Category Manager, Marketing Services & Customer Care

Telenor Procurement Company; Singapore; On-site; SGD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global telecommunications firm is seeking a Category Manager for Marketing Services and Customer Care in Singapore. This role involves developing category strategies, managing supplier relationships, and ensuring compliance with procurement policies. Candidates should possess strong analytical and project management skills, along with significant experience in strategic procurement. The position calls for effective communication with senior leadership and adaptability in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 10-12 years of overall experience including 5-7 years in strategic procurement.
• Experience working in a multi-cultural environment.
• Previous engagement with Senior Leadership (CXOs).

Responsibilities

• Develop category strategy for Marketing Services and Customer Care.
• Lead strategic procurement initiatives in compliance with Telenor's policies.
• Manage contracts and relationships with suppliers.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Project management

Analytical skills

Education

University degree in business administration, marketing, or related field

Tools

Power BI

Excel

Coupa

Job description

Telenor Group is the world’s leading telecommunications company across the Nordics and Asia with 211 million subscribers and 81 billion NOK in revenues. We are committed to responsible business conduct and driven by the ambition of empowering societies. Connectivity has been Telenor’s domain for more than 160 years, and our purpose is to connect our customers to what matters most.

Telenor has a leading Nordic position in mobile, broadband and TV services, as well as substantial activities in subsidiaries and joint venture operations, including mobile financial services and online classifieds in the Asia region. Worldwide, Telenor Group and our operations’ teams are 11,000 people strong.

Telenor Procurement Company (TPC), established in 2017 and based out of Singapore, operates as a subsidiary of the Telenor Group. We deliver Global Category Management as a service to the Telenor Business Units and beyond, taking full responsibility for the end-to-end Sourcing process and performance of global spend categories. Functioning as one Global Procurement team across all Telenor markets, we enable Telenor’s strategic ambitions by becoming a centre of expertise in the pursuit of efficient operations. TPC seeks qualified procurement professionals that are comfortable working in a global setup in the fast-paced Telecom field.

For more information, please visit our website: https://www.telenor.com/about/our-companies/other-units/telenor-procurement-company

Telenor is an equal opportunity employer and diversity is imperative to the way we do business. In addition to combatting discrimination, our goal is to build equal and inclusive environments that enable people to reach their full potential. To do this, we must raise awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion in our workplaces and in society.

About the role

The role as Category Manager, Marketing Services and Customer Care reports to the Category Director - Marketing Services and Customer Care. As part of this category team you will be responsible for the spend base, vendors and partners within the Marketing Services and Customer Care area, as well as the interactions with the stakeholders within Telenor Group, Telenor’s local Business Units in Asia & Europe and other clients.

What you will do

• Develop the Category Strategy for Marketing Services and Customer Care categories
• Perform market and industry analysis to support category strategy
• Execute and implement category strategy to optimize business efficiency for Marketing services and customer care domains
• Run Demand Planning cycles with business units to build procurement initiative pipeline
• Lead, support and oversee the end-to-end execution of strategic procurement initiatives within the category in compliance with Telenor Procurement Manual and Policy
• Develop and execute negotiation strategies towards the supplier market
• Manage diverse set of internal and external stakeholders across the globe
• Manage contracts and price books relevant to the category
• Execute Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) framework to strengthen our partnership with suppliers and maximize value creation
• Contribute on the savings KPI’s as defined for the category
• Establish measures to assess progress for savings and other related KPIs
• Prepare periodic reports on sourcing activities for the category.
• Maintain an awareness of relevant and latest procurement methodologies and guideline
• Support in uplifting skills of relatively junior colleagues within the category

Given Telenor and TPC operates in a fast moving, and dynamic environment thus the priorities and work scope may change, you are expected to be adaptive to the changes and be flexible adjusting to new activities (if any) i.e. like working in management consultancy or in transformation office.

Profile

We seek a Category Manager who has strong procurement knowledge and has hands on experience in strategic sourcing process, high level stakeholder management, working experience in multi-cultural set up.

To be successful in this role you should be eager to develop yourself within strategic sourcing and have an ownership mindset to drive highest value for Telenor and the customers. An academic understanding of category management, strategic sourcing, Marketing Services and Customer Care categories is expected.

To succeed in this role, the following characteristics are critical:

• Excellent written, presentation, communication and engagement skills with high level senior leaderships as well as functional teams across the globe
• Ability to present clear recommendations to relevant executive decision makers (internal and external) with capacity to counsel and influence decision-makers
• Have growth mindset, focused on opportunity instead of problem.
• Have ownership mindset, taking accountability and responsibility to deliver value to Telenor and customers.
• A problem solver – capable of dissecting a complicated problem and evaluating it systematically
• Strong critical analytical skills to decipher best way forward in complex environment
• Personal drive and high working capacity, with ability to push your ideas forward and challenge different views
• Strong project management skill with ability to lead project organization of 50+ people
• Savvy business acumen – focused on impact and outcomes
• Inter-cultural sensitivity and excellent interpersonal skills
• Human and customer centric – someone with a good understanding of the importance of change management and respectful handling of resistance
• Strong business knowledge in telecommunications landscape is preferred
• Strong knowledge of sourcing and procurement methodologies and concepts in the Marketing Services and Customer Care industry
• Knowledge and experience in supplier relationship management
• Experience of leading/executing international/multi country procurement project and process management knowledge and experience is an added advantage
• Action oriented and solution minded team player with high degree of self-management, able to work with a high degree of execution power and passion
• Broad experience with common data processing tools, e.g. Power, Excel, Power BI, Coupa, Monday.com etc.
• Result oriented, demonstrating excellent collaboration abilities
• Demonstrate commitment, maturity, flexibility and speed in response to business and challenges

Negotiation skills

Qualifications & Experience Requirements

• University degree, preferably within business administration, marketing, economics, finance, or procurement
• PMP, CIPS qualification is a plus
• At least 10 -12 years of overall experience including 5 – 7 years within Strategic procurement or within the advertising or customer care industry
• Previous experience of working in an international/multi-cultural environment, operating across countries
• Previous experience of engaging and working with Senior Leadership (CXOs)
• Experience in project and program management
• Experience from industry platforms, such as MRM platforms, DBM, GA360, Adobe, Sitecore, Adform, Adwords is a plus
• Experience with SEO and/or ASO and SEM is a plus
• Understanding of COPC Standard is a plus

Additional requirements that would be desirable for applicants

(+) Experience from telecommunications or other services industry dealing with Marketing Services and Customer Care spend category

(+) Knowledge of languages from Telenor’s operating companies