Category Procurement Lead – People Services

Job Type:
Permanent
Build a brilliant future with Hiscox

Position Overview
Following a period of rapid growth, Hiscox has around 3,000 employees across multiple business units and countries. Procurement plays a key role in supporting the business strategy, driving value through effective supplier management, commercial excellence and strategic sourcing.

The Category Procurement Lead will be responsible for supporting the end-to-end category strategy, sourcing and supplier management activities across a range of spend categories, with a primary focus on People Services / HR. This includes working closely with HR and business stakeholders to develop sourcing strategies, optimise supplier performance and ensure procurement delivers measurable value.

This is a Procurement role at its core. The successful candidate will be a procurement / strategic sourcing professional who has previously managed procurement activity for People Services / HR categories — partnering with HR functions as an internal customer, rather than coming from an HR background.

People Services categories may include:

- Talent Acquisition Services

- Learning & Development

- Benefits & Wellbeing

- HR Operations
The role will be supported by Category Analysts based in Lisbon and will partner closely with stakeholders across the UK, Europe and the US.

Responsibilities
Category Strategy

- Develop and maintain category strategies aligned to business priorities and workforce objectives.

- Identify opportunities for cost optimisation, supplier consolidation, risk mitigation and service improvement.

- Provide market insight and recommendations to stakeholders across People Services categories.
Business Partnership

- Build strong relationships with business and HR leaders across the organisation.

- Support the development of sourcing strategies that align with business and workforce needs.

- Act as a trusted advisor on procurement, supplier management and commercial matters.
Sourcing & Procurement

- Lead end-to-end sourcing activities including RFI, RFP, RFQ and supplier selection processes.

- Develop negotiation strategies and lead commercial discussions with suppliers.

- Ensure procurement activity is executed in line with governance and risk requirements.
Supplier Management

- Manage strategic supplier relationships and performance reviews.

- Establish KPIs, governance frameworks and continuous improvement plans.

- Lead issue resolution and supplier escalation activities where required.
Contracting & Governance

- Partner with Legal, Risk and Compliance teams to ensure appropriate contractual protections are in place.

- Ensure compliance with internal procurement policies and external regulations.

- Drive best-practice procurement and supplier governance across the category.
Collaboration

- Share best practices and contribute to the continuous development of procurement capabilities.

- Collaborate effectively across Procurement, HR, Finance, Legal and operational teams.
Skills & Experience
Essential

- 6–8 years' experience in Procurement, Strategic Sourcing or Category Management.

- Previous procurement experience managing People Services / HR-related spend categories (e.g. Recruitment Services, Learning & Development, Benefits, HR Operations or similar).

- Experience partnering with HR / People functions as an internal stakeholder on procurement initiatives.

- Strong commercial acumen and negotiation skills.

- Excellent supplier relationship management capabilities.

- Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.

- Proven ability to lead sourcing and contract negotiations.

- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

- Experience operating in large and/or complex organisations.
Desirable

- Experience across multiple People Services categories.

- Experience supporting HR transformation programmes or workforce strategies.

- Experience within Financial Services or another regulated environment.

- Professional procurement qualification (CIPS Level 5/6 or equivalent).
Qualifications

- Degree (or equivalent experience) in Procurement, Business, Finance, Law or a related discipline.

- CIPS qualification preferred.

- Additional qualifications in contract management, supplier management or procurement best practice would be advantageous

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