Senior Category Manager - Technology
£73,000 to £75,000 plus great benefits including £6,000 car allowance and OTE bonus 
(Work Level 4) 
Manchester city centre, hybrid working. For this role you’ll be expected to come into the office at least one day per week, usually Tuesday, sometimes two dependent on business needs.

We’re looking for a Senior Category Manager to join us and drive the technology procurement strategy for Co-op’s Network, Hardware support & specific Software categories.

In this role, you’ll work cross-functionally with key partners across the Co-op as well as some of the largest technology companies in the world. We’ll look to you to act as the subject matter expert for technology within your categories, sharing your knowledge to support high-profile decision-making. This is a fantastic opportunity for you to use your skills to enable key growth within our Co-op, and to play a pivotal role in delivering our ‘pure convenience’ strategy.

What you’ll do

• Build meaningful relationships with senior partners up to director level, being recognised as a trusted adisor and part of their extended teams. You’ll also collaborate with major technology suppliers
• Own a significant portfolio of technology categories across the technology business, taking responsibility for the end-to-end management of this category involving leading the development and implementation of category planning, strategic sourcing and supplier management
• Develop and implement the commercial approaches for a number of major project initiatives for Co-op
• Mentor more junior members of the team such as Assistant Category Managers and Category Managers
• Support the Head of Category to lead, guide, and develop the category team
• Support other major technology sourcing initiatives across the Co-op when required

This role would suit people who have

• Procurement and sourcing / supplier management experience
• A commercial mind-set and the ability to work comfortably in a fast-paced environment
• Experience of managing large-scale complex negotiations and projects
• Great relationship-building skills with the ability to influence senior partners across the business and externally
• Experience of developing and driving category strategies
• Flexibility to travel within the UK when required  

Why Co-op?

If you have the skills that we need, we can offer you a competitive salary and great benefits package which includes 30% off Co-op branded products in our food stores (as well as other discounts on Co-op products and services).

• An annual bonus (based on personal and business performance)
• 28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays 
• A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
• Private healthcare for you and your family 
• Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
• Coaching and training to support your career development
• Wagestream app – giving you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn

Building a diverse environment

We’re actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.

We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.
If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.

You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process

You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme at Disability Confident Scheme - Co-op Colleagues and more about our commitments to diversity and inclusion at Diversity and Inclusion

Please note that we may close applications for this role early.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes up to 50 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.