Category Management Specialist III - Facilities and Corporate Services

Kaiser Permanente; Walnut Creek, Northern (CA, KY); On-site; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaiser Permanente in Walnut Creek, CA, seeks a Category Management Specialist III to drive category and spend strategies for Facilities and Corporate Services. You will own end-to-end delivery, build relationships with internal clients and suppliers, and guide cross-functional teams through sourcing, RFPs, negotiations, and contracting.

The role emphasizes data-driven decisions, market analytics, and adopting digital tools in source-to-pay, with a focus on sustainability and service quality

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain/Business or related field with 2+ years in category management.
• Experience in strategic sourcing, contract administration or negotiations.
• Advanced degrees may substitute for work experience.
• Leadership experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop category/spend strategies leveraging knowledge of markets, suppliers and stakeholder needs.
• Build relationships with internal clients and suppliers to deliver value and drive outcomes.
• Participate in RFP processes, supplier negotiations and contract facilitation to deliver strategic value.
• Analyze category spend to understand price drivers and market trends; apply analytics.
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to advance Category Management capabilities.

Skills

Category management

Strategic sourcing

Contract negotiations

Analytics

Vendor relationships

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management/Business or related field

Master’s degree in related field (preferred)

Job description

Category Management Specialist III - Facilities and Corporate Services

The Category Management Specialist III will serve as a Category and Sourcing Manager for Facilities and Corporate Services and support key corporate, operational, patient-facing and care-critical categories. The Category Manager will be responsible for developing category strategies, implementing sourcing strategies, conducting negotiations, performing analysis, drafting and facilitating contracts, and working closely with stakeholders at both the national and regional level.

Job Summary:

This individual contributor position is responsible for developing category/spend strategies for assigned categories by leveraging knowledge of the markets, suppliers and stakeholder needs; building long-term relationships with internal clients and suppliers; owning end-to-end delivery of business needs for categories under management; identifying and understanding key initiatives of internal clients and short, medium, and long-term goals; ensuring alignment of initiatives and strategies with client expectations; adopting change practices with customers, suppliers and stakeholders to drive strategic programs; and interacting with leadership to review and drive decisions. This position is also responsible for participating in the RFP process and/or supplier negotiations; developing and executing RFPs; leveraging analytics and insights to ensure data-driven decisions; analyzing category spend to understand price drivers and trends; applying cost and supply market analytics; and applying a digital mindset to adopt new technologies in the source to pay space.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Pursues effective relationships with others by proactively providing resources, information, advice, and expertise with coworkers and members. Listens to, seeks, and addresses performance feedback; provides mentoring to team members. Pursues self-development; creates plans and takes action to capitalize on strengths and develop weaknesses; influences others through technical explanations and examples. Adapts to and learns from change, challenges, and feedback; demonstrates flexibility in approaches to work; helps others adapt to new tasks and processes. Supports and responds to the needs of others to support a business outcome.




• Completes work assignments autonomously by applying up-to-date expertise in subject area to generate creative solutions; ensures all procedures and policies are followed; leverages an understanding of data and resources to support projects or initiatives. Collaborates cross-functionally to solve business problems; escalates issues or risks as appropriate; communicates progress and information. Supports, identifies, and monitors priorities, deadlines, and expectations. Identifies, speaks up, and implements ways to address improvement opportunities for team.




• Develops category/spend strategies for assigned categories by leveraging knowledge of the markets, suppliers and stakeholder needs; driving clear, informed decisions based upon a multi-year strategy; owning end-to-end delivery of business needs for categories under management; keeping current on external and internal influences that may impact the larger organization (e.g., Healthcare Reform, macroeconomic issues, etc.); and interacting with leadership to review and drive decisions.




• Develops and maintains relationships with key internal clients and suppliers by building strong, collaborative relationships with internal clients across the business to gain buy-in and deliver value; identifying and understanding key initiatives of internal clients and short, medium, and long-term goals; working with suppliers to identify and pursue opportunities to drive improved quality and delivery performance; assuring alignment of initiatives and strategies with client expectations to drive value, innovation, service/supply resiliency, quality of care and governance; and partnering with cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., Portfolio Leads, Sourcing, Procurement Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, etc.) to advance Category Management capabilities.




• Participates in RFP process and/or supplier negotiations and facilitates contracting to deliver strategic value by applying appropriate negotiation strategies, tactics, and processes in line with situational demands; assisting with contract negotiations in partnership with Legal; and developing and executing RFPs to drive the strategic sourcing process.




• Leverages analytics and insights to support data-driven decisions by analyzing category spend to understand price drivers and trends; applying cost and supply market analytics to create category strategies; and applying a digital mindset to adopt new technologies in the source to pay space.




• Adopts change practices with customers, suppliers and stakeholders to drive the implementation and/or modification of new or existing strategic programs (e.g., Source to Pay transformation, Category Management training programs, etc.).




• Contributes to KPs Sustainability and Environmental goals and serves as an advocate to further advance results in Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP).

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Management Science, Business, Finance, Accounting, Contract Administration, Procurement or a directly related field and minimum two (2) years experience category management, strategic sourcing, or a directly related field. Additional equivalent work experience in a directly related field may be substituted for the degree requirement. Advanced degrees may be substituted for the work experience requirements.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Management Science, Business, Finance, Accounting, Contract Administration, Procurement or a directly related field.


• One (1) year experience in a leadership role with or without direct reports.