Procurement Category Manager

About the role

Gartner Category Managers lead strategic sourcing opportunities, develop category plans, and negotiate highly complex contracts on behalf of multiple stakeholders. They are highly effective communicators, articulating the value of early and frequent collaboration with the Source to Contract team. This role focuses on Global IT Software Solutions, Subscription Agreements, and Mobility Agreements, influencing and advising senior leaders on innovative sourcing strategies that create sustainable, long-term partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Establish strong relationships with stakeholders, building a robust understanding of mission-critical priorities and requirements across spend categories and suppliers.
• Collaborate with geographically dispersed stakeholders to develop strategic category plans for IT Software, Subscription, and Mobility categories.
• Gain alignment on sourcing and negotiation strategies and short/long-term category roadmaps.
• Serve as the Procurement subject-matter expert (SME) for stakeholders, guiding them on strategic sourcing and operational procurement processes.
• Proactively communicate to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.
• Maintain knowledge of current category trends, supplier capabilities, and changes within the supplier and technology landscape for traditional and emerging solutions.
• Lead cross-functional teams through a disciplined sourcing process, facilitating stakeholders in developing requirements, evaluating suppliers, and selecting suppliers using effective project management skills.
• Ensure all sourcing initiatives are conducted in a fair and ethical manner, providing a level playing field for all participants.
• Develop negotiation plans aligned with stakeholder desired outcomes for TCO, SLAs, and key business terms.
• Demonstrate competency and knowledge of contract development, key contracting principles, standard terms, laws/regulations, and industry standards during contract negotiations.
• Organize data sets and develop meaningful analysis of spend, cost, and performance metrics.
• Present compelling business cases to influence decision-makers at all levels of the organization.
• Manage compliance during all phases of the contracting process.
• Coordinate with Gartner Legal, Finance, and IT Security as needed.
• Ensure all Third-Party Risk Management checks are complete prior to contract signature.
• Route contracts for approval and signature as required by Gartner policy.
• Develop and facilitate business reviews with stakeholders to assess supplier performance, future opportunities, and challenges.
• Guide stakeholders on preferred suppliers and develop supplier management strategies to reduce and consolidate global suppliers.
• Conduct routine planning sessions with stakeholders to ensure addressable spend in assigned categories is under source-to-contract management.
• Potential opportunity to be a people manager in this position.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree required; Master’s Degree preferred.
• 5+ years of relevant sourcing and negotiation experience with highly complex technology agreements across software categories, demonstrating the ability to lead and deliver value.
• Strong analytical skills with proficiency in interpreting and communicating data insights.
• Compelling collaboration skills that foster strong relationships with internal and external business partners.
• Ability to be creative and innovative in finding solutions and negotiating strategies.
• Insatiable desire to learn and improve continuously.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment and prioritize workload effectively.
• Strong ability to work independently and make decisions within the scope of the role without management approval.
• Unquestionable ethics and a commitment to always doing the right thing.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, G-suite, and Sourcing/Procurement solutions for e-sourcing, spend analytics, contract lifecycle management (CLM), and Procure-to-Pay (P2P).
• Ability to manage multiple simultaneous projects requiring frequent communication, organization, time management, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work with and lead geographically dispersed cross-functional teams.
• Multilingual skills are a plus.

About you

You are a highly motivated self-starter with a demonstrated ability to influence and lead others while working independently in a fast-paced environment. You embrace fact-based decision-making, naturally leveraging market data, spend analytics, and cost modeling. A tenacious negotiator, you have proven experience in setting negotiation strategies and conducting negotiations. You are a strong communicator in both oral and written form, with excellent interpersonal skills, and can successfully prioritize and solve complex problems, even in ambiguous or rapidly changing situations. You are teachable, embrace best practices and feedback for continuous improvement, and are a consistently high achiever marked by perseverance, humility, and a positive outlook in the face of challenges.

About Gartner

At Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT), we guide the leaders who shape the world. Our mission relies on expert analysis and bold ideas to deliver actionable, objective business and technology insights, helping enterprise leaders and their teams succeed with their mission-critical priorities. Since our founding in 1979, we’ve grown to 20,000 associates globally, supporting over 13,000 client enterprises in ~90 countries and territories. We hire associates with intellectual curiosity, energy, and drive to make a difference. Our culture is inclusive, composed of individuals from diverse geographies, cultures, religions, ethnicities, races, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, and generations. We invest in great leaders who bring out the best in you and the company, enabling us to multiply our impact and results. Year after year, Gartner is recognized worldwide as a great place to work.

Gartner is at the center of the AI revolution, setting the standard for how organizations leverage artificial intelligence to drive meaningful impact. You’ll have access to unmatched resources, expertise, and technology, playing a key role in helping Gartner and our clients innovate and grow as we leverage AI to transform business and technology landscapes.

Benefits

• World-class benefits and highly competitive compensation.
• Disproportionate rewards for top performers.
• Hybrid work environment with flexibility and support to thrive.
• Annual bonus plan based on company and individual performance, or a role-based, uncapped sales incentive plan.
• 401k match up to $7,200 per year.
• Opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount.
• Generous paid time off (PTO).

Pay

A reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role is $86,000 - $118,000 USD. Actual salaries may vary within this range or beyond, based on factors including education, training, experience, professional achievement, business need, and location.