Category Specialist - Long Tail Transformation

Join Us

At Vodafone, we’re not just shaping the future of connectivity for our customers – we’re shaping the future for everyone who joins our team. When you work with us, you’re part of a global mission to connect people, solve complex challenges, and create a sustainable and more inclusive world. If you want to grow your career whilst finding the perfect balance between work and life, Vodafone offers the opportunities to help you belong and make a real impact.

What you’ll do

Support the delivery and scaling of Vodafone's Long Tail Transformation programme across Group and local markets. The role supports market rollout, supplier migration and Long Tail commercial negotiations; develops data-driven insight for sourcing and programme decisions; tracks savings, business-case performance, adoption and leakage; and contributes to governance, risk management and continuous improvement of the operating model. Acting as an operational link between Category teams, local Supply Chain teams, the platform provider, resellers and suppliers, the role helps ensure that migrated spend delivers sustainable value, appropriate controls and the intended business outcomes.

• Market rollout and migration: support agreed migration waves from spend scoping, ABC analysis, and market engagement through supplier onboarding, cutover and post-go-live stabilisation. Maintain and report delivery plans, dependencies, actions and risks against programme targets.
• Long Tail commercial negotiations: develop commercial models and negotiation strategies that support programme growth; benchmark terms and conditions, scope, pricing and service levels using internal and external evidence; and recommend target and fallback positions to VP&C stakeholders.
• Identify and drive adoption of AI tools within Long Tail Transformation activities to enhance decision-making, reduce manual effort and accelerate programme delivery.
• Data, analytics and reporting: develop and maintain dashboards (Power BI) and other reporting that provide visibility of migrated spend, savings, adoption, supplier performance, pipeline and delivery status; translate data into clear recommendations for category and executive stakeholders.
• Savings realisation and business-case control: maintain the savings tracker and programme forecast, support alignment of the validation methodology with Finance, explain variances against plan and evidence realised benefits.
• Adoption and leakage management: monitor platform usage by market, identify off-platform buying and missed consolidation opportunities, quantify the impact and coordinate corrective actions with relevant stakeholders.
• Category and sourcing insight: analyse spend, supplier segmentation, demand aggregation and total cost of ownership to identify sourcing and consolidation opportunities and inform the multi-year Long Tail category roadmap.
• Governance and stakeholder management: support preparation of programme governance and SteerCo materials; maintain clear actions, decisions and status updates; and coordinate inputs across category teams, Finance, local markets, the platform provider, resellers and suppliers.
• Operating model and continuous improvement: provide category and analytical input to improve the migration playbook, processes and controls, helping make future market and supplier onboarding more consistent, efficient and scalable.
• Risk management: support identification and monitoring of delivery, supplier, compliance, service and data-quality risks, and coordinate mitigation actions to protect business continuity and programme value.
• Other Corporate Services and Property projects: work across other CS&P categories to support delivery of key initiatives and projects 

Who you are

Professional qualifications
• Master's degree or equivalent professional experience in business, procurement, supply chain, finance, economics, data analytics or a related discipline.
• Proficiency in AI tools, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; practical experience using Power BI or an equivalent business intelligence tool.
• Experience working with procurement, ERP, source-to-pay or digital marketplace data and reporting is strongly preferred.
• Fluent business English, written and spoken.
• Procurement or project management certification such as CIPS, CPSM, PMP or PRINCE2 is desirable but not essential.

Core competencies, knowledge and experience
• Practical experience in procurement, category management, transformation, programme delivery or procurement operations within a complex international organisation.
• Strong analytical capability, including spend analysis, benefits tracking, forecasting and the ability to turn data into concise business recommendations.
• Stakeholder coordination skills across Group functions, local markets, Finance, suppliers and technology or platform partners.
• Working knowledge of negotiations, contracting, supplier onboarding, purchase-to-pay processes, supplier performance and procurement controls.
• Commercial mindset with a focus on measurable value, adoption, user experience, compliance and sustainable process improvement.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including preparation of executive dashboards, governance packs and decision papers.
• Collaborative, proactive and comfortable working across cultures, functions and geographically dispersed teams.

Not a perfect fit?

Worried that you don’t meet all the desired criteria exactly? At Vodafone we are passionate about empowering people and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, whatever their personal or professional background. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align exactly with every part of the job description, we encourage you to still apply as you may be the right candidate for this role or another opportunity.

What's in it for you

We want you to feel happy and fulfilled at work, without compromising the other things in life that matter to you. Here are some of the ways we support this:

Generous Annual Leave
•    28 days of annual leave, with the option to buy an additional 5 days and the opportunity to carry over 5 days per year
•    1 additional day (Family Day) for personal milestones or special occasions
•    11 public holidays to enjoy time with family and friends
•    5 charity days per year to give back to the community
Flexible Work Arrangements
•    Flexible working schedule to help you balance your professional and personal life 
•    20 days to work from abroad, allowing you to combine work with travel and new experiences
Comprehensive Health and Wellness
•    Lunch vouchers to support your midday meals
•    Access to private AXA health insurance and a robust pension scheme to secure your health and future
Continuous Learning and Development
•    Access to Vodafone University and online training resources to help you grow your skills and advance your career

Who we are

We are a leading international Telco, serving millions of customers. At Vodafone, we believe that connectivity is a force for good. If we use it for the things that really matter, it can improve people's lives and the world around us. Through our technology we empower people, connecting everyone regardless of who they are or where they live and we protect the planet, whilst helping our customers do the same.

Belonging at Vodafone isn't a concept; it's lived, breathed, and cultivated through everything we do. You'll be part of a global and diverse community, with many different minds, abilities, backgrounds and cultures. ;We're committed to increase diversity, ensure equal representation, and make Vodafone a place everyone feels safe, valued and included.

If you require any reasonable adjustments or have an accessibility request as part of your recruitment journey, for example, extended time or breaks in between online assessments, please refer to https://careers.vodafone.com/application-adjustments/ for guidance.

Together we can.