Category Manager

Title: Category Manager
Location: Lake Zurich, IL (Hybrid)
Duration: Full-Time Permanent
Functional Alignment: Global Indirect Procurement
Department: Indirect Procurement (Americas)
Reports to: Senior Director, Hub Americas Procurement

SUMMARY:
As Category Manager - Professional Services (Americas), you are a senior procurement leader responsible for defining and executing global category strategies across Professional Services spend, including management consulting, advisory, contingent workforce, legal, audit, finance services, HR services, marketing and facilities.
This role operates at the intersection of strategy, governance, and execution, requiring strong commercial acumen, deep stakeholder engagement, and the ability to manage a diverse and often complex collection of corporate services. The role drives value through strategic supplier partnerships, demand management, and commercial optimization while ensuring alignment with enterprise priorities, governance standards, and compliance requirements. The position operates as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders to drive value creation with hands-on sourcing and supplier management, supporting critical business, transformation, and innovation agendas.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Category Strategy & Governance

• Develop and execute multi-year category strategies for Professional Services, aligned with enterprise priorities and financial Clients
• Identify and deliver measurable value (cost, cost avoidance, demand reduction, and productivity Products) through structured sourcing and supplier innovation
• Establish clear category segmentation, supply market intelligence, and forward-looking sourcing pipelines

Strategic Sourcing & Execution

• Convert category strategies into structured annual sourcing roadmaps with clear value, risk, performance outcomes and sustainable pipeline management.
• Lead complex, high-value sourcing initiatives (e.g., consulting panels, MSP/VMS models, regional and global frameworks)
• Negotiate commercial, contractual, and service-level agreements to deliver measurable value (cost, quality, speed, innovation).
• Design and implement preferred supplier ecosystems, driving consolidation and performance management
• Drive demand optimization, Product discipline, and portfolio rationalization.
• Ensure cost effectiveness pipeline is strategic, sustainable, and business-endorsed, not transactional or short-term.
• Ensure compliance with corporate procurement policies, financial controls, and risk standards.

Supplier Relationship & Performance Management

• Deploy a regional and/or globally-defined strategic supplier ecosystem consistently across the Americas.
• Surface regional market insights and partnerships to inform global supplier strategy and portfolio decisions.
• Drive data-driven supplier performance management initiatives for key Professional Services providers which include KPI-informed QBRs, scorecards, and continuous improvement plans for supplier consolidation, innovation partnerships, and risk mitigation.
• Manage risk, compliance, and ethical sourcing across the supply base
• Feed regional insights on capacity, performance, and emerging providers into global supplier strategy decisions.

Stakeholder Management

• Act as a senior business partner to functional leadership (e.g., Finance, Marketing, HR, Legal, IT, Corporate Functions) to influence impactful decision making through data-driven insights, market intelligence, and commercially-sound business intelligence.
• Serve as a change agent driving adoption of global governance and best practices.
• Lead governance forums for Professional Services spend, ensuring transparency and accountability

Demand & Spend Governance

• Drive demand management and "right-shoring" of Professional Services spend
• Implement controls and frameworks (e.g., rate cards, SoW governance, approval frameworks)
• Partner with Finance to enhance spend visibility, forecasting, and budget adherence

Digital Enablement, Value Creation & Continuous Improvement

• Drive adoption of digital procurement tools (e.g., eSourcing, CLM, VMS platforms)
• Simplify and standardize sourcing processes, reducing cycle time and manual intervention
• Champion data-driven decision-making through analytics and insights
• Deliver measurable and sustainable outcomes in cost effectiveness, value realization and risk reduction.
• Improve cost transparency in high-complexity service-related spend through standardized rate cards, engagement models, and spend analytics.
• Drive value beyond cost identifying and realizing value levers associated with speed to market, access to specialized expertise, scalability and flexibility of external capacity.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Marketing or a related field.
• Master's degree or advanced certifications (e.g., CIPS, CPSM, Lean Six Sigma) are a plus.

Core Experience:

• 8-12+ years' experience in strategic sourcing or category management, with significant exposure to Professional Services
• Proven track record managing complex, high-value categories in a global/matrix organization
• Strong commercial acumen and negotiation expertise with Tier 1 consulting and services firms
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders (Director/VP level+)
• Experience working within global governance frameworks and regional execution models is advantageous.

Functional Expertise

• Deep understanding of Professional Services sourcing models (e.g., SoW, FTE, outcome-based pricing)
• Knowledge of contingent workforce models, consulting frameworks, and rate benchmarking
• Experience implementing governance structures and demand management frameworks

Skills & Competencies:

• Strategic thinking with strong execution capability
• Advanced negotiation and contract management skills
• Stakeholder influence and communication at senior levels
• Executive presence with the ability to challenge and influence constructively
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability with a data-driven mindset
• Ability to operate independently and lead cross-functional initiatives
• High level of resilience and adaptability in a complex, evolving environment

Technical Proficiency:

• Advanced knowledge of MS Office applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Word).
• Optional: Proficient user of SAP Ariba or other sourcing tools (Sourcing and Supplier Management modules).
• Optional: Working knowledge of SAP ERP for procurement, contract, and supplier master data management.
• Experience with digital procurement tools, dashboards, and data visualization platforms is a plus.

Additional Requirements:

• Commitment to corporate values and adherence to company standards and management systems related to Health, Safety, Environment, Energy, and Quality (HSEEQ).
• Willingness to work in a global, multicultural environment and travel as required.