Category Manager, Software

Who you are

• 5+ years of technology procurement or strategic sourcing experience, with substantive exposure to software categories (SaaS, enterprise applications, business operations systems, and productivity and collaboration tools).
• Demonstrated delivery of complex sourcing projects from intake through contract signature, including multi-supplier evaluations and executive-ready business cases.
• Experience supporting or leading software provider and/or reseller negotiations with measurable commercial outcomes.
• Working knowledge of software commercial dynamics (subscriptions, enterprise agreements, true-ups, consumption commitments, renewals, and license optimization).
• Proven ability to partner with business and technology stakeholders and finance on requirements and commercial decisions.
• Experience operating in a matrixed, global environment with multiple regions and stakeholders.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, and financial skills; ability to build and interpret TCO and should-cost analyses for software solutions.
• Proficiency in sourcing methodologies, contract structures, and commercial terms common in enterprise software.
• Clear communication - able to distil complex technical and commercial trade-offs for business and leadership audiences.
• Organization and prioritization in a fast-paced environment with competing demands and time-sensitive renewal and project needs.
• Familiarity with procurement systems and tooling and disciplined contract and spend data management.
• Collaborative mindset with integrity, attention to detail, and a continuous-improvement approach.
• Experience in trading, or other technology-intensive industries with demanding uptime, security, and data-protection requirements.
• Exposure to enterprise productivity suites, collaboration platforms, or business-operations application estates.
• Experience supporting software asset management, license optimization, or SaaS lifecycle programs in partnership with IT and business operations.

Who we are

Responsibilities

• Category Planning and Execution: work with the business stakeholders to support development of category planning and implementation of the software category strategy.
• Sourcing delivery: Plan and run end-to-end sourcing events (RFI, RFQ, and RFP) for enterprise software, prepare commercial evaluation models, negotiation strategies (commercial and contract), and award recommendations.
• Commercial management: Support negotiations on agreements; structure pricing, licensing, renewal mechanics, SLAs, and commercial terms in line with Procurement and Legal standards.
• Supplier performance: Monitor supplier delivery, service levels, support quality, and renewal risk; manage supplier escalation paths
• Stakeholder partnership: Act as a trusted Procurement partner to business operations, enterprise technology, and other stakeholder teams on software requirements, licensing, timelines, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Market and risk intelligence: Track licensing models, price inflation, vendor consolidation, and consumption trends; surface risks and opportunities to stakeholder teams.
• Process and compliance: Ensure software purchases follow Optiver Procurement policy and controls; maintain accurate records in sourcing and contract systems.
• Cross-regional coordination: Collaborate with Procurement colleagues to align global frameworks, regional exceptions, and consistent ways of working across geographies.
• Knowledge sharing: Contribute to category playbooks, should-cost models, and lessons learned from sourcing events to uplift team capability.
• What you’ll get
• You’ll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem-solvers. Motivated by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, collectively tackling some of the toughest challenges in the financial markets.
• In addition, you’ll receive:
• The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 different countries
• Highly competitive compensation package including performance-based bonus structure
• 401(k) match up to 50%
• Comprehensive health, mental, dental, vision, disability, and life coverage
• 25 paid vacation days alongside market holidays
• Extensive office perks, including breakfast, lunch and snacks, regular social events, clubs, sports leagues and more