Procurement Business Manager

At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.

Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and offer workplace adjustments to ensure you have the support you need to succeed in your role.

The Role: Procurement Business Manager

The Business Manager runs the CPO Office on behalf of the Chief Procurement Officer, with two areas of accountability. The first is savings governance: the postholder owns the group savings pipeline and the methodology behind it, works with Finance so that reported savings are agreed and evidenced, and gives the leadership team an accurate view of progress against the cost reduction target. The second is change: the postholder runs the Procurement transformation as a structured programme, planning and tracking the workstreams, managing risks and dependencies, and making sure the new operating model is embedded across the UK and India. The role also provides the business management support that allows the leadership team to run the function well.

M&G Procurement is on a transformation journey, our objectives include: Identifying and delivering material, recurring cost reduction on M&G third-party spend; and materially improving how the business experiences Procurement, measured through an internal NPS. To achieve these objectives, Procurement is moving from a business unit aligned, generalist model to a category structure that operates as an internal commercial consultancy. The UK team offers the business deep category knowledge, strategic sourcing capability and negotiation expertise, so that M&G can compete with its vendors on commercial strategy.

The Business Manager is the point at which these objectives are measured and the change is managed. The category teams generate savings; this role makes sure the savings are planned, recorded consistently and recognised by Finance, and that the transformation needed to deliver them stays on track.

Key Responsibilities

Savings Governance and Assurance

• Own the group savings pipeline and tracker, consolidating category savings plans into a single view against the cost reduction target.

• Maintain the savings methodology, including baseline rules and the distinction between cost reduction and cost avoidance, and agree it with Group Finance.

• Review savings submitted by category teams before they are reported, checking that baselines are agreed and evidence is in place, and challenge claims that do not meet the methodology.

• Follow realised savings through to budgets and run rates with Finance, and report variances between planned, contracted and realised savings.

• Highlight gaps in pipeline coverage early, so that the leadership team can redirect effort to opportunities of greatest value.

Transformation Programme Management

• Run the Procurement transformation as a programme using PRINCE2 principles: maintain the programme plan, milestones, dependencies and RAID log across the UK and India workstreams.

• Set up and run programme governance, including workstream reporting, the programme board pack and decision and action logs.

• Coordinate delivery of operating model changes, including the move of execution work to India, new role introduction, process documentation and tooling such as Market Dojo and Power BI reporting.

• Track the benefits of the transformation, including savings capacity, service levels and stakeholder sentiment, and report progress honestly, including where delivery is behind plan.

• Coordinate with HR, Finance, Technology and TPRM on change activity that affects them, so that dependencies are identified and agreed in advance.

Business Management and Leadership Support

• Run the Procurement leadership team rhythm, including agendas, papers, actions and follow up.

• Prepare materials for the CPO for executive, Finance and governance forums, drawing together savings, pipeline, risk and transformation updates.

• Coordinate the Procurement budget and headcount tracking with Finance, including forecasts and variance commentary.

• Coordinate internal communications for the function, including team updates and engagement activity across the UK and India.

Performance, MI and Reporting

• Define the Procurement performance framework and the measures the leadership team uses to run the function, covering savings, pipeline, cycle times, service levels and compliance.

• Brief the India Data and Reporting team on reporting requirements, review outputs for accuracy before circulation, and question data rather than accept it at face value.

• Maintain the forward view of sourcing activity and material renewals, working with category leads, so that Finance and the business have visibility of upcoming events.

Customer Experience

• Run the internal customer feedback process, including the periodic NPS survey, and analyse results by business area and service.

• Turn feedback into a prioritised improvement plan with named owners, and report progress against the March 2026 baseline.

Risk, Controls and Governance

• Coordinate with Procurement Risk & Controls to ensure response to audit, risk and control reviews, track agreed actions to closure, and maintain the function's policy and procedure library.

• Apply procurement standards and governance proportionately, so that controls support delivery rather than slow it down.

Data, Digital and AI

• Use Power BI, the Project Tracker and AI tools to improve how the function plans, tracks and reports its work, and identify opportunities to reduce manual reporting effort.

People and Capability

• Coordinate the Procurement capability plan, including the skills map, training and professional qualifications, working with the leadership team and HR.

Essential Experience

• PRINCE2 Practitioner qualification.

• Experience in a business management (or equivalent skill), PMO or programme management role

• Experience of tracking financial benefits or savings and agreeing them with a Finance function.

• Strong analytical and financial skills, with advanced Excel and the ability to work with incomplete or inconsistent data.

• Ability to produce clear, concise papers and presentations for senior and executive audiences.

• Credibility to challenge senior colleagues constructively and with evidence, including on savings claims and programme delivery.

• Able to work from the London or Kildean (Stirling) office for the majority of the working week.

Desirable

• Experience in or alongside a Procurement or commercial function.

• Experience of (or training towards) Procurement services

• Experience in a regulated environment such as financial services or insurance.

• Experience with Power BI or similar reporting tools, and with AI-assisted analysis.

• Lean or Six Sigma training, or a programme qualification such as MSP.

• CIPS or an equivalent professional qualification, or interest in studying towards one.

• Experience working with offshore teams.

Working Pattern

This role is based in London. The postholder is expected to work from their base office for the majority of the working week. The role works closely with the CPO, the leadership team and Finance, and runs programme governance that depends on regular in person contact.

What we offer:

We’re dedicated to supporting your wellbeing and helping you thrive, both at work and beyond. Our benefits are designed to help you balance your professional and personal life, and financially plan for the future. Our UK benefits include:

• A valuable pension scheme of up to 18% (13% made up of employer contributions and 5% employee contributions).
• Access to ourShare Save and Share Incentive Plan, alongside financial wellbeing and support services to help give you real confidence to put your money to work.
• Enjoy 38 days annual leave (including bank holidays), with the opportunity to purchase up to five extra days. Our Time Off When You Need It policy gives you the flexibility - to balance work and personal commitments.
• Our market-leading Inspiring Families policy includes comprehensive support and paid parental leave covering maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and paternity leave - because supporting families is an important part of our inclusive culture.
• Health & Protection cover includes Private Healthcare, Critical Illness cover and Life Assurance for you, with additional family options - for peace of mind.

To explore more about life at M&G and our full benefits offering, visit Life at M&G

At M&G we strive to have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture, underpinned by our policies and employee-led networks that offer networking, support and development opportunities for the diverse communities our colleagues represent. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds - across gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation and more - including neurodivergent individuals, career returners and those with military service experience.

M&G is proud to be Level 3:Disability Confident Leader under the UK Government Disability Confident employer scheme, and we welcome applications from candidates with disabilities and long-term health conditions. If you would like to participate in the initiative, you will have the opportunity to indicate this on your application.

We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process. All candidates have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments when applying. If you need any additional support at any stage, please contact us at: [email protected]