Senior Director, Technology Strategic Sourcing & Category Management

About the role

Our team members are at the heart of everything we do. At Cencora, we are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures, and every person here is essential to us being able to deliver on that purpose. If you want to make a difference at the center of health, come join our innovative company and help us improve the lives of people and animals everywhere.

Responsibilities

• Directs technology category strategies for assigned spend areas, including demand assessment, sourcing approach, supplier segmentation, risk evaluation, and value‑engineering initiatives.
• Leads category planning and sourcing execution by aligning business and technology requirements, market intelligence, financial objectives, and procurement priorities into actionable multi‑year strategies.
• Oversees supplier selection, negotiation, and contracting to improve commercial outcomes, service performance, and total cost of ownership.
• Establishes governance, controls, and performance measures that strengthen policy compliance, implementation discipline, and realization of sourcing benefits.
• Leads team performance, capability development, workforce planning, and talent management activities to support business priorities and sustained functional effectiveness.

Category Ownership and Operating Model

• Acts as the single accountable owner for assigned technology categories, including the category roadmap, in‑year execution plan, and multi‑year strategy.
• Defines and maintains sub‑category ownership within the team so every area of spend has a named owner with clear scope, decision rights, and accountability.
• Operates the category‑based model rather than a vendor‑tier model, segmenting suppliers by value, risk, and criticality.
• Leads completion of the transition from the legacy vendor‑tier structure, including scope boundaries, handoffs, knowledge transfer, and stabilization of new ways of working.
• Publishes and refreshes the category roadmap on a defined cadence, covering priorities, savings commitments, renewal timing, supplier strategy, and risk posture.
• Represents assigned categories in functional planning and coordinates with peer category owners where scope, suppliers, or agreements intersect.

Portfolio and Demand Management

• Serves as the defined sourcing business partner to assigned Technology senior leadership, acting as their single point of contact for category sourcing.
• Runs a standing cadence with business partners to capture roadmap, budget, and demand signals 6–12 months in advance of requirement or renewal dates.
• Maintains a rolling demand, renewal, and pipeline forecast so spend is planned and proactively managed.
• Aggregates requirements across business units and regions to build leverage, reduce duplication, and rationalize overlapping suppliers and licenses.
• Owns designated strategic vendor relationships, including executive cadence, business reviews, roadmap alignment, innovation discussions, and escalation.
• Challenges demand, specifications, and consumption with business partners before sourcing begins, using market intelligence, benchmarking, and should‑cost analysis.

Category Strategy and Sourcing

• Develops and executes multi‑year sourcing strategies that align to enterprise priorities, technology roadmaps, and the annual financial plan.
• Owns the sourcing pipeline and savings commitments for the assigned portfolio, sequencing initiatives to balance value capture against business capacity.
• Directs evaluation of vendor solutions to confirm they meet business requirements, technical specifications, security standards, and compliance obligations.
• Builds a pipeline of innovative suppliers and emerging technologies, including AI and data solutions, to support growth and digital transformation.

Negotiation and Contracting

• Leads complex, enterprise‑wide negotiations with major technology providers to secure favorable commercial and legal terms.
• Directs structuring of master agreements, statements of work, service‑level commitments, subscription and license terms, renewal and true‑up provisions, benchmarking clauses, and exit and termination rights.
• Partners with Legal, Information Security, and Privacy to secure protections for data, intellectual property, audit rights, and regulatory requirements.
• Serves as escalation point for contentious negotiations, supplier disputes, and commercial risk decisions.

Supplier and Vendor Management

• Holds suppliers to agreed performance metrics and service levels.
• Implements the vendor management framework, including performance reviews, scorecards, issue resolution, and continuous improvement plans.
• Directs supplier assessments to confirm compliance with contractual obligations, security standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Manages supplier risk across financial, operational, cyber, continuity, and reputational dimensions, driving mitigation and remediation plans.
• Advances supplier development, consolidation, and rationalization strategies, and leads commercial response to supplier audits and claims.

Financial Oversight and Value Delivery

• Oversees spend for the assigned categories, tracks and analyzes category and supplier spend, and identifies cost savings, efficiency, and value‑creation opportunities.
• Builds and applies financial models, ROI analysis, and cost‑structure analysis to support data‑driven sourcing decisions and negotiations.
• Validates savings with Finance and business partners, and reports realized value, pipeline coverage, and category performance to senior leadership.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Acts as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, providing insight into supplier capabilities, market trends, and sourcing opportunities.
• Partners with Information Security, Legal, Finance, and business leaders to align sourcing and supplier strategies with organizational needs.
• Facilitates cross‑functional collaboration on supplier onboarding, integration, adoption, and contract implementation.
• Supports technology sourcing requirements for mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and integration activity, including transition service arrangements and contract disposition.

Governance, Process, and Digital Enablement

• Implements policies, procedures, and governance frameworks for technology sourcing and vendor management, including delegation of authority and code of conduct requirements.
• Drives process improvement to streamline procurement workflows and improve cycle time, quality, and stakeholder experience.
• Adopts AI and automation within the team's workflows to reduce administrative effort and shift capacity toward strategic category work.
• Champions supplier diversity, ESG goals, and responsible sourcing practices across the technology supply base.
• Strengthens use of procurement systems and analytics, including sourcing, contract lifecycle, and spend platforms.

Team Leadership

• Builds, leads, and mentors a team of Director‑level category owners and sourcing professionals, fostering collaboration, accountability, and excellence.
• Sets objectives, manages performance, and provides coaching, development, and career pathing.
• Manages workforce planning, resource allocation, and succession for the assigned categories, including capability build in the new operating model.

Education and Work Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in business, supply chain, computer science, information systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience (required).
• Advanced degree (MBA or master’s in supply chain, computer science, or related field) preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, and vendor management, including 6+ years in technology or data sourcing (required).
• 8+ years of experience in a management capacity, leading managers or senior individual contributors (required).
• Demonstrated track record negotiating and managing complex technology supplier contracts and portfolios of $100 M+ in annual spend (required).
• Experience owning a technology category end‑to‑end within a category‑based procurement or category management operating model (required).
• Experience leading teams through organizational or operating model change, including transition from a vendor or account‑based structure to a category‑based structure (preferred).
• Experience in a Fortune 500 or similarly complex, large matrixed global organization (preferred).
• Certification in procurement, supply management, or project management (e.g., CPSM, CIPS, PMP) preferred.

Skills and Knowledge

• Deep expertise in strategic sourcing, outsourcing, and contract development across technology and data categories (SaaS, cloud services, infrastructure, IT services, telecom, packaged software, cyber security, data solutions, emerging technologies).
• Proven ability to build and own a multi‑year category roadmap and keep it current against shifting business and technology demand.
• Exceptional negotiation and contract optimization skills with strong command of commercial and legal terms.
• Skilled at operating as a business partner to senior technology leaders, building forward demand visibility and converting roadmaps into sourcing plans.
• Deep understanding of global sourcing practices, vendor management, compliance, governance, and risk management frameworks, including third‑party and cyber risk.
• Strong knowledge of the technology supplier landscape, licensing and consumption models, industry trends, and emerging technologies.
• Strategic thinker able to translate business and technology needs into sourcing strategies and drive operational excellence through process optimization.
• Strong financial acumen, including analysis of complex cost structures, ROI models, evaluation of supplier proposals, and data‑driven decision making.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills; ability to build and sustain senior business relationships.
• Ability to lead change, influence at all levels, and drive cross‑functional alignment across a global matrixed organization.
• Comfort operating with evolving scope and clarifying ownership boundaries while an operating model is still maturing.
• Outstanding problem‑solving skills, applying appropriate tools and analysis to each situation.
• Proficiency in procurement tools (e.g., Ariba, Coupa, SAP) and data analytics platforms.