Senior Category Manager - Professional Services (Hybrid)

Awarded a Healthiest Employer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona aims to fulfill its mission to inspire health and make it easy. AZ Blue offers a variety of health insurance products and services to meet the diverse needs of individuals, families, and small and large businesses as well as providing information and tools to help individuals make better health decisions.

At AZ Blue, we have a hybrid workforce strategy, called Workability, that offers flexibility with how and where employees work. Our positions are classified as hybrid, onsite or remote. While the majority of our employees are hybrid, the following classifications drive our current minimum onsite requirements:

• Hybrid People Leaders: must reside in AZ, required to be onsite at least twice per week
• Hybrid Individual Contributors: must reside in AZ, unless otherwise cited within this posting, required to be onsite at least once per week
• Hybrid 2 (Operational Roles such as but not limited to: Customer Service, Claims Processors, and Correspondence positions): must reside in AZ, unless otherwise cited within this posting, required to be onsite at least once per month
• Onsite: daily onsite requirement based on the essential functions of the job
• Remote: not held to onsite requirements, however, leadership can request presence onsite for business reasons including but not limited to staff meetings, one-on-ones, training, and team building

Please note that onsite requirements may change in the future, based on business need, and job responsibilities. Most employees should expect onsite requirements and at a minimum of once per week.

This position is hybrid within the state of AZ only. This hybrid work opportunity requires residency, and work to be performed, within the State of Arizona.

Purpose of the job

The Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Category Manager - Senior - will develop and maintain best practice Procurement to Pay (P2P) processes that maximize the value for the business, the experience for the internal customers and the partnership with an inclusive supplier base. Manage and maintain, based on business segment requirements, supplier/vendor categories, support business case development for on-going business needs and projects, and ensure strategic sourcing initiatives are embraced.
Qualifications

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Required Work Experience

• 5 years of experience in procurement lifecycle, including requirement gathering, contracting, and post-purchase vendor management
• 5 years of experience of the procurement operation functions including transaction management, sourcing, and pricing analytics

Required Education

• High-School Diploma or GED in field of study

Required Licenses

• N/A

Required Certifications

• N/A

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Preferred Work Experience

• 7 years of experience in procurement lifecycle, including requirement gathering, RFx, negotiation, contracting, and post-purchase vendor management
• 7 years of experience of the procurement operation functions including transaction management, sourcing, and pricing analytics

Preferred Education

• Bachelor's or Advanced degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, or Finance with prior procurement work history

Preferred Licenses

• N/A

Preferred Certifications

• Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M. or C.P.S.M)
• Institute of Supply Managment (I.S.M.) affiliation

ESSENTIAL job functions AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ownership of assigned category including, spend analytics, category and supplier performance management, risk identification, analysis, and mitigation.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to understand business needs and align procurement strategies.
• Strategic engagement with supplier communities to develop and implement initiatives that enable profitable growth.
• Develop category and market expertise that allows the organization to effectively compete in target market segments; this includes market trends and competitive analysis, as inputs to the development of our assortment strategy.
• Leverage market intelligence to validate and benchmark costs and competitive pricing.
• Develop product pricing/costing models that demonstrate value, impact, and opportunity.
• Lead RFx processes, contract negotiations and supplier selection, ensuring cost effectiveness & value add.
• Manage on-going supplier relationships and execute supplier performance management initiatives in accordance with standards and guidelines and in collaboration with business partners.
• Manage multiple projects and initiatives within assigned categories with the ability to meet defined timelines and provide proactive status communication to business partners.
• Establish category ownership with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure compliance with all policy and procedures to ensure efficient and compliant operations.
• Work directly with business segment leaders and procurement operations to determine enterprise sourcing strategies and tactics to realize those strategies.
• Provide support to ensure efficient accounts payable processes including requisition, purchase order, through payment.
• Ensure close collaboration with the Legal department to ensure contracts are in compliance with Legal directives.
• Develop and maintain strong professional relationships with key vendors and other outside partners.

• The position requires a full-time work schedule. Full-time is defined as working at least 40 hours per week, plus any additional hours as requested or as needed to meet business requirements.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

competencies

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

Required Job Skills

• Possess the abilty to establish relationships to deliver effective and timely client procurement solutions
• Strong project management skills
• Comfortable with negotiating with suppliers
• Excellent analytical, organizational, problem resolution, presention, and verbal and written communiation skills
• Proficient in current industry standard PC applictions
• Ability to understand, balance and apply industry, enterprise and business demands, drivers, golas and their abilty to support and or influence leaders in making value based acquisitions
• Understanding of balance sheet and P&L impact of supplier-related decisions
• The ability to manipulate large amounts of data and raw conclusions, recommendations and solutions.
• Other related skills and abilities may be required to perform this job

Required Professional Competencies

• Maintain confidentiality and privacy
• Analytical knowledge necessary to generate reports based on available data and then make decisions based on reported data
• Capable of legal and analytical research
• Ability to synthesize legal and regulatory information, identify key issues, and analyze their impact on the corporation
• Strong writing skills and the ability to translate complex information into simple, clear language
• Demonstrated ability to plan and implement complex procurement projects to meet specific deadlines.
• Ability to communicate well, both verbally and in writing, to management on complex procurement matters.

Required Leadership Experience and Competencies

• N/A

PREFERRED COMPETENCIES

Preferred Job Skills

• Skilled at leading supplier negotiations focusing on contractual terms, pricing, & service levels
• Category management experience

Preferred Professional Competencies

• Knowledge of a wide range of subjects pertaining to the organization's service and operations.

Preferred Leadership Experience and Competencies

• N/A

Our Commitment

AZ Blue does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status or any other protected group.

Thank you for your interest in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. For more information on our company, see azblue.com. If interested in this position, please apply.