Job summary
- Main area
- Assistant Category Director
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8c
- Contract
- Secondment: 12 months
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 196-SMT1752
- Employer
- Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- NHS LPP
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £85,431 - £97,148 p.a. inc. HCA (pro rata)
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 09/09/2025 08:00
- Interview date
- 16/09/2025
Employer heading

Assistant Category Director - General
NHS AfC: Band 8c
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
Would you like to join a procurement collaborative organisation to develop and implement the next stage of our ambitious strategy to deliver value to our stakeholders and contribute to productivity and efficiency within the NHS? We are looking for an exceptional candidate, with strong influencing, leadership and commercial skills, with a track record of delivery and achievement.
Main duties of the job
This role is key to driving savings for our customers and developing a deep understanding of the suppliers and markets and how we can shape and influence these to the benefits of our members.
This role is key to driving savings for our customers and developing a deep understanding of the suppliers and markets and how we can shape and influence these to the benefits of our members. It will be responsible for producing option appraisals for the deliver of complex & innovative projects. In addition, the role will have responsibility for developing and leading on a savings program at a regional and in some instances, national level.
Working for our organisation
The role will require an ability to work closely with the Category AD’s and colleagues internally, as well as senior stakeholders within our membership and at a national level. The postholder will be expected to bring innovation, an understanding of how to maximise our supplier relationships and good presentational skills to our team.
NHS LPP are an organisation Accredited by Investors in People & Disability Awareness
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
An understanding of the NHS would be desirable. Advanced commercial skills, proven evidence of deliverables within one of our core category’s and senior stakeholder relationship management skills, will also be key to success. Beyond that, this a new role and presents a real opportunity to shape it, as part of a forward looking and creative organisation.
Person specification
Qualification and Knowledge
Essential criteria
- MBA/ Degree or equivalent qualification or in depth senior level experience
Desirable criteria
- Project Management (Prince 2 practitioner or equivalent)
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent negotiation and engagement skills with with internal stakeholders and external suppliers
Desirable criteria
- Utilising risk management approaches to monitor risks and issues with specific category areas.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant and extensive senior procurement experience in a senior procurement and supply chain role including public or private sector experience.
- Advanced supplier and contract negotiation experience. Managing supplier and stakeholder relationships
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Adrian Gibson
- Job title
- Categories Director
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Additional information
For further information on this exciting opportunity, please contact Adrian Gibson (Categories Director); [email protected]
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