Category Manager | Maneja, India

Hitachi Energy Ltd.; Vadodara; On-site; INR 400,000 - 700,000; Full time

Job summary

Hitachi Energy Ltd. seeks a senior procurement professional in Vadodara, India, to lead strategic sourcing and supplier management within the HBU category. You will drive spend analysis, commodity strategy, and supplier performance, ensuring cost, quality, and timely delivery.

The role requires extensive experience in procurement, strong negotiation skills, and a track record of delivering value through supplier collaboration and risk management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required in a related field.
• 14+ years in Supply Chain Management with strategic sourcing.
• Proven ability to develop procurement strategies.
• Excellent negotiation and communication skills.
• CIPS or ISM CPSM certification is an advantage.
• Fluent in English; other languages are an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Analyze commodity spend, market dynamics, and price developments.
• Define and adjust HBU category strategy using CIPS methodology.
• Lead supplier qualification, risk assessments and audits.
• Negotiate spend with suppliers and monitor contracts/SLAs.
• Report regularly on financial and supply performance.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to meet KPIs and ensure value.

Skills

Procurement strategy

Negotiation

Supplier management

Category management

Analytical skills

English proficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or supply chain

Job description

Hitachi Energy uses a very high-end system for its control, protection and monitoring. This system is called as MACH. This computerized system is built with the state-of-the-art electronics, microprocessors and digital signal processors, connected by high performance industry standard busses and fiber optic communication links. They operate on very high standard application software designed by the control design team for which there is a need for experienced control system engineers.The system being continuously evolving, becoming more complex and customized, great deal of test & verification are required.

How you’ll make an impact:

• Analyze commodity spend, market dynamics, and price developments.
• Compare spend cost development versus market development on a total cost of ownership basis.
• As a spend owner, assess, define, adjust, and improve the HBU category strategy and plan using CIPS methodology, aligning with business needs and Hitachi Energy procedures and regulations.
• Align the strategy with key stakeholders and communicate regularly.
• Execute and deliver on agreed strategy deployment actions, following up with responsible functions and other stakeholders.
• Align and deliver on HBU category targets for KPIs, focusing on cost, quality, and timely delivery.
• Regularly report on financial and supply performance.
• Regularly review the balance of demand versus supply for critical materials, taking measures to secure supply and anticipate changes or new requirements.
• Promote emerging market sourcing activities where they bring additional value.
• Mandate the Supply Quality & Development team in resolving supplier issues and hot topics.
• Collect detailed factory requirements.
• Run tender/order-specific RFx and negotiations as applicable.
• Negotiate spend for selected suppliers, allocate volume, and sign and monitor contracts, frame agreements, and service level agreements (SLAs)
• Provide input on price trends to BU Commodity Managers for commodity guidelines and HBU
• Distribute market allocation, pricing, lead times, MOQ (if applicable), and Terms & Conditions
• information to factories and relevant responsible persons, controlling its usage in local ERP systems.
• Improve tender and project material costing on demand or where appropriate.
• Promote cost breakdown analysis, should costing, and regular benchmarks.
• Approve contracts and purchase orders as per applicable CAT/LAT.

Supply Base Management

• Oversee supplier relationships with regular reviews of contract execution, supply performance, improvement activities, and future plans. Assign supplier account owners for the majority of the spend in the HBU.
• Lead supplier qualification, perform risk assessments, plan and assign audits to Supply Quality & Development Engineers.
• Evaluate, define, and monitor improvement measures for selected suppliers based on performance data, organizing or requesting resources accordingly.
• Act as the resolution owner for escalated topics as mapped in the escalation matrix.
• Identify and address performance hot spots, escalating with corrective and preventive
• measures.
• Manage claims to maximize compensation for Hitachi Energy.
• Research and scout new suppliers in collaboration with other functions (e.g., SQ, Engineering)
• Work closely with other functions to initiate, promote, and support project execution to bring
• value in total cost of ownership, risk mitigation, quality, cash, lead time, and material availability.
• Implement material cost-cutting and risk mitigation projects, preferably using the Dynamic Evolution methodology.
• Execute forward sourcing activities for R&D, DtV, New Product Introduction, product cost improvement projects, support technology transfer projects, footprint changes, and other agreed

Your background:

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Supply Chain Management, or a related field.
• 14+ years in Supply Chain Management, preferably in Category Management or Strategic Sourcing in multinational companies.
• Strong understanding of procurement principles and best practices.
• Proven ability to develop and execute procurement strategies.
• Excellent negotiation and communication skills.
• CIPS or ISM CPSM certification is an advantage.
• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to transform data into short and long-term plans.
• Fluent in English, with other languages being an advantage.

We are a global leader in electrification, powering the electricity era to meet the energy demands of today, and the next 25 years. As the energy arm of Hitachi Group, over three billion people depend on our pioneering, mission-critical technologies to power their daily lives.

With over a century of innovation, we are addressing the most urgent energy challenge of our time: driving the evolution of the world’s energy system to ensure abundant, secure, affordable, and sustainable power for today’s generation and the next.

With an unparalleled installed base in over 140 countries, we are the grid ecosystem partner across the utility, industry, data center, and transportation sectors. Headquartered in Switzerland, we employ over 56,000 people in 60 countries and generate revenues of around $20 billion USD.