Procurement Category Manager Jobs

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:

• Manage assigned vendor relationships and negotiate commercial agreements in coordination with divisional category management and market leadership.
• Leverage market intelligence to validate and benchmark costs and competitive pricing.
• 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.
• Participate in customer meetings alongside sales and serve as the product and category management expert in key categories of focus.
• 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.
• Ownership of assigned product category performance and management of the overall strategy within their respective channel of responsibility.
• Manage robust process to establish market and vendor costs to ensure maximum profitability.

Qualifications & Experience:

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