Category Manager - Construction
7 days ago
Saint Albans
Category Manager (Construction/ Property) £65,000–£75,000 + £6,000 car allowance + 5% bonus + private healthcare + pension + 25 days holiday Ideally based in North London or South Yorkshire | National remit | 4 days on-site A major UK contractor is looking for a hands-on Category Manager to lead a small buying team and drive real commercial impact across housing and social housing contracts. This is a role for someone who enjoys being close to the detail, close to their people, and close to operations. Not someone who wants to sit behind a strategy deck. What you’ll lead You’ll manage a team of four Buyers (with a fifth joining), split across: • London, • Yorkshire, • You’ll visit each region once per month and spend 4 days a week on-site/ visiting suppliers They need someone who can bring structure, pace, and credibility + who can win hearts and minds in a team that needs direction, consistency, and accountability. What you’ll deliver • Lead and develop the buying team, improving performance, behaviours, and delivery discipline, • Drive value, cost certainty, and commercial improvement across housing/ construction contracts, • Build strong relationships with operational teams and become their trusted procurement partner, • Manage supplier performance, sourcing, tendering, and contract implementation, • Align local buying activity with wider category strategies, • Support sustainability commitments and process improvements, • Ensure compliance with procurement policy, governance, and reporting, • Bring a blend of procurement and construction buying understanding, • Help shape a function that has historically lacked strong recruitment and retention What you’ll need • Experience in construction, housing or social housing procurement (non-negotiable), • Proven people management experience — leading, coaching, and challenging teams, • A hands-on approach: this is a doing role, not a purely strategic one, • Strong stakeholder skills and the ability to win trust quickly, • Confidence to reset expectations, raise standards, and bring consistency, • Comfortable working predominantly from the office What you’ll get • £65,000 – £75,000 salary, • £6,000 car allowance or company car, • 5% bonus, • Private healthcare (single cover), • Life cover x2, • 25 days holiday, • The chance to make a visible, lasting impact in a function that genuinely needs strong leadership