IT Procurement Category Management & Strategic Sourcing

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or related discipline.
• 7+ years of professional experience in strategic sourcing, contract negotiation, pricing analysis, or commodity management.
• Skills & Competencies
• Expert knowledge of category management, strategic sourcing, market analysis, supplier relationship management, bid evaluation, and contract negotiation.
• Strong understanding of technology procurement, software licensing and subscription models, cloud services, cybersecurity requirements, and IT vendor management.
• Strong financial, and analytical capability, including spend analysis, pricing analysis, business-case development, and total cost of ownership modeling.
• Proficient in negotiation, influencing, conflict-management, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to develop productive relationships with executives, business leaders, internal customers, suppliers, and cross-functional teams.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and presentation skills, including the ability to translate complex information into concise recommendations.
• Strong project and program management skills with the ability to lead multiple complex initiatives simultaneously.
• Strategic thinking, sound judgment, customer focus, and a demonstrated ability to lead change and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and procurement platforms such as Coupa, SAP Ariba, or comparable systems.
• Expertise in strategic vendor governance, including supplier segmentation, executive business reviews, performance scorecards, service-level agreement governance, and issue escalation.
• Demonstrated capability in technology vendor lifecycle management across software, SaaS, cloud services, cybersecurity, telecommunications, infrastructure, professional services, and managed service providers.
• Experience with third-party risk management, including vendor financial health, cybersecurity, data privacy, regulatory compliance, business continuity, disaster recovery, and concentration risk assessments.
• Ability to design and manage vendor key performance indicators, corrective action plans, continuous improvement programs, and value-realization measures.
• Advanced expertise in vendor benchmarking, market intelligence, price validation, demand management, vendor rationalization, and supplier consolidation.
• Skilled in statement-of-work development, deliverable governance, service acceptance criteria, dispute resolution, and commercial escalation management.
• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Demonstrated ability to manage categories and business relationships to create value and minimize risk.
• Expert knowledge of sourcing activities including market analysis, RFP development, bid evaluation, and contract negotiations.
• Understanding of Supply Chain, Purchasing, Supplier Diversity, and Strategic Sourcing functions including Procure-to-Pay.
• Ability to perform complex financial analysis of supplier data and organizational spend.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to drive change.
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills.
• Planning and organizational skills to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Advanced negotiating and influencing skills.
• Customer service orientation with the ability to build productive relationships with internal stakeholders.