Category Manager

Pay Range: $52.56hr - $56.32hr


Job Overview:


Ensure the implementation of a compliant and sustainable sourcing strategy at the HUB level to support business needs. Support the Grid Automation business in North America with strategic category ownership and tactical execution across tender, project execution, supplier quality, and cost-reduction activities. The role is an individual contributor role supporting the NAM HUB Head of Supply Chain and requires close collaboration with proposal, execution, operational buying, supplier quality, engineering, and global category teams. Lead the development and implementation of sourcing strategies for assigned spend categories to meet targets on total cost of ownership, supply reliability, and performance. Negotiate contracts and service level agreements to deliver business results. Define and support from a Supply Quality and Development lens on supplier management activities, and collaborate with stakeholders to support bidding, design to value (DtV), and product and project level activities.


Main Accountabilities - Responsibilities, Tasks & Interactions:

• Lead and own assigned categories to ensure exceptional performance, meeting or exceeding SCM KPIs such as Cost Reduction, Cost Avoidance, Payment Terms, On-Time Delivery, Spend with Qualified Supplier, and Spend under Frame Agreement.
• Define and agree on the work split between BU level and HUB Category Managers for all sourcing activities and assign responsibilities/ownership for suppliers.
• Develop the Sourcing Strategy for the category and drive its execution in line with the Continuous Improvement Process for Sourcing (CIPS).
• Maintain cross-HUB collaboration for the assigned category, aligning strategy with key stakeholders and communicating regularly.
• Align and deliver on KPI targets for BU spend, focusing on cost, quality, and timely delivery.
• Report on financial and supply performance.
• Review the balance of demand vs. supply for critical materials, taking measures to secure supply and anticipate changes or new requirements.
• Drive Supply Quality & Development, resolving supplier issues.
• Execute and sustain strategic sourcing activities, running risk mitigation actions to meet current and future business requirements, ensuring availability, supply base performance, and optimum total cost of ownership.

Negotiation and Contracting:

• Negotiate and conclude regional and local contracts, leveraging local/regional volumes and other negotiation tactics to maximize organizational benefits.
• Make award decisions based on Total Cost of Ownership (Client) methodology, minimizing the risk of supply disruptions.

Cost Control Processes:

• Regularly update and release commodity guidelines for bidding processes.
• Analyze commodity spend, market dynamics, and price developments, comparing cost development vs. market development on a total cost of ownership basis.
• Improve tender and project material costing, running tender/order-specific RFx and negotiations where applicable.

Supply Base Management:

• Oversee supplier relationships, reviewing contract execution, supply performance, improvement activities, and future plans.
• Drive Supplier Relationship Management with selected strategic suppliers, developing the agenda and leading business reviews with preferred/strategic suppliers and management.
• Lead supplier qualification, perform risk assessments, and plan and participate in audits regarding Supply Quality & Development.
• Evaluate, define, and monitor improvement measures for selected suppliers based on performance data, organizing or requesting resources accordingly.
• Act as the resolution owner for escalated topics related to performance targets for local and regional suppliers.
• Identify and address performance issues, escalating with corrective and preventive measures.
• Manage claims to maximize compensation for the organization.
• Research and scout new suppliers in collaboration with other functions (e.g., SQ, Engineering).

Projects:

• Work closely with other functions to initiate, promote, and support projects, bringing value in total cost of ownership, risk mitigation, quality, cash, lead time, and material availability.
• Propose and perform make vs. buy studies and run SCM implementation.
• Coordinate technical development activities to reduce costs, reduce/eliminate quality risks, and improve the supply chain, involving internal and supplier experts to implement various SCM initiatives.

North America Specific Scope:

• Identify, qualify, and develop material and equipment suppliers with reliability, quality, and competitive cost to support North America growth and profitability.
• Build and maintain supplier pipelines for assigned categories; organize pipeline review meetings with major suppliers and recommend frame agreements where suitable.
• Collaborate with global category leads and category managers in other regions to leverage purchasing power and maximize cost savings for requirements.
• Own and drive category strategy development, including CIPS development and deployment for responsible categories.

Tender, Project Execution & Operational Buying Interface:

• Work closely with proposal and execution teams to prepare RFQs, evaluate supplier quotations, and formulate project budgets.
• Solicit quotes from internal and external suppliers and negotiate commercial terms, pricing, lead times, and terms and conditions.
• Drive cost reduction during both tender and execution stages, including tender cost improvement, project budget savings, and cost reduction opportunities.
• Partner with operational buyers on purchase order placement, supplier follow-up, expediting priorities, and ERP usage of negotiated commercial terms.

Supplier Quality, Development & Claims Requirements:

• Support project supply chain coordinators and supplier quality engineers on expediting, issue resolution, containment, corrective actions, and claims.
• Define supplier quality expectations for responsible categories, including qualification status, audit needs, improvement actions, and supplier development priorities.
• Contribute to business line objectives in supplier quality, cost savings, and cash management.
• Drive supplier development and improvement plans for responsible categories, including recurring performance reviews and escalation of quality or delivery hot spots.
• Ensure supplier selection and award recommendations consider qualified supplier status, quality risk, delivery performance, claims history, capacity, sustainability, and total cost of ownership.

Continuous Improvement & Cross-Functional Leadership:

• Participate in continuous improvement initiatives such as Design to Value (DtV), supplier rationalization, value engineering, and process improvement.
• Coordinate with Engineering, R&D, Quality, Operations, Project Management, and Legal to reduce cost, improve material availability, resolve supplier issues, and support new product or technology transfer initiatives.

Requirements - Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or supply chain management or similar field, or 5-8 years of experience in lieu of education.
• CIPS or ISM CPSM certification is a plus.
• Minimum 5 years in Supply Chain Management, preferably in Category Management or Strategic Sourcing in multinational companies.
• Experience in leading technical negotiations through Should Costing models.
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes related to assigned categories and understanding of commodities' impact on final cost.
• Strong interpersonal skills with a focus on team building and coaching.
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and presentation skills.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to transform data into short- and long-term plans.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Flexibility to travel up to 25% to local suppliers predominantly located in the North XX region.
• Experience in procurement of industrial, electrical, electronic, automation, or capital goods used in project-based businesses.
• Experience with capital project business models, transactional procurement processes, SAP, and SAP Project Systems is preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to work with supplier quality engineers, engineering teams, and suppliers to resolve quality, delivery, expediting, and claims topics.
• Ability to operate in a multinational matrix organization and collaborate across HUB, global category, factory, proposal, execution, and supplier quality teams.