Head of Category Strategy x3

Tech procurement at its biggest – and most vital

About the Crown Commercial Service

The Crown Commercial Service is the UK’s largest procurement organisation. Today, we help

18,000+ customers from central government and the public and third sectors to procure around £27bn of common goods and services – everything from locum doctors and laptops to police cars and electricity. 

The collective purchasing power of our customers, allied to our commercial acumen, means we can ensure taxpayers get the best value for money. But we’re not resting on our laurels. We want you to help us reach our £30bn target spend over the next two years – and ultimately become the 'go to' provider for the public sector.

About the roles

These three roles sit in a directorate of c.120 technology and digital transformation procurement experts. The team handled around £9bn of Cloud and Digital, Networks, Software, Cyber and AI, Digital Futures, and Technology Products and Services last financial year.

It’s an area ripe for growth, in particular over the next four years. And as you’d expect, we’re heavily focused on procurement policies that foster sustainable and green innovations, Carbon Net Zero, Social Value, SME growth, localisation and more.

As a Head of Category Strategy, you’ll work alongside the Category Director to shape our technology procurement strategies and roadmaps, and take personal charge of a category team. With their support, you’ll create a pipeline plan that smoothly processes contracts and keeps third party spend in line with our expectations. You’ll get involved in the day-to-day too: working directly with suppliers, managing product and service supply chains, and developing key business requirements.

About the person

It’s vital that you’ve experience in leading the design, development and implementation of an end-to-end category strategy – negotiating large scale deals that offer exceptional value for money. Tenacious and collaborative, with a creative flair for problem solving, you’ll also be an authority on the technology market who enjoys mentoring colleagues.

Benefits

As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits including a valuable contributory pension scheme, generous annual leave starting at 25 days on entry plus an additional eight public holidays) and more! We have strong and pro-active staff networks, and diversity talent programmes to help everyone irrespective of background, to achieve their potential.

As part of the procurement profession, you’ll also benefit from exceptional opportunities for career development across the wider Civil Service, as well as the training and support to take advantage of them. Regular reviews ensure this development is ongoing.

To apply, please visit our website.

Closing date: 11:55 pm on Sunday 22nd May 2022.