Category Management Specialist III or Sr

Category Management Specialist III or Sr

The Category Management Specialist is responsible for driving Supplier Commercial Excellence across a diverse portfolio of Corporate Indirect sub-categories and business functions, including HR and Workforce Management, in particular Contingent Labor and Vendor Management Programs. This position leverages extensive expertise in supply chain, category management, strategic sourcing, and contracting to execute the end-to-end procurement and supply chain processes of plan-strategy-source-perform. As the single point of contact and strategic lead for Entergy's third-party spend, the Category Management Specialist collaborates cross-functionally with internal stakeholders, such as business units, Supplier Development, Tax, Finance, Risk Management, Safety, Human Resources, and Legal, as well as external suppliers and industry organizations. The role is responsible for building and maintaining these cross-functional teams to create prioritized sub-category profiles, develop contracting strategies, execute strategic sourcing processes, manage negotiations, and implement and oversee post-award contract management. The primary objective of this position is to create value through the supply chain in terms of safety, cost, and performance, ultimately driving Supplier Commercial Excellence and delivering end-to-end value for the assigned portfolio of spend.

Minimum Education and Experience required of the position:

• Category Management Specialist III: Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Accounting, Engineering, Legal, or other related discipline and minimum 5+ years of category management, strategic sourcing or other related supply chain experience OR in lieu of a degree, minimum 9+ years of category management, strategic sourcing or other related supply chain experience
• Minimum 2+ years' energy industry supply chain experience in category management or strategic sourcing
• Preferred: Certification from an industry accreditation organization such as CPSM, APICS, etc.
• Category Management Specialist Sr: Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Business, Accounting, Engineering, Legal, or other related discipline and minimum 9+ years of category management, strategic sourcing or other related supply chain experience OR in lieu of a degree, minimum 13+ years of category management, strategic sourcing or other related supply chain experience
• Minimum 3+ years' energy industry supply chain experience in category management or strategic sourcing
• Preferred: Certification from an industry accreditation organization such as CPSM, APICS, etc.

Knowledge/Skills:

• Technical: An understanding of Entergy's business model and key interfaces across the business and supply chain.
• Skillful application of strategic and creative thinking to produce a range of solutions to problems, anticipating changes in the business environment, and making data driven decisions.
• Deep proficiency and ability to provide innovative solutions in category management processes; including supplier diversity, safety metrics and tools; category strategies are used as exemplars across supply chain.
• Deep understanding of supplier relationship/vendor management principles and practices.
• Skillful application of pre-award and post-award contract management processes; integrate business unit specific knowledge; identify and mitigate contractual, market and supplier risks to Entergy.
• Proficient in coaching/applying the development and implementation of sourcing strategies; strategies are used as exemplars across supply chain.
• Deep understanding of the capacity and cost structure of existing suppliers.
• Extensive application in developing detailed RFx price breakdowns and deconstructing vendor pricing models to support financial analysis and bid comparison.
• Proficiency in the ability to extract data and applying market intelligence to assess supply market status and evolution.
• Deep expertise in developing "cost to serve" for customers; coaches/guides others.
• Extensive knowledge and proficiency in creating negotiation strategies and leading supplier negotiations that support operational excellence through safety, price, quality, service and innovation; strategies are used as exemplars across supply chain.
• Extensive knowledge of business and supply chain operations within Entergy; including Entergy's purchasing and payment policies; experience and knowledge of supply chain systems and processes.
• Highly proficient influencing skills to promote effective demand planning across business units, functions and supply chain (zero-based purchasing, pro-active purchase planning and hedging).
• Professional: Skillful application of project management principles to ensure systematic, thorough completion of each assignment, identifying critical pathways and risks to delivery.
• Expertise in application of commercial skills and financial acumen to category management, understanding the key business drivers and impact to Entergy on outcomes.
• Insightful business analytical skills to provide detailed reports with commentary based on data analysis; interpret data and propose conclusions, using trends in data.
• Ability to coach supply chain personnel in category management technical tools and techniques.
• Skillful at internal and external stakeholder communications; operates independently with stakeholders; apply influencing skills to develop best outcomes for Entergy.
• Skillful at building broad relationships and effective networks with all stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of the management of change relative to supply chain situations.
• Deep understanding of change management as related to category management solutions for the business.
• Strong communication skills in presenting concise/relevant information to stakeholders.
• Deep knowledge to effectively manage the costs of the business; understand the impact of contract terms on Entergy cost structure.