Senior Category Manager, Global Procurement

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute assigned category strategies by evaluating business stakeholder requirements, industry trends, competitor activity, and customer behavior to inform category strategy.
• Conduct supplier / category spend analysis, should-cost modeling and market/competitive research to identify cost optimization opportunities
• Manage supplier relationships to secure collaborative partnerships that maintain performance, adhere to reporting requirements, mitigate risks and drive cost savings and innovation initiatives.
• Risk and compliance: manage supply risk, ensure policy compliance, and support sustainability and diversity goals within the category.
• Lead end-to-end category management and sourcing — from strategy to negotiation and contract execution — ensuring compliance, sustainability, risk management, and quality.
• Integrate ESG and sustainability initiatives into sourcing and category strategy decisions to align with PCI’s ESG goals.
• Mentor and develop team members to enable the opportunity to build analytical, strategic, and overall best-practice capabilities across the entire procurement team.
• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration: Work closely with all functional stakeholders (e.g., Manufacturing, Project Management, Finance) across the organization to align category strategies with overall business objectives.
• Drive collaboration with local site procurement teams to effectively manage supplier performance, category strategy implementation, and adherence to end-to-end procurement processes
• Design and execute performance monitoring to track category performance metrics (e.g., savings goals, business objectives), analyze data, review compliance, and adjust strategies to improve results.
• Deploy a robust risk management process to develop exit strategies and follow supplier management process to mitigate risk.
• Execute indirect procurement category sourcing activities including the development and execution of RFXs, business requirements gathering and development of supplier selection criteria in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Develop and drive negotiation strategies with vendors, including gaining alignment from stakeholders, leading cross-functional, category-based negotiation teams, and implementing appropriate supplier risk analysis.
• Industry landscape knowledge includes the research and sharing of information on industry category trends and best practices; and leverage market tools and benchmarks to inform decision making.
• Forge close working relationships throughout the company, suppliers and use influence and persuasion skills to drive results.

Position is a remote position with occasional travel to sites and team meetings.

Skills & Qualifications

• Procurement experience: Strong category management expertise and knowledge of Procurement processes, best practices, and building category strategies
• Supplier management: Proven track record of maintaining robust supplier relationships and deploying rigorous performance management activities.
• Analytical skills: Ability to process and interpret data to make informed decisions that impact category decision making
• Market intelligence gathering: Knowledge of market trends, regulatory compliance, and ESG considerations.
• Negotiation skills: Experience engaging in direct supplier negotiations with data- & analytics-based information, includes using cost models, market intelligence, and analytically driven arguments to strengthen leverage
• Communication and interpersonal skills: Clearly express ideas and information through spoken and written forms. Ability to communicate strategies clearly to leadership stakeholders.
• Project management: Plan and execute category initiatives efficiently and on a set timeline.
• Agile problem solving: Ability to swiftly adjust procurement strategies and processes in response to changing market conditions.
• Proficiency In Power BI, PowerPoint Tableau, or similar tools to analyze market trends, supplier performance, and category profitability.
• Ability to leverage AI tools to conduct spend analysis, should-cost modeling
• Knowledge of Spend Management and Supplier Collaboration software solutions

Minimum Qualification Requirements

Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent of education and experience. Master’s degree preferred.

Experience: Minimum 8 years’ experience in Procurement or category management, preferably in multi-national company and across multiple categories of spend. Track record in successfully managing all aspects of an indirect supply chain category.