Procurement Manager (5 months fixed term)

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:

The Procurement function’s purpose is to balance opportunity, risk and responsibility to drive better business outcomes through the third party supply chain. The Director of Procurement reports into the Director of Finance Transformation, Ops and Data in the Finance function. The aim of the function is to protect the business against commercial, operational and regulatory risk whilst delivering value for money for business budget holders.

The role holder will report into and work closely with the Senior Procurement Manager (who reports into Head of Procurement) to ensure a cohesive and collaborative partnership with Business Leaders within specific Business Units

The Procurement team has two main focus areas:

To lead and drive forward all third party engagements supporting allocated business units. This role is responsible for building partnerships and executing contracts with suppliers to support business divisions to optimise cost base, operating models and deliver innovation. This will include leading complex activities involving strategic or material suppliers, such as negotiating and contracting for new BPO deals, and delivering renewals of existing deals. The role will also include informal management of resources out of India and will maintain accountability of executing buying activities to drive lower costs and ensure appropriate mitigation of risks associated with third parties.

To provide Business Partnering Services for all Procurement activities for allocated business units, improving engagement between Procurement and business functions to develop and deliver a savings pipeline and demonstrating the value add of the by identifying opportunities for improved cost base, innovation or transformation through the use of third parties.

It is important in this role to build relationships and networks across the organisation to establish the desired operating model and set the adherence to procurement ways of working. These relationships coupled with commercial and economic insight need to be harnessed to continuously drive tangible improvements across the category and to achieve recognised procurement best practice.

Key Responsibilities:

• Supporting the development and delivery of the procurement strategy for indirect spend, driving efficiencies and savings for the business and supporting delivery of business strategy and third party supply chain control

• Delivering an excellent procurement service to internal customers/stakeholders

• Managing supplier relationships during the procurement projects and interventions

• Creating a supply chain that aligns with the Commercial & Business Strategy

• Accountable for delivery of procurement projects driving efficiencies and savings for the business

• Understanding and identifying market trends and intelligence to deliver value and innovative solutions that will achieve business success

• Building strong working relationships with core centralised teams (such as IT Security, Legal and Financial Crime)

• Driving continuous improvement for the processes utilized within their team and across the Procurement function

You will have:

• Good knowledge of strategic procurement and category management theories and concepts, financial risk and liability, including understanding the commercial risks associated with indirect supply chain

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to cut through information and draw out key trends / insight to support the development and improvement of the category

• Excellent written and verbal communications skills, and the ability to communicate to a range of stakeholders at all levels of the organisation

• Strong knowledge of procurement best practice, good network/links with external bodies and individuals in category management across other industries

• Strong knowledge of UK indirect supplier marketplace in terms of pricing, breadth of suppliers and geographical coverage, supplier financial standing, including broad understanding of the market trends and dynamics

• Experience drawing key trends and insight from a complex range of data and driving action from that insight

• Experience of working with a range of external suppliers, able to tailor approach based on the nature of the relationship with a specific partner or client

• Experience of commercial and contract negotiation, including the drafting and execution of commercial contracts with track record of delivering savings to target and timelines

• Experience of building relationships and influencing a range of senior internal and external stakeholders with the ability to manage competing priorities and business objectives in a fast paced environment

• Experience of working in a matrix environment / or virtual team environment

• Experience of working in a financial services or services based procurement function

Desirable:

Working knowledge of financial services, regulatory and legislative frameworks relevant to the UK business

Relevant professional or degree qualification (e.g. MCIPS, MBA)

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]