Sr. Category Manager

The Category Manager (CM) owns category strategy and execution, building a resilient, competitive, and innovation-ready supply base. This role is accountable for delivering measurable cost savings, improved quality, reliable delivery, supplier resiliency, and supplier-enabled innovation through strong category strategy, supplier management, risk mitigation, and cross-functional execution.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a 3- to 5-year category strategy aligned to business priorities, cost productivity, quality, delivery, resiliency, and innovation.
• Build a resilient supplier portfolio with the right capability, capacity, regional footprint, financial health, and risk profile to support current and future needs.
• Identify and mitigate supply risks, including single-source exposure, capacity constraints, logistics disruption, quality issues, and supplier instability.
• Deliver cost savings and margin expansion through strategic sourcing, should-cost analysis, negotiation, value engineering, localization, dual sourcing, and specification optimization.
• Partner with engineering, quality, operations, and product management to influence supplier selection, product cost, manufacturability, quality readiness, and speed to market.
• Manage the supplier base, including preferred suppliers, development suppliers, exit suppliers, supplier performance, and strategic supplier relationships.
• Create competitive tension through market benchmarking, incumbent challenges, alternate source qualification, and disciplined commercial execution.
• Negotiate supply agreements that improve cost, payment terms, quality expectations, delivery performance, capacity commitments, and risk mitigation.
• Track and deliver annual category objectives, including cost savings, productivity, working capital, quality, delivery, resiliency actions, and project pipeline execution.
• Lead category reviews and supplier business reviews using market intelligence, cost drivers, risk profile, supplier performance, innovation opportunities, and roadmap progress.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business or Finance
• 7+ years of experience in category management, strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier management, or supply chain leadership.
• 5+ years of experience building supplier resiliency strategies, including dual sourcing, localization, capacity planning, risk management, and business continuity planning.
• 5+ years of Advanced Excel, PowerPoint, spend analytics, supplier scorecard, market intelligence, and should-cost capability
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time domestically or internationally

Preferred Qualifications

• AI thought leadership or comfortability using AI in everyday processes to automate simple or repeatable tasks.
• Proven ability to deliver cost savings, productivity, supplier performance improvement, and cross-functional execution.
• Strong communication, negotiation, analytical, and stakeholder management skills in a global environment.
• Strong business acumen with ability to connect category strategy to margin expansion, working capital, operational performance, delivery, and innovation.
• Technical acumen to understand product design, manufacturing processes, cost drivers, quality risks, and supplier capability gaps.
• High drive for results with ownership, urgency, structured problem solving, and ability to convert strategy into measurable outcomes.
• Strong negotiation skills across commercial terms, cost models, long-term agreements, capacity commitments, and supplier performance expectations.
• Professional certifications such as CPSM, CPM, CPIM, CIRM, Lean Six Sigma, or equivalent preferred.

Pay

The annual salary for this position is between $117,500.00 - $234,500.00 annually. Factors which may affect pay within this range include, but are not limited to, skills, education, experience, and other unique qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is entitled to short-term cash incentives, subject to plan requirements.

Benefits

• Health Care Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision; Wellness incentives
• Retirement Benefits
• Time off and Leave: Paid vacation days, up to 15 days; paid sick days, up to 5 days; paid personal leave, up to 5 days; paid holidays, up to 13 days; birth and adoption leave; parental leave; family and medical leave; bereavement leave; jury duty leave; military leave; purchased vacation
• Disability: Short-term and long-term disability
• Life Insurance and Accidental Death and Dismemberment
• Tax-Advantaged Accounts: Health Savings Account; Health Care Spending Account; Dependent Care Spending Account
• Tuition Assistance

The specific benefits available to any employee may vary depending on state and local laws and eligibility factors, such as date of hire and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.