Senior Procurement Manager

• Nov 2021 - Present

Technology Procurement Manager

• Oct 2018 - Oct 2021

Senior Product Manager and Team Leader

• Jul 2017 - Oct 2018

Building on my below role, when the Product team needed to grow to continue to the support the business I was asked to run the function. With a team of two reporting into me, my duties extended to line management for those members. I worked out a suitable way to split the product portfolio between myself and team members to ensure that the work load was both fair and interesting.While directly managing my area of the portfolio and the team, I was also still responsible for the organisation’s whole product and service portfolio and ensured I kept close to the detail of what was going on. I attended management meetings, attended by all senior staff to discuss and formulate plans for driving the business forward. I also attended operational management meetings were run on a weekly basis to provide general update and raise risks with our senior management. Show less

Product Manager

• 2013 - Jun 2017

Reporting into the Head of Product and Marketing, I was responsible for helping to define the company product strategy, monitor product profitability, be the champion and expert on products and services plus managing vendor relationships.Responsible for managing the entire product lifecycle including, researching the changing IT industry to look at new offerings as well as market research on competitors and vendors. Periodically, I would review Cloud Direct’s offerings to make sure they were commercially relevant and where necessary approach new vendors. Where we’d bring on or replace products I would put together requirements for them and prioritise their importance. Communicating product updates is key; I organised monthly update sessions and co-ordinate a Yammer group. I initiated a Product Focus Group, made up of Product Management and the management team in order to facilitate product related decision making and organisation wide input. General responsibilities included updating key documents and assets like price lists, updating our CRM system, creating and delivering training or facilitating vendor-delivered sessions and providing answers to ad-hoc questions.As an ISO accredited organisation, vendor management is a critical area that's externally audited every year. I organised regular reviews with vendors to ensure we get the best commercials and support plus, look at security elements of their businesses. I was the vendors’ main point of contact; maintaining close relationships and looking for areas of synergy and further development. Internally, I was the point of escalation for queries and any issues.I provided input into company projects with regard to product information; I worked with the Development team providing input into internal systems and new features such as product configuration tools. I was also involved in wider company initiatives including a project about understanding the value of the business and where they could offer more. Show less

Product Support Intern

• Jul 2011 - Aug 2012

Worked within the Level 4 Support and Quality Team for HP’s StoreOnce products, dealing with global colleagues. While working across time zones, I assisted support engineers with troubleshooting customer problems by recreating their configuration and running tests, reporting my findings and testing customer fixes. I created documents to allow easy analysis of customer statistics. I facilitated meetings that collated my team’s requirements for future software and product releases and collected worldwide updates on high level cases for monitoring purposes and produced reports for senior management. I suggested and implemented improvements to create better customer guided troubleshooting. I worked with contractors to create training package content for support staff worldwide, this included creation of images and multimedia, text explanations and proofreading. I wrote and delivered presentations to my team and other interns. I was involved in the recruitment of interns by conducting telephone interviews, assisting on assessment centres and co-interviewing at management interviews. I trained my replacement intern and ensured she was fully prepared for her role. I received a commendation for creating a comprehensive new starter guide which I then rewrote for other teams to use. I organised and ran a two day workshop for Year 9 students to introduce them to the IT industry including booth setup, workshop content and resources. This also incorporated a careers event for ages 13-18 years where I delivered information about GCSEs, A-Levels, university and careers. I completed on line training for my job and to develop soft skills like Microsoft Excel to instructor led courses on Project Management Fundamentals and Building Client Relationships. I organised team and intern socials. I maintained a high level of professionalism, managed my time efficiently and ensured I was a valued team member who could be relied on to complete whatever was asked of me. Show less

Temporary Receptionist

• Jul 2010 - Aug 2010

Welcomed and interacted with a wide variety of staff and clients. Dealt with queries and problems. Created spreadsheets to aid the Facilities department. Created a basic Access database for the Internal Audit department. Typed up business letters and staff memos. Welcomed and interacted with a wide variety of staff and clients. Dealt with queries and problems. Created spreadsheets to aid the Facilities department. Created a basic Access database for the Internal Audit department. Typed up business letters and staff memos.

Toys, Prams and Nursery Supervisor

• Sep 2008 - Jul 2009

Leadership of a small retail team servicing customer needs. Using the store database to help process enquiries, add orders and to check whether supplier orders had been received. Suggested ideas to help improve shopfloor, stock and warehouse efficiency and increase sales. Reported staff, supplier and customer feedback to higher management. Dealt with customer queries and problems until the situation was resolved. Maintained good relationships with staff of varying levels, suppliers and customers. Completed management tasks such as successful stock takes and meetings with higher management to improve the department’s sales and services.Staff management, rotas, discipline, attending management meetings and interfacing between senior management and the shop floor. Show less

Toys Sales Assistant

• Oct 2005 - Sep 2008

Serving customers using point of sales till, advising customers about products and services of the store and completing tasks set by the management.