Category Manager

The Role:

The Procurement Category Manager – Professional Services & Underwriting Support is responsible for the end‑to‑end category management, sourcing, and ongoing oversight of third‑party spend across:  

• Professional Services  
• Finance & Corporate Services  
• Third Parties Supporting Underwriting Activities  

The role operates within a Lloyd’s Managing Agent environment and ensures that procurement activity delivers commercial value, while meeting the requirements of PRA SS2/21 in relation to outsourcing, third‑party risk, and ongoing supplier oversight.  

The role is critical in ensuring that third‑party arrangements—particularly those supporting underwriting and core business services—are appropriately risk‑assessed, contractually robust, operationally resilient, and subject to effective ongoing oversight.

Responsibilities will include:

Category Strategy & Sourcing Governance

• Develop and maintain category strategies for professional services and underwriting support suppliers, aligned to business and underwriting objectives.
• Ensure sourcing strategies consider materiality, substitutability, concentration risk, and operational criticality, in line with PRA SS2/21.
• Maintain a forward-looking sourcing and renewal pipeline for critical and key suppliers.

End‑to‑End Sourcing & Commercial Management

• Lead proportionate and defensible sourcing activities (RFI/RFP/RFQ), ensuring transparency, auditability and appropriate challenge.
• Negotiate robust commercial and contractual terms, including:
  • Scope clarity and defined services
  • Fee models and rate cards
  • SLAs, KPIs and performance regimes
  • Audit, access and information rights
  • Termination, exit and transition provisions
• Ensure contracts support regulatory expectations for ongoing oversight and operational resilience.

Outsourcing & Third‑Party Risk

• Embed PRA SS2/21 principles throughout the third‑party lifecycle, including:
  • Pre‑contractual risk assessment and due diligence
  • Identification of material outsourcing and critical third‑party arrangements
  • Clear delineation of responsibilities, service ownership and accountability
• Work closely with Legal and stakeholders to ensure contracts reflect agreed commercial, service, risk, and compliance requirements.
• Leverage Evisort Contract Intelligence to:  
  • Improve visibility of contracts, terms, and obligations
  • Manage renewal and termination timelines
  • Identify commercial and risk insights (e.g. auto-renewals, pricing clauses, audit rights)
  • Reduce value leakage through proactive contract and renewal management.

Supplier & Performance Management

• Lead or support supplier review forums, performance reviews and remediation plans.
• Establish KPIs, SLAs, and governance forums (e.g. QBRs, service reviews).
• Drive continuous improvement, innovation, and performance remediation where required.
• Coordinate closely with IT service management, cyber, and data teams on supplier performance and issue resolution.

Risk, Governance & Compliance

• Ensure all procurement activity complies with internal policies and governance frameworks.
• Embed third-party risk and security considerations into sourcing and contract management.
• Support material outsourcing / critical supplier assessments where applicable.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance, InfoSec, and Data Protection functions to ensure suppliers meet regulatory, security, and data requirements.

Stakeholder Engagement & Business Partnering

• Act as the primary procurement partner for key internal stakeholders.
• Provide clear, pragmatic procurement advice on sourcing routes, commercial options, and supplier strategy.
• Influence senior stakeholders while maintaining challenge and independence as a professional procurement advisor.
• MI, Benefits Tracking & Continuous Improvement
• Track and report category performance, including savings, cost avoidance, pipeline delivery, and supplier performance.
• Maintain accurate procurement MI through Workday and other procurement systems.
• Support capability uplift across procurement through knowledge sharing and mentoring. 

Skills and Experience

• Significant experience as a Category Manager or Senior Procurement Manager covering professional services and complex third‑party arrangements.  
• Strong understanding of outsourcing and third‑party risk management within a regulated environment.  
• Demonstrable experience aligning procurement activity to regulatory frameworks (e.g. PRA/FCA/Lloyd’s).  
• Strong commercial negotiation skills, particularly in advisory and underwriting‑adjacent services.  
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with senior and technical audiences.  
• Experience in regulated industries (financial services, insurance, London Market).  
• Knowledge of third-party risk, operational resilience, and outsourcing governance.  
• Experience embedding procurement governance without slowing delivery.  
• CIPS qualification (Level 4+) would be beneficial  

About UsOur benefits

We offer all employees a comprehensive benefits package that focuses on their whole wellbeing. This includes hybrid working, a competitive base salary, non-contributory pension, discretionary bonus, insurances including health (family) and dental cover, and many other benefits to enhance financial, physical, social and psychological health.

About Canopius

Canopius is a global specialty lines (re)insurer. We are one of the leading insurers in the Lloyd’s of London insurance market with offices in the UK, US, Singapore, Australia and Bermuda.

At Canopius we foster a distinctive, positive culture which enables us to bring our whole selves to work to flourish as people, and build a business which delivers profitable, sustainable results.

Based in incredible new offices in Manchester, Canopius operates a flexible, hybrid working model and is committed to providing an environment that challenges employees to be their best and where everyone's unique contributions are recognised, valued and respected.  

We are fully committed to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are made regardless of age, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, religion or beliefs, marital or caring status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.  We encourage and welcome applicants from all diverse backgrounds.

We make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and during employment. Please let us know if you require any information in an alternate format or any other reasonable adjustments.