Category Manager

System One; San Rafael (CA); Remote; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in California is seeking a Category Manager to oversee procurement processes and category strategies. This remote role involves managing supplier contracts, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and ensuring effective supplier performance. Ideal candidates will have a strong background in procurement, particularly in the biotech or life sciences industry, with a focus on strategic planning and relationship management.

Qualifications

• 3-5+ years procurement experience in category management and supplier management.
• 1-3+ years in biotech/life sciences industry.
• Basic understanding of GMP manufacturing processes.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute category strategies in partnership with stakeholders.
• Negotiate and manage supplier contracts to meet business needs.
• Support new product introduction and tech transfer initiatives.

Skills

Analytical Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Presentation Skills

Contract Negotiation

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Bachelor’s degree in life sciences

Bachelor’s degree in finance

Bachelor’s degree in supply chain

Tools

Ariba

SAP

PowerBI

SharePoint

GEP Smart

Coupa

Oracle

Job description

Title: Category Manager
Company: Sponsor in California
Type: 100% Remote
Pay Rate: $47-$51/hour
Term: 9-month renewable contract

Manager notes:
Manager is looking for a doer, not necessarily a change agent. The role is intended to support the administrative side of category management (data administration, system administration, tactical event execution, etc.) and be flexible in the assignments given, meet timelines, and be self-accountable / good time management skills (or can raise concerns when things appear to be going off track). Ideally, someone who is ambitious and wants to learn/grow in a few raw materials areas and isn’t mentally tied into other companies’ ways of working.

Requirements:
• Demonstrated understanding of fundamental procurement process knowledge, including contracting, relationship management, market analysis, strategic planning, category value chain, etc. Specific expertise with Ariba and SAP preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, life sciences, finance, or supply chain.
• 3-5+ years procurement experience with knowledge and experience in category management, sourcing, and contract negotiations and supplier management.
• 1-3+ years in biotech / life sciences industry.
• Basic understanding of GMP manufacturing processes and regulations
• Solid interpersonal, analytical and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability for contract negotiation.
• Experience participating on cross-functional and global teams.
• Able to develop solutions to complex problems and ensures solutions are consistent with organizational objectives.

Job Description:
Category Managers are responsible for developing category strategies and executing the category strategy projects in partnership with functional stakeholders. The role supports contract life cycle management, leads contract negotiations, and helps to ensure contract value realization and supplier performance through effective supplier management. This role supports the raw material categories.

RESPONSIBILITIES
• Support category strategy:
• Works in collaboration with key business functions, to drive category execution of a multi-year value creation project pipeline.
• Utilize spend analytic and market intelligence tools to identify innovation and efficiency opportunities which optimize total cost of ownership, drive cost savings, and mitigate risk.
• Maintain in-depth understanding of supplier capabilities, capacity, and overall financial stability, to effectively differentiate suppliers, in both current and future states, and support preferred supplier selection.
• Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of supply contracts:
• Negotiate and manage supplier contracts, in partnership with Legal, which meet stakeholder / business needs.
• Ensure contracts are robust and comprehensive.
• Stakeholder relationship management:
• Develops and maintains strong supplier relationships (SRM), and effectively represents the business from an enterprise perspective.
• Lead cross functional category council meetings; actively participate in RMAB
• Facilitate resolution of supplier issues. Work closely with all related internal functions including Engineering, Manufacturing, TDS, Quality, Compliance, Legal, and Regulatory Affairs.
• Supports new product introduction and tech transfer initiatives.
• Leverage functional scorecards, metrics, and other vehicles to measure and report performance including supplier performance and value realization.
• Others:
• Manages data integrity within PowerBI, SharePoint Lists, Veeva, GEP Smart, Coupa/Ariba, Oracle/SAP (pricing, vendor master, taxonomy, ASL, supply allocation).
• Support new item creation process, ASL, SCNs, supplier investigations/deviations, and ensures CRs and Deviations are closed on time.
• Effectively execute sourcing process (RFx events) for goods and services, including supplier evaluation, selection and contracting.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives throughout the organization in the enhancement of functional processes and systems.

QUALIFICATIONS
• Demonstrated understanding of fundamental procurement process knowledge, including contracting, relationship management, market analysis, strategic planning, category value chain, etc. Specific expertise with Ariba and SAP preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, life sciences, finance, or supply chain.
• 3-5+ years procurement experience with knowledge and experience in category management, sourcing, and contract negotiations and supplier management.
• 1-3+ years in biotech / life sciences industry.
• Basic understanding of GMP manufacturing processes and regulations
• Solid interpersonal, analytical and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability for contract negotiation.
• Experience participating on cross-functional and global teams.
• Able to develop solutions to complex problems and ensures solutions are consistent with organizational objectives.


Ref: #568-Clinical