Sr. Category Manager – Packaging

About the role

Owens & Minor is a global healthcare solutions company providing essential products, services and technology solutions that support care delivery in leading hospitals, health systems and research centers around the world. For over 140 years, Owens & Minor has delivered comfort and confidence behind the scenes, so healthcare stays at the forefront, helping to make each day better for the hospitals, healthcare partners, and communities we serve. Powered by more than 14,000 teammates worldwide, Owens & Minor exists because every day, everywhere, Life Takes Care™.

The Global Category Manager – Packaging is a strategic leadership role accountable for developing and executing a 12–36 month worldwide sourcing plan spanning all packaging tiers managing $100 MM in spend. Within a center-led hybrid model, the position drives negotiating power, designs index-based contracting frameworks, and shapes long-term market positioning across the portfolio. This role establishes commercial guardrails for packaging development in close collaboration with R&D and Marketing, optimizing total cost and protecting brand standards, while safeguarding manufacturing locations from commodity price volatility through disciplined, centralized oversight.

Responsibilities

• Category Strategy: Develop and deliver a robust, clear and aggressive 12–36 month global category strategy covering flexible, rigid, corrugated, labels, and tertiary packaging. Takes innovation, supply chain resilience, supplier relationships, and commodity volatility to deliver 4-5% cost savings to enable clear commercial advantage.
• Specification Optimization: Proactively works with Marketing and R&D to enhance cost leverage, operational efficiency, and sustainability outcomes before finalization.
• Contracting & Negotiation: Structure and enforce transparent, index-linked agreements, separating material inputs from conversion costs using market benchmarks.
• Cost & TCO Management: Lead value creation through advanced total cost modeling, incorporating yield, throughput, transportation efficiency, and disposal impacts.
• Market Insight & Margin Protection: Track raw material trends (pulp, films, resins, and inks) to secure advantageous forward positions and prevent unjustified cost pass-throughs.
• Supplier Strategy & Continuity: Expand and diversify the supplier network to strengthen resilience, reduce risk exposure, and ensure consistent supply.
• Cross-Functional Governance: Align with Marketing, R&D, Operations, and Quality to maintain centralized commercial control while enabling seamless execution at site level.
• Sustainability Leadership: Drive adoption of recycled content, lightweighting, and simplified material formats to meet ESG objectives without eroding profitability.
• Team Leadership: Lead a 1-2 person team of packaging adjacent supply spend; lead and coach regional procurement resources, ensuring strong execution of sourcing strategy.