Procurement Category Manager - F&B, Retail and OPEX

Location: London/Hybrid

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £65,000 

Responsibilities:

• Develop and deliver global category strategies aligned to Merlin’s business objectives.
• Build sourcing roadmaps that drive value, innovation and operational excellence.
• Identify opportunities to optimise spend, improve services and consolidate suppliers.
• Lead procurement transformation initiatives, embedding best-practice processes and governance.
• Drive adoption of procurement tools, analytics and category management frameworks.
• Lead complex sourcing projects, supplier negotiations and contract management activities.
• Deliver measurable cost savings, commercial benefits and value creation across the category.
• Build strategic supplier partnerships that foster performance, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Manage supplier risk and ensure compliance with governance, cybersecurity and data protection standards.
• Act as a trusted commercial partner, working closely with stakeholders across Finance, Legal, Risk and Operations.

• Specialised procurement experience in either F&B, Retail or Operating expenses categories within a complex global organization.
• Strong experience developing and implementing category strategies from the ground up.
• Demonstrated success delivering procurement transformation or maturity improvements.
• Strong commercial negotiation and contract management skills.
• Experience managing strategic supplier relationships with global technology vendors.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills at all levels within a large complex organisation.

Preferred Qualifications 

• Studying towards or holds MCIPS, CIPS or equivalent procurement qualification.

• ‘Enjoy the Ride’ Merlin Annual Passes - 6 in total per year, 1 for you, plus 5 to gift to loved ones!
• Merlin Magic Pass - 20 free tickets for you, your family and friends to enjoy all our Merlin Attractions across the world rising to 40 after a year’s service
• 33 days holiday (including bank holidays)
• Company bonus
• Private pension scheme
• 40% discount online off LEGO
• 25% discount in our on-site retail shops and restaurants
• Ongoing training and development opportunities
• Plus, many more…

If you have any questions or if you require any assistance, because of a disability or medical condition, please contact us by email at Recruitment@Merlinentertainments.biz and one of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.