Category Lead (Enterprise Sourcing & Procurement)

Job Description

Job Description

Medica is a nonprofit health plan with more than a million members that serves communities in Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Missouri, and beyond. We deliver personalized health care experiences and partner closely with providers to ensure members are genuinely cared for.   

We're a team that owns our work with accountability, makes data-driven decisions, embraces continuous learning, and celebrates collaboration — because success is a team sport. It's our mission to be there in the moments that matter most for our members and employees. Join us in creating a community of connected care, where coordinated, quality service is the norm and every member feels valued.  

The Category Lead role serves as the strategic and operational bridge between Medica and its vendor partners, ensuring alignment with Medica’s sourcing strategy, compliance standards, and enterprise objectives. The role is actively involved in leading key aspects of the vendor lifecycle, including vendor selection, onboarding, performance management, and offboarding, with a focus on driving innovation, managing risk, and delivering measurable value.

Through strong cross-functional collaboration and effective partnership with vendors, the role supports informed, data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement across vendor relationships. Operating in a fast-paced and evolving environment, the Vendor Manager plays a critical role in strengthening partnerships, influencing outcomes, and ensuring vendors contribute positively to Medica’s business goals and the needs of the teams served.

There are two open Category Lead roles supporting the following business categories:

• Operations, Legal & Finance 
• Products, Health Services & Human Resources 

Key Accountabilities 

Lead Vendor Lifecycle & Relationship Management

• Lead the full vendor lifecycle, including vendor selection, onboarding, performance reviews, renewals, amendments, and offboarding activities.
• Serve as the primary liaison between Medica and assigned vendors, fostering strong relationships, trust, and long-term collaboration.
• Facilitate vendor engagement activities such as Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), strategic planning sessions, and operational check-ins.
• Influence vendor counterparts, including senior leaders when appropriate, to drive service improvement, innovation, and issue resolution.

Contract Execution, Performance, Risk & Compliance

• Partner with ES&P and business units to ensure timely execution of contract renewals, amendments, and terminations.
• Monitor vendor performance against contractual obligations, service-level agreements (SLAs), and regulatory requirements.
• Track, manage, and support remediation plans, audit findings, and risk mitigation activities in collaboration with internal stakeholders.
• Maintain accurate vendor documentation, records, scorecards, and performance dashboards to support transparency and accountability.

Vendor Performance Analytics, Reporting & Value Delivery

• Analyze vendor performance data, service metrics, and trends to identify performance gaps, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Develop and present reporting on vendor performance, savings achievements, service-level compliance, and value realization.
• Partner with ES&P analytics teams to define meaningful performance metrics and dashboards.
• Conduct ad-hoc analyses and scenario modeling to support decision-making and prioritization.

Strategic Collaboration & Sourcing Partnership

• Partner with ES&P sourcing teams on RFI, RFP, and RFQ processes, including vendor evaluations and contract negotiations.
• Analyze vendor portfolios to identify overlaps, reduce duplicative spend, and recommend consolidation opportunities where appropriate.
• Lead or support cross-functional initiatives requiring coordination across vendors and Medica teams, including Operations, Compliance, Product, and Risk.
• Translate vendor insights into actionable recommendations that improve business outcomes and the Medica experience.

Vendor Management Practices & Enablement

• Educate internal partners on vendor management best practices, tools, and policies.
• Apply subject matter expertise to support accurate decision-making, problem resolution, and adherence to vendor management standards.
• Share trends, insights, risks, and recommendations with partners to support continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications 

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Business, Supply Chain or a related field 
• 8+ years of work experience beyond degree in vendor management, sourcing and procurement strategy 
• Strong understanding of vendor lifecycle management and sourcing principles 
• Experience partnering with cross-functional teams including senior stakeholders and executive business leaders 
• Proven ability to influence decisions and deliver measurable business outcomes 
• Exceptional communication and presentation skill with an audience of internal and vendor executives  

Preferred Qualifications 

• Demonstrated ability to leverage market intelligence, analytics and business insights to develop strategies, influence decisions and drive measurable outcomes
• Strong understanding of supplier economics, pricing models, and value optimization across complex vendor relationships 
• Knowledge of commercial contracting although contracts are managed by a separate function
• Proven ability to thrive in a dynamic and evolving environment while effectively managing competing priorities and changing business needs 
• Experience leveraging tools such as Workday, Zip, PowerBI, and Microsoft Office products
• Industry experience in areas of focus not limited to Operations, Legal, Finance, Products, Health Services and Human Resources 

This position is an Office role, which requires an employee to work onsite, on average, 3 days per week. We are open to candidates located near one of the following office locations: Minnetonka, MN, Madison, WI, St. Louis, MO, or Omaha, NE. 

The full salary grade for this position is $100,300 - $172,000. While the full salary grade is provided, the typical hiring salary range for this role is expected to be between $100,300 - $150,465. Annual salary range placement will depend on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, education, work experience, applicable certifications and/or licensure, the position's scope and responsibility, internal pay equity and external market salary data.  In addition to base compensation, this position may be eligible for incentive plan compensation in addition to base salary. Medica offers a generous total rewards package that includes competitive medical, dental, vision, PTO, Holidays, paid volunteer time off, 401K contributions, caregiver services and many other benefits to support our employees.  

The compensation and benefits information is provided as of the date of this posting. Medica’s compensation and benefits are subject to change at any time, with or without notice, subject to applicable law.

Eligibility to work in the US:  Medica does not offer work visa sponsorship for this role. All candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of application. Employment is contingent on verification of identity and eligibility to work in the United States. 

We are an Equal Opportunity employer, where all qualified candidates receive consideration for employment indiscriminate of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic.