Highlights of the Category Manager Center of Excellence Position

Our client is a leader in the Advanced Materials industry, and they’re seeking a candidate with relevant experience for an opportunity as Category Manager – Center of Excellence. The successful candidate will have a chance to join a global organization that is going through a procurement transformation. Currently the commodity spend is sitting at all of the business units, and the plan is to leverage spend at all of the business units in order to capture savings. The right candidate for this role will have a strong understanding of the strategic sourcing process and be able to provide expertise and mentor others in its use. This person will provide guidance to the Procurement Department on best practices, the use of spend analytics, developing a supplier base, vendor management, contract negotiations, stakeholder management, as well as other key areas. As the transformation to a Center Lead organization takes place this person will be a key contributor to the structure and process the Category Management group will utilize. If this person can demonstrate this skillset along with the other leadership intangibles there is an opportunity to grow within the group or elsewhere within the organization.

Company Information

Our client is one of the world’s premier advanced materials products companies spanning several industries including Defense, Energy, Industrial & Aerospace, Consumer Electronics and several others.  This company serves leading and emerging technology manufacturers across the globe.  Our client company operates from the U.S. and 10 countries around the world.  The company shares a mutual culture of innovation and collaboration allowing the varied business units to offer comprehensive and beneficial solutions to their customers.

Job Location

Midwest US

Key Responsibilities of Category Manager Center of Excellence Position

• This candidate will help guide the strategic sourcing process that leverages scale, maximizes supplier relationships, minimizes risks and drives business value.  Engages with key business stakeholders and works cross-functionally in developing and executing sourcing strategies.  Establishes strategic relationships with supply base and develops supplier management strategies.  Leads contract negotiations, implements performance based contracts and identifies opportunities to reduce cost.  It is the goal of this person to provide internal guidance to corporate Category Management, as well as to the various business units and sites within the larger organization.
• Help provide guidance to Category Management to accomplish strategic sourcing alternatives, vendor selection, price negotiation and supplier performance measurements to meet the needs of the various business units.
• Responsible for helping develop and implement best practices in regards to global category strategies and managing the supply base.  This person will be tasked with guiding internal procurement professionals in managing the supplier relationship, supplier performance assessments and reviews, contract negotiations and drafting, stakeholder management, and operational coordination for areas identified within the category.
• Help track raw materials trends and plan effectively to protect profitability of operations, and provide process on how to assess current market conditions and identify and implement strategies to maximize opportunities.
• Lead continuous improvement efforts for material cost and sourcing activities.
• Implement effective systems and processes to provide value throughout the supply chain and support lean manufacturing initiatives.
• Help corporate procurement groups and site sourcing professionals on how to build and develop category strategies and processes to manage suppliers globally and support manufacturing and distribution activities in all regions.
• Work closely with manufacturing and technical management to provide best-value solutions for raw materials and outsourced products.
• Self-motivated, capable of seeking quality solutions and continuously focusing on process improvements, while keeping the needs of the business in the forefront.
• Strategic Thinking and Thought Leadership: Ability to see ahead and thinks in terms of possibilities; creates a clear vision and strategy, thinks broadly and understands interdependencies.
• Influencing Skills and Lateral Leadership: Ability to build relationships and credibility across the organization; demonstrates managerial courage; strong negotiation skills resulting in win/win scenarios.
• Execution of projects excellence: Ability to get things done and multi-task; acts with a sense of urgency; willingly takes on tactical roles to achieve objectives; able to prioritize; excellent decision making/judgment skills.
• Sourcing and Procurement Proficiency: Strategic sourcing expertise and understands sourcing methodologies and tools; understands external market fundamentals, utilizes should cost models and appropriate e-sourcing tools; business and financial acumen.

Essential Qualifications and/or Requirements

• Outstanding negotiation, leadership skills and technical aptitude that would include previous experience with strategically sourcing either both Direct or Indirect Spend commodities.
• Bring focus, purpose and agility to motivate others to adapt quickly to changing business needs.
• Proven ability to raise the performance bar – create, promote and sustain a high performance culture that reinforces accountability.
• Takes the initiative to look for and take advantage of opportunities and willing to take independent actions and calculated risks.
• International sourcing experience is preferred.
• Strong team player; proactively able to step in to support other team members as needed and share knowledge to allow cross training of all functions, builds collaborative relationships.
• Works well under pressure, effectively handles conflict and demonstrates flexibility in work style to accommodate changing priorities and fixed deadlines.
• Track record of sourcing success for new products and development of new suppliers.
• Successful implementation of lean supply chain concepts.
• Demonstrates an understanding of the broader organization, and how their role and/or function fit into the strategic plan and overall direction of the company.
• Creates alignment so everyone within organization understands the strategy and how their contribution furthers organizational success.
• Decisions reinforce the business plan and strategy by building a disciplined, consistent approach with measurements of success.
• Demonstrated ability to pull together management reporting, interpret data and provide meaningful information to both a financial and non-financial audience.

Desired Qualifications

• BS/BA Degree in Engineering or other technical degree is highly preferred, with a graduate degree in Business Administration and/or Certification as a Supply Chain Professional preferred.   Supply Chain Management, Finance and Business degrees will also be considered with at least 8 years of experience in roles with progressive growth in a multinational organization.

About the Author:

The Teldar Group is an Executive Search and Recruiting Firm specializing in placing professionals in Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Purchasing, Logistics and Supply Chain positions.

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