Senior Category Manager

Responsibilities

• Execute strategic sourcing strategies, best practices, and initiatives that support improvements in supplier quality, total cost effectiveness, enhanced service levels, improved coordination, delivery, pricing, lead-times, payment, risk compliance and other areas.
• Develop and execute RFI’s and RFP’s.
• Document bid events through correspondence to suppliers utilizing advanced sourcing tools (e.g. reverse auctions).
• Develop selection criteria and drive the selection of suppliers in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Conduct supplier negotiations and ongoing supplier management.
• Seek ways to streamline business processes.
• Research and provide information on industry category trends and best practices.
• Provide procurement input to maximize procurement leverage, optimize project design and minimize project duration and cost.
• Develop negotiation strategies, gain alignment from stakeholders, lead cross-functional, category-based negotiation teams, and implement appropriate supplier risk analysis.
• Deeply dive into current spend information/data to identify sourcing projects for individual subcategories, and develop an overall cost reduction plan.
• Lead analytic tasks and synthesize results.
• Monitor supplier performance to ensure that delivery dates and technical and contractual requirements are met.
• Participate in strategic meetings with suppliers and business leaders to ensure execution of defined strategies.
• Manage day-to-day on-going category supplier relations and seek out growth or revision opportunities within the supply base.
• Act as the internal point of contact for supplier management and complaint resolution.
• Conduct regular supplier meetings and implement improvement strategies with suppliers.
• Create, nurture, and enhance supplier relationships.
• Aggressively manage category performance by adhering to internal Savings goals and reviewing financial models for commodity type items.
• Drive consolidation of spend and seek out synergies across Business Units where applicable, by forming and leading cross-functional strategic sourcing teams to develop and implement category/commodity strategies and to drive cost from individual spend sub-categories.
• Develop total cost of ownership models for each assigned commodity; measuring and communicating performance of each supplier and commodity and driving continual improvement efforts.
• Champion weekly assigned category review meetings with cross-functional teams to manage category performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Industrial or Operations Engineering, Supply Chain Management, or a related field required; Master’s degree in Business Administration or Supply Chain Management preferred.
• Minimum of 10+ years of procurement experience required.
• At least 3 years of experience in data analytics of spend preferred.
• Highly effective oral and written communication skills.
• Advanced experience collaborating with internal and external resources.
• Advanced experience in managing projects and/or cross functional teams.
• Advanced level skill in Google Sheets and Office Suite of products.
• Advanced level skill in PowerPoint for crisp presentations.
• Willing to travel up to 10% of the time for business purposes (within state and out of state).