Strategic Sourcing & Category Lead

Position Summary: The Strategic Sourcing & Category Lead develops and executes sourcing strategies, evaluates products and services offerings, recommends suppliers, and negotiates contracts. This position engages and maintains strong partnerships primarily with the IT organization and other assigned corporate departments. This role places purchase orders, maintains systems such as SAP, vendor management, and contract management, and collaborates with Accounts Payable to enable supplier payments.   Duties and Responsibilities: Collects business requirements to identify and pre-qualify potential suppliers Develops, distributes, and compiles supplier information through RFPs/RFQs Analyzes and negotiates proposals for quality, service, cost, payment term or other criteria Recommends suppliers that are the best fit for purpose to meet stakeholder requirements Partners with Legal and suppliers to develop mutually acceptable contractual agreements Implements and maintains supplier information across relevant internal systems Processes purchase requisitions and purchase orders in a timely manner Ensures internal stakeholder needs are understood and communicated to suppliers Works with suppliers as needed to resolve order issues Leverages spend to preferred suppliers through effective stakeholder communications Supports business continuity planning and continuous improvement opportunities across key suppliers and categories to improve total cost and minimize potential service risks Manages metrics necessary to ensure stakeholder satisfaction and ongoing competitiveness of procured products and services. Ensure procurement activities and needs are met in a manner that comply with internal policies and external regulations Support requirements for supplier engagement with Together for Sustainability (TfS)    Basic Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in finance, business, or related field, or relevant working experience 5 years of experience in procurement or related role Procurement experience across corporate services areas, with a preference on expertise with negotiating, managing contracts, and driving supplier performance related to the IT function.    Additional Qualifications: Demonstrated analytical skills using MS Excel and PowerPoint required Details and results orientation that is comfortable working within tight deadlines Strong stakeholder engagement orientation to build effective relationships Excellent verbal and written communication skills Ability to communicate at different levels across an organization; good interpersonal skills Creative problem solving that includes a challenger and growth mindset Ability to organize and prioritize assigned work using project management and other tools Some travel may be required, <10%