Category Manager - IT

Role Summary

The Global Category Manager is the strategic owner of an assigned category of spend, accountable for defining the global category strategy and delivering outcomes across value capture, stakeholder experience, and risk management.

Primary Purpose

Own the category strategy, supplier portfolio, governance, and outcome delivery across the enterprise.

Primary Interfaces

• Business Unit leaders/stakeholders
• Strategic Sourcing Managers
• SCoE Leaders
• Supplier Executives
• Finance (Value Capture)
• Risk/TPRM
• Contracting CoE/Legal
• Operations/BPO

Scope

• Anchors Global category strategy + wave plan;
• Supplier portfolio design and segmentation;
• SRM for priority suppliers;
• Supplier rationalization and consolidation;
• Business Partnership (BRM) & Stakeholder Governance;
• Value Capture, Financial Stewardship & Performance Management;
• Risk, Resilience & Compliance Integration;
• Execution Orchestration Through Sourcing (One House Model).

Key Responsibilities

Global Category Strategy & Roadmap Ownership

• Define and maintain a multi-year global category strategy that aligns to Applied and GSP priorities, including clear goals, value levers, and execution waves.
• Establish category scope, taxonomy alignment, and a demand/supply perspective (demand signals, business requirements, supply market dynamics).
• Develop and refresh a category roadmap that sequences initiatives by impact, urgency, risk, and capacity, maintaining a forward-looking pipeline.

Supplier Portfolio Strategy, Segmentation & SRM

• Own supplier portfolio design and segmentation (strategic, preferred, transactional) and define the engagement model for each segment.
• Lead strategic supplier relationship management (SRM) for priority suppliers: performance, innovation, commercial governance, and executive alignment.
• Drive supplier rationalization and consolidation opportunities that improve leverage, simplify operations, and reduce total cost of ownership.

Business Partnership (BRM) & Stakeholder Governance

• Serve as a trusted advisor to business unit leadership; translate business objectives into category strategies and sourcing priorities.
• Lead category councils and governance forums (e.g., value/risk reviews, supplier performance reviews) to drive decisions, alignment, and accountability.
• Set stakeholder engagement rhythms and communication standards so the category experience is consistent across regions and teams.

Value Capture, Financial Stewardship & Performance Management

• Define and govern the category value pipeline (initiatives, baselines, assumptions, milestones) and partner with Finance for validation and reporting.
• Establish outcome metrics beyond savings (service levels, speed/cycle time, quality, compliance, risk reduction, innovation) and monitor performance.
• Ensure sourcing and contracting approaches are aligned to approved category strategies and buying channel guidance.

Risk, Resilience & Compliance Integration

• Integrate supplier risk considerations into category plans, including third-party risk management (TPRM) triggers and mitigation actions.
• Partner with Risk/TPRM, Legal, Privacy/Data Governance, and Compliance teams to ensure category decisions and supplier selections protect Applied.
• Proactively monitor supply market risks and translate signals into actions (dual sourcing, contract protections, contingency plans).

Execution Orchestration Through Sourcing (One House Model)

• Translate strategy into sourcing wave plans and clearly defined playbooks/guardrails for Strategic Sourcing Managers and SCoE execution teams.
• Oversee implementation progress and remove barriers; ensure handoffs and workflow between Category and Sourcing are efficient and predictable.
• Continuously refine strategy based on execution learnings, market feedback, and data insights (strategy ↔ execution feedback loop).

Capability Building & Change Leadership

• Champion standard ways of working, templates, and governance that reduce variability and improve speed and quality across the category.
• Support the talent pipeline by coaching and developing Strategic Sourcing Managers and SCoE practitioners; enable role clarity and development paths.
• Lead change initiatives within the category (process, tools, supplier operating models) and drive adoption through clear messaging and reinforcement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, Finance, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Demonstrated category management leadership: building and executing category strategies, supplier segmentation, and governance models.
• Strong commercial expertise: negotiations, contract strategy, and total cost/value analysis in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Proven ability to lead in a global, matrixed organization—driving alignment across regions, functions, and senior stakeholders.
• Experience integrating risk and compliance considerations into supplier and category decisions.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in semiconductor or high-tech indirect categories (e.g., IT, facilities, technical services, labor/services).
• Experience with structured category strategy programs, analytics-enabled decision making, and formal value capture governance.
• Professional certifications (e.g., CPSM, CIPS, CPM) and/or MBA/MS in a relevant discipline.
• Experience leading transformations (process standardization, operating model change, digital procurement tools) and scaling best practices.