Procurement Category Manager

Altum Consulting; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Altum Consulting is seeking a Procurement Category Manager - Hardware Sourcing to own commercial strategy for servers, storage, networking and devices across the group. You will partner with engineering and infrastructure teams, manage supplier relationships and navigate a volatile global supply chain to keep critical technology estates operating smoothly.

You will lead tendering, price negotiation, and contract terms, while building cost models and ensuring governance and risk controls are

Qualifications

• 5+ years in technology procurement or category management with hardware focus.
• Experience buying servers, compute, storage and networking at scale.
• Led full sourcing projects from request to contract.
• Strong negotiation of price, terms, warranty and support.
• Understanding hardware supply chains, delivery times and stock constraints.
• Ability to build cost models and total cost comparisons.
• Experience partnering with technical stakeholders across regions.
• Familiarity with Coupa or SAP Ariba platforms.
• Degree in business, supply chain, finance or engineering.
• Exposure to resilience or third-party risk frameworks is useful.
• Procurement qualification is advantageous but not essential.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with leadership to develop and roll out hardware sourcing plans.
• Run tender processes for compute, storage, networking equipment and pricing models.
• Own relationships with major manufacturers and suppliers; set pricing and terms.
• Monitor supplier delivery, stock allocation and lifecycle risks.
• Work with technical teams, translating plans into supplier decisions.
• Coordinate with regional procurement peers for consistent approaches.
• Stay informed on hardware market trends, pricing, and availability.
• Ensure alignment with policy and governance; maintain records.
• Explore automation and AI to reduce manual sourcing tasks.

Skills

Hardware procurement

Category management

Negotiation

Supply chain awareness

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical partnership

Regional experience

Process improvement

Education

Engineering/Business degree

Tools

Coupa

SAP Ariba

Job description

Procurement Category Manager - Hardware Sourcing

A global Financial Services organisation with a large, complex technology estate is expanding its procurement function and creating a dedicated hardware sourcing team. They need an experienced category specialist to own the commercial strategy for one of the biggest and most business critical areas of technology spend across the group.

Servers, storage, networking equipment and end user devices all sit at the core of how this organisation runs. The person in this role will work closely with engineering and infrastructure teams to keep supplier relationships strong, manage exposure to a volatile global supply chain, and make sure the sourcing approach keeps pace with a growing and demanding technology environment.

It is a practical, delivery focused position for someone who wants to combine commercial negotiation with genuine technical partnership, inside an organisation where engineering drives the agenda.

Responsibilities

• Work alongside the category leadership to build and roll out sourcing plans covering the full hardware portfolio
• Run competitive tender processes for compute, storage, networking and related equipment, building the pricing models and negotiation positions behind them
• Take ownership of relationships with major manufacturers and suppliers, agreeing pricing, warranty terms and support arrangements directly
• Track supplier delivery, stock allocation and equipment lifecycles, flagging risks to supply before they become problems
• Sit alongside technical teams as their go to person on sourcing, converting engineering plans into supplier decisions and cost comparisons
• Work with procurement peers across other regions to keep commercial approaches and processes consistent
• Stay close to the wider hardware market, including component supply, pricing movement and availability risk, to inform sourcing choices
• Keep procurement activity aligned to internal policy and governance, with clean records maintained in the relevant systems
• Look for ways to use automation and AI tools to remove manual effort from routine sourcing tasks

What we are looking for

• 5+ years working in technology procurement or category management, with real depth in hardware specifically
• Direct experience buying servers, compute, storage and networking equipment at scale
• A history of running full sourcing projects solo, from the initial business request through to a signed contract
• Confidence negotiating commercial terms directly with manufacturers and distributors, covering price, contract length, warranty and support
• Solid understanding of how hardware supply chains actually work in practice, including delivery timeframes, stock constraints and refresh cycles
• Comfort building cost models and total cost comparisons to support sourcing decisions
• A track record of working closely with technical stakeholders and translating what they need into a commercial plan
• Experience working across multiple regions or business units with different priorities
• Familiarity with sourcing platforms such as Coupa or SAP Ariba
• A relevant degree in a business, supply chain, finance or engineering discipline
• Exposure to operational resilience requirements or third party risk frameworks would be useful
• A recognised procurement qualification would be an advantage but is not essential