Category Buyer - Indirect Procurement

A strong opportunity for an ambitious indirect procurement professional to build broader category buying experience with a leading manufacturing business.

Category Buyer - Indirect Procurement

Northamptonshire
Hybrid working - 3 days in the office, usually Tuesday to Thursday
Permanent
£42,000-£48,000 + bonus + double pension + benefits

The Opportunity

This is a great opportunity to join a leading manufacturing business in a Category Buyer role focused on indirect procurement.

The business is strengthening its procurement function and investing in capability at Buyer level. This creates a strong opportunity for someone who wants more ownership, better category exposure and a route towards broader Category Management.

You'll support sourcing activity across defined indirect spend areas, working closely with procurement colleagues, internal stakeholders and suppliers. The role will involve RFx activity, supplier engagement, simple to medium-complexity agreements, performance reporting, commercial analysis and day-to-day sourcing follow-through.

Category scope can be shaped around experience, with particular interest in areas such as marketing, brand, HR, professional services or IT.

Key Responsibilities

You'll be involved in:

Running RFx events and tenders aligned to category sourcing plans
Managing supplier communication, bid activity, clarifications and timelines
Supporting category plans with data, insight and practical commercial follow-through
Drafting, reviewing and negotiating simple to medium-complexity commercial agreements
Tracking supplier performance, savings, compliance, risk and improvement activity
Working with stakeholders to understand requirements and challenge assumptions constructively
Maintaining supplier, pricing, contract and procurement documentation

What We're Looking For

This role would suit someone with procurement, sourcing or commercial operations experience who is ready to build broader category buying capability.

Indirect procurement experience would be highly relevant, particularly across marketing, brand, HR, professional services or IT. FMCG, consumer goods, manufacturing or another fast-paced commercial environment would be useful, but the client is open-minded on sector background.

You'll need to be organised, analytical, commercially aware and confident working with stakeholders and suppliers.

Why Join?

This is a development-focused opportunity within a recognised manufacturing environment.

You'll get the chance to build sourcing capability, strengthen supplier management experience, work with a broad stakeholder base and contribute to a procurement function that is becoming more data-led, digitally enabled and commercially influential.

The package includes a salary of £42,000-£48,000, bonus opportunity and a strong wider benefits package.

If you're interested in learning more, we'd be happy to have a confidential conversation
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed