Senior Global Category Buyer - Food

Job Introduction

We’re looking for a driven Senior Global Category Buyer to become part of our Global Supply Management Food team who are responsible for negotiating, governing and reviewing over 160 global contracts. As a key member of the Global Supply Management Food team you will help develop and deliver the procurement strategy but also be capable of managing your own category independently.

This will be an exciting role, with ambitious cost savings and efficiencies to be met whilst meeting social and corporate responsibilities as part of our ethical sourcing model.

Food buying experience is essential for this role and you’ll have previously worked within either a in Food Service, Retail or Food Manufacturing environment. As a skilled negotiator you’ll be required to adapt your approach to accommodate different cultures and be highly influential to ensure engagement from Senior Segment lead and regional procurement teams.

You’ll be stretched and challenged in this role to ensure you perform at the highest levels but with this comes substantial opportunity to develop and further your career.

You will work from home with some flexibility to travel to our Stevenage office and travel abroad when required.

Role Responsibility

• Design and implement category strategies which significantly improve the commercial performance at a Group and Regional level whilst maintaining compliance to company standards and mitigating risk
• Co-build strategies with Food Platform (subject matter experts), Sodexo business Segments and Regional Buyers
• Engage Regions to actively collaborate in the deployment of category plans
• Develop a deep understanding of the differences and/or commonalities in the Regional supply markets and business needs of the Sodexo Segments.
• Engage regions in an active collaboration and development of categories globally
• Build a strong network within the Supply Management and Food Platform teams
• Be able to take into account the differences in business requirements across Regions
• Ensure procurement solutions consider total cost of ownership (TCO) in all procurement activity to maximise greatest value to Sodexo
• Lead cross functional sourcing teams in key projects and tenders
• Build and facilitate a strong Buyers network within your categories
• Ownership and delivery of category saving targets as defined within Supply Management budget

The Ideal Candidate

• Proven international experience in Buying / Category Management
• Strong knowledge of Foodservice categories
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills
• Team player who can communicate and influence across all business levels
• Strong financial acumen and results orientated with a proven track record in global contract negotiation

Package Description

Competitive salary + bonus + car allowance + flexible benefit fund

As part of our commitment to improving the quality of life for our employees, Sodexo offers a Flexible Benefits Scheme, allowing you to tailor a reward package to suit your needs but includes a technology scheme, private dental insurance, travel insurance, gym membership, Gourmet card, private medical insurance, free will writing, life assurance, 24hrs GP access and the ability to purchase or sell annual leave.

We also have a Sodexo Discount scheme, which offers employees and their friends and family the opportunity to benefit from over 1,200 discounts from top retailers both online and in-store.

About the Company

In the UK and Ireland, Sodexo employs around 30,000 people, and partners with clients in many sectors across business and industry; schools and universities; sports and leisure; energy and resources; government and agencies; healthcare; justice and defence.

Sodexo’s connected; people-centric approach brings together a diverse range of expertise. The breadth of services it offers ranges from food and hospitality; cleaning; reception; concierge (Circles); security; property management and technical services through to data driven workplace strategy and design (Wx); employee engagement and recognition services (Sodexo Engage) and personal home services through Prestige Nursing + Care and the Good Care Group.

Vital Spaces is Sodexo’s value proposition that puts people at the heart of everything we do, bringing together services and solutions and focusing on the productivity and wellbeing of people wherever they are.

Sodexo is committed to being an inclusive employer; we welcome and encourage applications from people with a diverse variety of experiences, backgrounds and identities.

We’re a Disability Confident Leader employer. We’re committed to changing attitudes towards disability, and making sure disabled people have the chance to fulfil their aspirations.

We are building on our support to the Armed Forces community through the development of specific pathways within our recruitment process to  support ex-forces personnel and reservists, those applying for jobs with us who meet the ideal candidate criteria for the role advertised are guaranteed to progress to the selection process