Rail and Equipment- Strategic Procurement

About the role

The Rail and Equipment - Strategic Procurement Senior Specialist serves as the primary liaison between Supply Chain Planning, Supply Chain Delivery, Customer Experience, and strategic rail and related equipment service providers throughout the Americas. This role is responsible for the procurement and strategic sourcing of rail transportation, railcar fleets, railcar leasing, rail storage and track leases, maintenance services, and other rail-related equipment.

The position develops and executes sourcing strategies, drives productivity, manages commercial supplier relationships, and negotiates commercial agreements to ensure safe, reliable, and cost-effective supply chain solutions. The Senior Specialist will develop broad insight into rail sourcing and use that knowledge to bring value to Celanese.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute sourcing strategies for rail freight, railcar leasing, storage, and equipment categories across the Americas.
• Lead fleet review initiatives to ensure strategic equipment capacity.
• Coordinate, consolidate, monitor, and report on category spend.
• Monitor and analyze expenditures and other financial information to ensure expenses are consistent with approved budgets and at optimal cost.
• Conduct Road vs Rail analysis to compare and optimize the best mode of transportation.
• Collaborate with S&OP and Customer Experience functions in providing logistics procurement contract support, capacity planning, projects, and optimization studies.
• Develop and maintain a regional vendor database to support product shipments that are on-time, predictable, and cost-effective.
• Ensure Celanese is the preferred customer of choice by developing and facilitating strategic relationships.
• Develop and execute sourcing plans to support contract negotiations (pricing, service, term), supplier relationships, database management, and market analyses.
• Innovate through consolidation opportunities to simplify business and leverage buying power.
• Negotiate commercial agreements covering rail transportation, railcar leases, equipment services, and storage arrangements.
• Manage contract lifecycle activities including renewals, amendments, compliance tracking, and termination requirements.
• Route contracts through appropriate approval processes utilizing Ariba and procurement governance tools.
• Manage vendor relationships for escalated service issues beyond the scope of Customer Experience.
• Schedule regular carrier reviews (e.g., Quarterly Business Reviews) with service providers to discuss performance and new opportunities.
• Maintain a productivity database for past, current, and forecasted opportunities.
• Monitor key vendor spending to ensure expenses align with approved budgets and optimal cost.
• Prepare and circulate market intelligence for cost and capacity indications.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in Supply Chain Management, Business, or Logistics-related field.
• 5-7 years’ relevant work experience in rail transportation, railcar fleet management, equipment leasing, logistics procurement, or related transportation categories.
• Experience negotiating contracts.
• Petrochemical industry experience preferred.

Skills

• Knowledge of rail operations (daily operations, carriers, service lanes, quality and service standards, negotiation techniques, and follow-through).
• Strategic sourcing and category management expertise.
• Knowledge of how carriers operate and ability to judge their performance.
• Strong analytical, financial, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency in SAP, Ariba, TMS, and Microsoft Office tools.
• Analytical and organizational skills.
• Strategy development and implementation of strategic plans.
• Knowledge of sourcing/purchasing methods and negotiation skills.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills, both verbal and written.
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Excellent relationship-building skills, both internally and externally.
• Good judgment and decision-making skills.
• Detail-oriented and proactive to ensure maximum value is captured.
• Financial and business acumen: interpreting and applying key financial indicators to make better contractual decisions.
• Cultivate innovation: creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful.
• Working knowledge of legal and risk concepts and clauses in contracting.