Category Specialist

About the Role

In this role as Category Specialist, you will support, develop, implement, and optimize local/regional sourcing initiatives and strategies. Working closely with plant leadership, operations, supply chain, engineering, and finance, you will drive procurement excellence primarily across indirect spending categories and capital investment projects. You will be responsible for managing the full supplier lifecycle, including sourcing, supplier onboarding, contract negotiation, performance management, and project execution support.

Responsibilities

• Supporting the development and implementation of regional/global sourcing strategies in close alignment with the regional/global category leader.
• Developing and implementing local category strategies for primarily indirect spend and capital expenditures in alignment with business objectives.
• Managing planning and tracking of procurement activities, cost budgets, service objectives, and savings forecasts.
• Negotiating and drafting agreements with suppliers and periodically renewing price lists and terms and conditions.
• Managing the complete supplier lifecycle including onboarding, qualification, performance monitoring, and stakeholder reporting.
• Partnering with cross-functional teams to support strategic initiatives and capital projects.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering, or related fields.
• Minimum 2 years of experience in Category Management or Strategic Sourcing.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, ERP Systems, and data analytics tools.
• Experience with Power BI, Ariba, and/or SAP, a plus.
• Possess strong communication, execution, and cross-functional collaboration capability to drive change and achieve common goals.
• Candidates must already have US work authorization that would permit them to work for ABB in the US.

Benefits

• Choice between two medical plan options: A PPO plan called the Copay Plan OR a High Deductible Health Plan (with a Health Savings Account) called the High Deductible Plan.
• Choice between two dental plan options: Core and Core Plus.
• Vision benefit.
• Company-paid life insurance (2X base pay).
• Company-paid AD&D (1X base pay).
• Voluntary life and AD&D – 100% employee paid up to maximums.
• Short Term Disability – up to 26 weeks – Company paid.
• Long Term Disability – 60% of pay – Company paid. Ability to “buy-up” to 66 2/3% of pay.
• Supplemental benefits – 100% employee paid (Accident insurance, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance).
• Paid Parental Leave.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Health Advocate support resources for mental/behavioral health, general health navigation, and virtual health, and infertility/adoption.
• Employee discount program.

Retirement

• 401k Savings Plan with Company Contributions.
• Employee Stock Acquisition Plan (ESAP).

Time Off

• ABB provides 11 paid holidays.
• Salaried exempt positions are provided vacation under a permissive time away policy.

This position reports to the Category Manager and is based onsite in Mebane, NC.