VP of Category Management and Procurement

About the role

This role serves as the strategic owner of Category Management and Supplier Relationship Management for RS Americas, with a mandate to design and build a high-performing direct procurement function that enhances cost control, drives profitability, and strengthens our competitive position.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a direct procurement organization responsible for sourcing, cost negotiations, supplier performance management, and end-to-end cost transparency.

• Develop category strategies that reduce cost-to-serve, improve customer experience and overall solution flexibility.

• Implement standardized procurement processes, cost modeling, review and strategy of cost increase review process, and supplier scorecards.

• Partner with Finance to ensure full visibility to landed cost, rebates, and margin impacts from ship & debit functions.

• Strengthen supplier partnerships through structured business reviews, performance metrics, and long-term strategic planning.

• Collaborate with Sales, Pricing, Product Management, Operations, and Finance to align inventory, pricing, and procurement decisions with commercial strategy.

• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective action plans for supply chain bottlenecks, service failures, or cost variances.

• Drive a culture of continuous improvement, data-driven decision making, and cross-functional accountability.

• Serve as a key advisor to the SVP, Product & Supply Chain on inventory, supplier strategy, and profitability initiatives.

• Improve supplier collaboration through S&OP, and shared forecasting processes.

• Ensure operational readiness for new product introductions, supplier transitions, and category expansions.

Candidate Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in procurement, category management, or related disciplines.

• 10+ years leading multi-disciplinary teams in complex, matrixed environments.

• Proven leadership in procurement, or category management within a distributor, manufacturer, or large retailer.

• Deep product knowledge in industrial automation, controls and electrical components (e.g., Siemens, Schneider, Phoenix Contact, ABB, Eaton, etc.).

• Demonstrated success improving optimizing SKU portfolios.

• Demonstrated success expanding product portfolios or managing category growth in industrial segments.

• Strong analytical capability with experience in forecasting, data modelling, and financial analysis.

• Experience building or transforming a procurement function, including cost negotiations and supplier management.

• Ability to influence cross-functionally and drive alignment across commercial and operational teams.

• Strong understanding of end-to-end cost structures, including freight, tariffs, rebates, and margin levers.

• Leadership experience managing teams across planning, analytics procurement, or product management.

Equal Employment Opportunity

RS Americas is an equal opportunity employer and maintains policies and practices that are designed to prevent and prohibit unlawful discrimination against any qualified employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, military/veteran status, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other unlawful classification to the extent protected by law. This policy of non-discrimination applies to all employment practices, including hiring, compensation, benefits, promotion, training and termination. Employees who engage in unlawful discrimination will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.