Ref Number
B28-00350
Professional Expertise
Commercial and Procurement
Department
Finance, Commercial and Estates (B28)
Location
London
Working Pattern
Full time
Salary
£43,981-£54,019
Contract Type
Permanent
Working Type
Hybrid
Available for Secondment
No
Closing Date
09-Sept-2026
UCL is London’s leading multidisciplinary university, with more than 18,000 staff and over 51,000 students from more than 150 countries. Alongside our world-leading teaching and research, we manage a substantial and diverse estate that supports our academic community and enables UCL’s continued growth and development.
UCL spends more than £900 million each year with third-party suppliers, making Commercial & Procurement Services an important part of how we deliver value, manage risk and support the university’s strategic ambitions. Our team works collaboratively across UCL to improve sourcing and supplier management, deliver value for money and support more sustainable and effective ways of working.
The Estates Development Commercial & Procurement team supports the delivery and improvement of UCL’s estate, working with colleagues and suppliers to ensure procurement activity delivers strong commercial outcomes while meeting the needs of a large, complex and diverse university.
We are looking for a Category Manager (Minor Works) to join our Estates Development Commercial & Procurement team.
This is an opportunity to play a hands-on role in supporting procurement and commercial activity across UCL’s estates portfolio. You will work closely with stakeholders to understand their requirements, develop and deliver category plans, manage procurement exercises and identify opportunities to improve value, efficiency and supplier performance.
You will manage tenders and competitions, negotiate contracts and service-level agreements, support the management of frameworks and supplier arrangements, and build effective relationships with suppliers and internal stakeholders. You will also monitor supplier performance, research market trends and use commercial insight to identify opportunities for savings, innovation and continuous improvement.
Working collaboratively across UCL, you will help develop commercial solutions that balance cost, quality, risk and stakeholder requirements while contributing to the wider category strategy and UCL’s Commercial & Procurement objectives, including sustainability.
You will be a commercially minded and highly organised individual with experience of working in procurement, commercial, category management or a related environment. You will be comfortable working with different stakeholders, understanding their requirements and using commercial judgement to help achieve positive outcomes.
You will bring strong planning, organisation and communication skills, excellent attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities. You will be confident working with data and evidence to inform decisions and will be able to build effective relationships with colleagues, stakeholders and suppliers.
Experience of negotiation and working within a large, complex organisation would be particularly valuable. You do not necessarily need to come from the higher education sector; we are interested in candidates who can demonstrate commercial awareness, transferable procurement capability and the potential to develop within a complex estates procurement environment.
You will be joining a collaborative team where you will have the opportunity to build your category management expertise, contribute to meaningful procurement activity and support the delivery of value for money across one of the UK’s leading universities.
As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:
- 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
- Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
- Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
- Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
- Relocation scheme for certain posts
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
- Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
- Discounted medical insurance
Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.
As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent.We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.
