Procurement Category Manager Jobs

***For travel purposes candidate must be located in Chicago, Illinois.

Our client is a global consumer products wholesaler and distributor. To support ongoing growth within the business, we are looking to hire a Procurement Category Manager with skills in supplier management, contract negotiations, and experience working with internal stakeholders and sales teams.

This position will work with both external customers and the category management and strategic sourcing team to support business growth within the companies largest retail clients.

This is a client-centric role and with responsibility for understanding the competitive dynamics and ensuring those are considered within the divisional category strategies. You will be responsible for managing the total profitability for the products under management within the respective national account channel.

Travel of about 30% - 40% to both client locations and internal office locations will be an expectation.

Key responsibilities include:

• Strategic engagement with sales leadership to develop and implement key product strategies in support of company objectives; this includes driving compliance to preferred product categories.
• Manage assigned vendor relationships and negotiate commercial agreements in coordination with divisional category management and market leadership.
• Manage robust process to establish market and vendor costs to ensure maximum profitability.
• Leverage market intelligence to validate and benchmark costs and competitive pricing.
• Participate in customer meetings alongside sales and serve as the product and category management expert in key categories of focus.
• Develop category and channel expertise that allows the organization to effectively compete within the market; this includes monitoring channel needs, trends, and competitive products to ensure the channel remains competitive while maximizing profitability.
• Ownership of assigned product category performance and management of the overall strategy within their respective channel of responsibility.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Minimum of 7 + years’ experience in a product management, strategic sourcing or category management role is preferred.
• Ability to travel 30% - 40% domestically within the US.
• Experience within the wholesale and distribution industry is preferred, but not essential.
• Bachelor’s degree in logistics, supply chain, finance strategy, or closely related field required.