects to ensure that both production and new product development requirements are satisfied

Act as the lead for relationships with strategic suppliers who may serve multiple sites including responsibility for strategic business reviews

Work with the procurement capability and Supply Chain Development teams to ensure that we have a supply base which can meet the evolving needs of the business

Identify cost savings opportunities using various methods which you can confidently present to senior business leaders

Continual evaluation of the category strategy throughout the various product life-cycles, ensuring they are relevant and tangible across the relevant projects

Oversee complex price analysis by members of the team and benchmarking activities prior to leading negotiations

Ensure compliance with internal governance and customer flowdown requirements, supporting internal and external audits as required

Ensure that SAP is aligned to reflect the agreements that your team will implement

What you'll bring:

Extensive strategic Procurement experience, preferably including category management

Product knowledge of optics

Strong presentation skills

Demonstrable working knowledge and understanding of Contract Terms & Conditions Experience in managing diverse stakeholders in a corporate environmentA relevant business/ engineering degree and/or working experience in a similar role Significant experience in managing complex tenders

Experience working in a highly regulated business environment

Proficient level of MS Office based IT skillsCIPS qualification preferred SAP user experience

Security Clearance This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit:
Why join usAt Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded…