Senior Category Buyer

Caterpillar; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Caterpillar in Bengaluru, India, is seeking a procurement professional to develop and execute category strategies for complex areas such as Core Engine Castings, while driving cost and quality improvements. You will liaise with suppliers, assess risks, and manage procurement programs using QCLDM principles.

The role requires strong data analytics, negotiation, and contract management skills, with onsite five days a week and relocation options available.

Qualifications

• Degree preferred with experience in procurement and supply management.
• Knowledge of data analytics for business decision-making.
• Experience negotiating with suppliers and managing contracts.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute category strategies for complex procurement categories.
• Interface between organization and suppliers for communication and delivery.
• Assess cost, inventory, and quality improvements and approve business proposals.
• Document supplier performance on timeliness and production needs.
• Provide purchasing solutions using QCLDM framework.
• Support risk assessment and supplier relationship management.

Skills

Data Analytics

Effective Communications

Interpersonal Relationships

Negotiating

Contracts Management

Purchasing Activities

Supplier Relationship Management

Strategic Sourcing

Education

Bachelor’s degree (Tier 1 University)

Job description

Career Area:

Procurement

Job Description:

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Role Definition:

Provides purchasing solutions expertise, using Quality, Cost, Logistics, Development, and Management (QCLDM) to deliver maximum value.

Responsibilities:

• Developing, managing and executing the category strategy managing policies, agreements, source catalogs, and special procurement programs for Complex categories like Core Engine Castings.
• Recognizing the potential for cost decreases, inventory reductions and quality improvement, as well as responsibility for soundness of business proposals and risk assessment.
• Acting as the liaison between the organization and the supplier to communicate information explicitly, while considering production demands and suppliers' conditions.
• Documenting the suppliers' performance on time sensitiveness and production; maintains a strong relationship with suppliers.

Having Prior experience in core engine castings like cylinder blocks, heads, bearing caps, liners are preferred.

Degree Requirement:

Preferred Bachelor’s from a Tier 1 University or College. Degree or equivalent experience desired

Skill Descriptors:

Data Analytics: Knowledge of techniques and processes for inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data; ability to discover useful information, draw logical conclusions, and support decision-making.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Advises stakeholders on the relationship between financial, performance, and operational data used in business data analytics.
• Anticipates operational challenges of data collection and its integration with decision-making.
• Identifies correlations that reveal trends and determine conditions.
• Evaluates the quality of data collected and the effectiveness of data analysis methods for evaluating business performance.
• Interprets potential risks, threats, and opportunities involved with predictive modeling.
• Directs the implementation of business data collection processes and educates junior employees on new data sources.

Effective Communications: Understanding of effective communication concepts, tools and techniques; ability to effectively transmit, receive, and accurately interpret ideas, information, and needs through the application of appropriate communication behaviors.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Reviews others' writing or presentations and provides feedback and coaching.
• Adapts documents and presentations for the intended audience.
• Demonstrates both empathy and assertiveness when communicating a need or defending a position.
• Communicates well downward, upward, and outward.
• Employs appropriate methods of persuasion when soliciting agreement.
• Maintains focus on the topic at hand.

Interpersonal Relationships: Knowledge of the techniques and the ability to work with a variety of individuals and groups in a constructive and collaborative manner.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Seeks out what's common in conflicting points of view.
• Influences key individuals inside and outside own group and earns their respect.
• Resolves potentially harmful differences between individuals and groups of people.
• Contributes as a member on a variety of teams.
• Establishes and maintains productive working relationships within and outside of own area.
• Establishes and maintains credibility with clients and teammates.

Negotiating: Knowledge of successful negotiation concepts and techniques; ability to negotiate successfully across the organization and with external vendors and clients in a constructive and collaborative manner.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Ensures negotiators have awareness of complementary yet diverse interests.
• Successfully completes significant negotiations, both internal and external.
• Details the risks of negotiation breakdown from each party's perspective.
• Protects own position, while demonstrating willingness to achieve win-win.
• Identifies similarities and differences in position and assesses impact on discussions.
• Detects and addresses lack of progress or a stalemate.

Contracts Management and Administration: Knowledge of policies, standards and processes of how to manage and administer contracts; ability to use proper processes and practices for managing and administering a variety of contractual agreements.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Supervises management and administration for a wide variety of contracts.
• Advises on the practices and considerations for upgrading existing contracts and solving complex contract management problems.
• Trains others on how to use advanced technologies and tools for contracts management.
• Develops standard processes to maximize contracts efficiency and effectiveness.
• Evaluates operational issues and considerations in contract enforcement.
• Anticipates contract issues and manages risk regarding legal issues.

Purchasing Tasks and Activities: Knowledge of policies, regulations and processes of purchasing; ability to use practices and procedures for procurement of materials, components, equipment and services.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Works with the implementation of complex purchasing programs and tasks.
• Advises on the appropriate solutions to complex purchasing activity problems.
• Monitors the effectiveness of procurement policies and strategies in high cost purchases.
• Improves procurement processes to maximize products or services efficiency and effectiveness.
• Teaches others how to use advanced technologies and tools for purchasing activities.
• Evaluates issues and considerations for purchasing various goods and services.

Supplier Relationship Management: Knowledge of supplier relationship management concept and strategies; ability to address critical issues to meet supplier needs and maintain engaged, partnering relationship with suppliers.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Advises others on the organization's supplier relationship management practices.
• Builds consensus, resolves conflicts, and applies techniques to achieve influence and impact results with different suppliers in the organization's supplier network.
• Coaches juniors on selecting, evaluating, and managing suppliers.
• Conducts periodic reviews of work effort, progress, issues, and successes in supplier relationship establishment and management.
• Evaluates the impact of SRM on the organization's different financials.
• Refines organizational processes for establishing and maintaining supplier partnerships.

Strategic Sourcing: Knowledge of strategic sourcing methods, technologies and processes; ability to analyze, improve and re-evaluate organizational procurement process continuously.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Participates in monitoring the execution for all stages of the strategic sourcing process.
• Trains others on strategic sourcing in multiple and diverse environments.
• Designs and develops standard supplier agreements and procurement policies with standardized terms and conditions.
• Works with complex strategic sourcing components including but not limited to negotiations, contracting, and continuous process improvement and implementation.
• Consults on strategic sourcing methods in relation to business relationships, inter-dependencies and integration.
• Develops and explains strategic sourcing best practices and rationale for the organization and industry.

Additional information:

This job requires 5 working days from office

This Job Description is intended as a general guide to the job duties for this position and is intended for the purpose of establishing the specific salary grade. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as an exhaustive summary of all responsibilities, duties and effort required of employees assigned to this job. At the discretion of management, this description may be changed at any time to address the evolving needs of the organization. It is expressly not intended to be a comprehensive list of “essential job functions” as that term is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

This position requires working onsite five days a week.Relocation is available for this position.

Posting Dates:

October 27, 2026 - November 5, 2026

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply