Associate Category Manager

Are you experienced in managing the procurement lifecycle from sourcing and negotiation through to vendor and contract management? Do you know how to challenge established ways of working while bringing stakeholders with you? Are you excited by the opportunity to help shape a procurement function as it evolves? CFA Institute is looking for an Associate Category Manager to support the continued development of our Procurement & Vendor Management function. You will take ownership across the procurement lifecycle for an assigned spend category, partnering closely with stakeholders to understand their needs, develop sourcing approaches, negotiate with vendors and manage ongoing supplier relationships. This is an opportunity to bring established strategic procurement practices into an evolving environment. You will use your procurement expertise to identify opportunities, introduce more structured ways of working and help stakeholders understand the value a strategic procurement approach can bring. What You’ll Do Manage activity across the procurement lifecycle, including sourcing, vendor evaluation, negotiation, contracting and ongoing vendor management. Partner with business stakeholders to understand requirements and translate them into effective sourcing strategies and category plans. Lead or support competitive sourcing activity, including RFI, RFP and RFQ processes, vendor evaluation and award recommendations. Negotiate with vendors to secure strong commercial outcomes while balancing cost, quality, risk and business requirements. Manage contracts across their lifecycle, including renewals, amendments and expiration tracking, working in partnership with Legal where appropriate. Monitor vendor performance against agreed SLAs and KPIs and support action where performance gaps are identified. Use market research, spend analysis and supplier insight to identify opportunities such as vendor rationalisation, consolidation and improved management of tail spend. Support stakeholders through evolving procurement processes and ways of working, explaining requirements clearly and handling challenging or sensitive conversations constructively. Track category performance, savings and compliance metrics and contribute to the continued improvement of procurement processes, templates and playbooks. What We’re Looking For Strong, demonstrable experience across procurement, strategic sourcing, category management or contract management, with clear personal ownership of procurement outcomes. Proven experience managing the procurement lifecycle, including sourcing, commercial negotiation and vendor management. Experience within services procurement, with an understanding of procurement environments beyond goods, manufacturing, logistics or production supply chains. Evidence of personally leading or contributing significantly to vendor negotiations and competitive sourcing activity. Strong stakeholder management skills, including the confidence to challenge existing approaches and influence new ways of working. Working knowledge of contracts and key commercial terms, with experience supporting contracts through their lifecycle. An analytical approach and the ability to work with spend information, supplier proposals and performance measures. Confidence operating in an evolving environment where established processes and stakeholder expectations are changing. A collaborative, team-oriented approach combined with the ability to take individual ownership and clearly articulate your own contribution and decisions. An open mindset and interest in exploring new ways of working and emerging tools. Why Join Us Play a meaningful role in CFA Institute’s evolution from a purchasing-led environment toward a more strategic procurement and category management model. Bring your procurement expertise to an environment where you can help shape how the function works with the wider business. Own activity across the procurement lifecycle rather than focusing on only…

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