The Category Manager provides category leadership for key sub-categories of spend in support of their global category.

They undertake category management and global supplier relationship management, driving end-to-end spend management to mitigate supply chain risk and increase value delivery, including sustainability, within their category. They do this through collaborating across and beyond procurement, including with regional, business, and cross-functional resources.

They know their categories intimately and support development of innovative strategies which deliver business objectives and strong category guidance which ensures efficient end to end category execution. They work with regional and Capability Centre resources for optimal, compliant, and competitive procurement outcomes, collaborating across and beyond procurement.

Problem solvers with good commercial acumen, they create solutions to category challenges, they cultivate senior stakeholder relationships and work with businesses to understand their evolving needs alongside developing deep insights into supply markets, including disruptors and technological advances.

They bring value through orchestrating development of transformational strategies in support of Castrol's strategy, collaborating cross-functionally to realize identified value and working with delivery teams to ensure that their global strategies are implemented locally.

The Professional Services & Talent Category Manager will manage USD50m-100m of spend globally covering contingent labor agencies, legal services, finance consulting, business consulting, HSE services, R&D technical support services etc.

The Professional Services & Talent Category Manager provides end‑to‑end global leadership across Professional Services and Talent‑related spend, covering a wide range of people‑ and knowledge‑based services. The role delivers global category strategies, manages key suppliers, mitigates supply chain risk, and increases value delivery for critical business services.

The position plays a pivotal part in enabling business continuity, talent access, specialist capability, technical advisory capacity, and consulting excellence worldwide.

The Category Manager delivers measurable commercial value through cost savings, operational efficiencies, and improved service outcomes by identifying value levers across talent supply chains, consulting categories, and specialist technical service domains.

Key Accountabilities

Category Strategy leadership: Collaborate to develop creative category strategies that address business needs, both globally and regionally, supply chain risk and sustainability. Analyze market factors to inform strategy excellence, remaining attuned to market dynamics, balancing needs with proactive transformational strategies.

Category excellence: Data led management of end-to-end category performance by working with the organization to understand demand and ensure strategies that can be driven effectively across teams.

Skillfully navigates Castrol's multifaceted operational frameworks, guaranteeing consistent strategy delivery and uninterrupted supply flow to make procurement easier for suppliers and partners to work with.
Consider regional factors like laws, taxes, and market conditions in category management planning.
Cultivates purpose driven partnerships and robust supplier relationships to navigate business challenges and unlock triple bottom line (people, profit & planet) value

Transformation and Change Management: Implement transformation initiatives, which deliver incremental business value. Ensure supplier performance, in a dynamic business environment, and implement change across diverse partner landscapes.

Leverage digital solutions to drive innovation, enhancing efficiency, effectiveness and value creation
Partner with internal rigor teams to drive category excellence
Use influencing, storytelling and communication to encourage adoption

Team integration: Work within a team of category managers, embracing culture of collaboration, excellence, and continuous improvement. Acts as an SME and advocate for their category, sharing category knowledge across teams to ensure business needs are met.

Builds category knowledge across the wider procurement organization to ensure strategy execution
Develops their technical capabilities in order to deliver category operational excellence
Embraces accelerator skills; curiosity in external markets, innovation and technological disruption, digital fluency, data-driven insights, and strong collaboration with both suppliers and partners
Embraces an environment of psychological safety as a foundation for collaborative learning, ideation and innovation

Supplier & Stakeholder Management: Uses storytelling to communicate with stakeholders and external partners, respectfully challenging to achieve the right outcomes, resolving conflict and focusing on priorities.

Leads and influences through complexity and ambiguity, managing virtual relationships with partners in multi-discipline, multi-cultural environments
Unites diverse partners, ensuring both advantageous supply avenues and collaborative solutions to business challenges
Builds partner relationships, bringing market insights and championing supplier value whilst taking time to understand business needs. Becomes a trusted advisor and critical partner to stakeholders
Prepares documentation and relevant partner communication to enable key decision forums

Essential Experience And Job Requirement

Functional knowledge: Knowledge of category management principles and experience in undertaking procurement processes and developing category strategies.

An understanding of how to ensure strategies flow through to execution in the businesses / assets
Strong understanding of Real Estate, Facilities Management, workplace services, building operations and vendor ecosystems.
Prior experience in global, matrixed procurement environments dealing with global partners.

Business expertise: Good partner management and influencing skills in order to develop a deep understanding of the supported businesses / regions / assets and their priorities, including long term objectives.

Critical thinking and commercial competence
An understanding of working in and navigating complex multi-national businesses
Track record in collaborating with businesses / partners to deliver continuous improvement

Leadership: An SME, who shares knowledge with the wider team and drives delivery of business and procurement priorities. Collaborates across procurement, the businesses, suppliers and beyond to achieve their regions / assets goals.

Experience in leading initiatives internationally, recognizing cultural nuances, analyzing data-driven trends & insights, and employing agile/flexible approaches
An advocate for our code, they incorporate the Operating Management System (OMS) and our safety leadership principles into strategies and everyday work

Problem solving: The role requires the ability to partner with the business to develop innovative solutions, clearing blockers and enabling delivery. It also requires judgement to translate business requirements into a demand plan.

Embraces industry challenges and technological disruption, pioneers innovative solutions whilst managing risk
Brings multiple parties (procurement, business, suppliers) together to collaboratively solve complex problems
Manages conflict to successful resolution while maintaining relationships with key partners
The ability to evaluate innovative solutions and manage risk
Good judgement in order to translate business requirements into a strategic delivery plan, aligned with the categories, to inform strategic decisions

Interpersonal skills: The role demands strong people skills to engage with diverse partners.

Strong senior partner networking and influencing skills to ensure consensus and adoption, building a reputation as a strategic partner to the regions / sites / assets
Experience in regular interaction with external suppliers and representing Castrol externally
Effective change management is key, requiring good influencing, engagement and storytelling abilities
Persevering through organizational complexity and resistance to change, key to leading transformational change

This is a role within the Castrol organisation and the successful candidate will become part of the Castrol ring-fence. If you are part of the ring-fence, it is expected that your employment will move with Castrol to new ownership

At bp, we provide the following environment and benefits to you:

A company culture where we respect our diverse and unified teams, where we are proud of our achievements and where fun and the attitude of giving back to our environment are highly valued
Possibility to join our social communities and networks
Learning opportunities and other development opportunities to craft your career path
Life and health insurance, medical care package
And many other benefits.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status

Castrol Category Manager – Professional Services & Talent