Category Lead

Category Lead – Procurement 

 National role | Regular travel to regional offices and sites

The Opportunity

At Wates, we're looking for a strategic and commercially focused Category Lead – Procurement to help shape and deliver our procurement and supply chain strategy across the Group and Divisions.

This is a high-impact role where you'll lead category management activities, develop long-term sourcing strategies, negotiate national framework agreements, and build strong supplier partnerships that deliver value across Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, People and Sustainability (SQDCPS).

Reporting to the Head of Indirect Procurement and managing two Procurement professionals, the Category Lead will be responsible for developing and delivering category strategies that create long-term value across the Group and Divisions.

Working closely with senior stakeholders, you'll act as the subject matter expert for your categories, providing insight into market trends, supplier performance, risks and opportunities while driving continuous improvement across our supply chain.

What You'll Be Doing

• Develop and deliver category strategies aligned to business objectives and long-term operational needs.
• Lead complex supplier negotiations and establish framework agreements that maximise value and reduce risk.
• Drive improvements in supply chain performance, spend under management and procurement efficiency.
• Monitor market trends, innovations, risks and disruptions, translating insights into actionable strategies.
• Maintain category risk and opportunity registers and ensure appropriate mitigation plans are in place.
• Build and manage strategic supplier relationships, creating collaborative partnerships that generate long-term value.
• Implement effective supplier performance management frameworks and ongoing due diligence processes.
• Produce category performance reporting and provide regular updates to senior leadership.
• Partner with stakeholders across Wates to influence decision-making and embed best practice procurement approaches.
• Lead, coach and develop procurement talent, building high-performing teams that deliver exceptional results.

What We're Looking For

Essential

• Proven experience in strategic sourcing, procurement or category management within a complex organisation.
• Significant experience leading high-value commercial and supplier negotiations.
• Strong understanding of procurement best practice and category management methodologies.
• Experience developing and implementing procurement strategies that deliver measurable business benefits.
• Ability to influence and engage stakeholders at all levels, including senior leadership and executive teams.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data and communicate insights effectively.
• Experience driving continuous improvement and challenging the status quo.
• A collaborative approach with the ability to build strong internal and external relationships.

Qualifications

• HND or Degree in Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Construction Management or a related discipline.
• MCIPS qualified (or working towards).

What's In It for You?

At Wates, you'll be part of a business committed to creating thriving places, communities and opportunities. You'll have the chance to influence strategic procurement decisions, shape supplier partnerships and contribute to delivering industry-leading performance across our Group.

Our Behaviours

We're looking for people who demonstrate the Wates behaviours:

Own It – Take responsibility and deliver great results.

Be Curious – Challenge, learn and embrace new ideas.

Partner Brilliantly – Collaborate to deliver outstanding value.

Believe in Each Other – Respect, trust and recognise the contributions of others.

Given the nature of this position, you will need to undergo a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) at offer stage. Applicants with criminal convictions will be assessed individually, and we assure you that we do not discriminate based on an applicant's criminal record or the details of any disclosed offenses. Additionally, certain roles may be subject to additional pre-employment checks. 

To learn more about the checks included in this process, please click on the following link: National Security Vetting 

Our commitments: 

Wates is proud to be an employer where anyone can thrive, and we welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds.  We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every requirement, as we value transferable skills and assess all applications fairly.

We don't discriminate based on a criminal record; all applications are reviewed on an individual basis against the requirements of the role. Some roles may require additional checks, due to the nature of the work.  As a Disability Confident Leader, we offer an interview to applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for the role and opt in to the Disability Confident scheme.  Reasonable adjustments are available, please contact us at recruitment@wates.co.uk