Category Analyst

Rutgers University; New Brunswick (NJ); On-site; USD 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a proactive Category Analyst to enhance procurement efficiency and strategic sourcing initiatives. This role involves managing supplier relationships, negotiating contracts, and ensuring compliance with university policies. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in procurement and strategic sourcing, with excellent customer service skills. Join a dynamic team dedicated to optimizing procurement processes and making a significant impact on the university's purchasing strategy. If you're ready to drive change and improve efficiency, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in relevant field or equivalent experience.
• 2 years of experience in strategic sourcing or procurement.

Responsibilities

• Manage the full procurement lifecycle for designated categories.
• Negotiate supplier contracts and drive strategic spending.
• Facilitate procurement processes and develop scopes of work.

Skills

Strategic Sourcing

Contract Negotiation

Supplier Relationship Management

Market Analysis

Customer Service

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management

Tools

Jaggaer

Oracle

Job description

Position Summary:

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is seeking a proactive and detailed Category Analyst to join University Procurement Services. Reporting to an Assistant Director, the Category Analyst will play a pivotal role in management the full procurement lifecycle for any designated categories within an identified threshold including independently sourcing products and services across the university in alignment with Rutgers University policies and best practices in strategic sourcing. This position serves as the primary point-of-contact for day-to-day procurement requests and contract-related matters. The Category Analyst, working within a category sourcing plan, provides excellent customer service and works directly with customers to identify and support procurement needs, identify suppliers, and establish and monitor term contracts.

Among they key duties of this position are the following:

• Exercises independent review and approval of requisitions up to assigned values. Insures the validity of informal bid process and waiver of bid procurements through market analysis and research. Ensures compliance with university guidelines, policies, and procedures.
• Negotiates supplier contracts or agreements to ensure they best reflect university policies.
• Develops and manages effective relationships with suppliers and university departments.
• Within any of the assigned categories, negotiates supplier contracts and drives strategic spending through them.
• Helps increased contract utilization through policies and incentives, as well as through marketing and customer service strategies.
• Finds opportunities to reduce spend by soliciting competing supplier quotes Standardizes and manages demand for commonly purchased goods and services. Independently conducts category sourcing to make purchasing easier and more efficient for client base.
• Facilitates the procurement process, develops clear and accurate scopes of work, and conducts meetings with suppliers and department end-users.
• Identifies opportunities to leverage the University's category historical spend through category sourcing initiatives while maintaining or improving the quality of products and services. Executes category-sourcing initiatives by calculating base line spend and savings for category sourcing initiatives.
• Collaborates with category subject matter experts for recommendations to develop category sourcing requirements and supplier evaluation criteria.
• Assists with implementing strategic sourcing methodology and process for assigned category and communicates, educates and obtains support for Strategic Sourcing methodology and process from key stakeholders throughout the University system.
• Researches past category/supplier spend by using reporting tools and makes recommendations to stakeholders and procurement management.
• Administers and manages term contracts, including monitoring suppliers' performance and adherence to service level agreements and Key Performance Indicators during the life of the contracts.
• Analyzes use of both University and state term contracts and works with suppliers and customers to identify and investigate continuous improvement opportunities within the category management-sourcing group and throughout the Procurement function.
• Performs independent review of purchase order open and close requests submitted by University departments, reviews status of orders in Jaggaer and Oracle systems to determine appropriate resolution of request and communication of action taken.
• Works on other projects as assigned.

Minimum Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree, preferably in Business Administration, Purchasing, Supply Chain Management, or a related field or an equivalent combination of education and/or experience.
• Two (2) years of strategic sourcing/procurement experience.

City: Piscataway

State: NJ

Posting Number: 25ST0903