Category Manager

Intuitive; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a senior procurement leader to manage the supply chain for direct materials, leading category strategy, supplier development, and cost optimization to support product readiness and business continuity.

You will drive cross-functional category teams, negotiate contracts, manage supplier performance, and align sourcing with new product development, ensuring uninterrupted material availability and favorable total cost of ownership.

Qualifications

• Experience in electronics category sourcing and supplier management.
• Leads cross-functional category teams.
• Negotiates contracts and manages long-term PO commitments.
• Develops category strategy roadmaps and supplier performance reviews.
• Supports lean sourcing and capacity/risk mitigation.

Responsibilities

• Category Management for electronics categories - wiring harness, electronics assemblies and OEM parts.
• Provides cross-functional team leadership within assigned category(ies); leads cross-functional category team meetings.
• Collaborates with manager and cross-functional peers to create long-term supplier strategies and roadmaps.
• Leads supplier scorecarding and supplier business reviews for assigned suppliers.
• Escalates issues with supplier executive leadership as needed.
• Leads capacity assessments for assigned suppliers and critical sub-tier suppliers; anticipates long-term risks.
• Negotiates long-term volume pricing and capacity agreements with key suppliers.
• Reviews, administers, and manages long-term purchase order commitments to support production and sales requirements.
• Leads identification and implementation of cost reduction ideas.

Skills

Category Management

Strategic Sourcing

Negotiation

Cross-functional Leadership

Supplier Relationship Management

Inventory Management

Risk Management

Cost Reduction

Project Management

Job description

Job Description

Primary Function of Position

• Manages supply chain of assigned direct materials suppliers and parts to support business continuity and optimization, including sourcing, development of category strategy roadmaps, negotiating contracts, analyzing spend, creating inventory management strategies, gathering commodity intelligence, and managing supplier performance; may include limited management of purchase orders.

• Leads cross-functional category team(s)

• Identifies and may implement key Global Supply Chain initiatives

Essential Job Duties

• Category Management for electronics categories - wiring harness, electronics assemblies and OEM parts

  • Provides cross-functional team leadership within assigned category(ies); leads cross-functional category team meetings

• Collaborates with manager and cross-functional peers to create long-term supplier strategies and roadmaps. Engages with internal stakeholders to develop and influence category strategy that aligns with long-term business objectives.

• Co-leads direct procurement supplier selection process with collaboration from Supplier Engineering and guidance from manager. Leverages knowledge of strategic sourcing practices to identify a core supply base able to offer lowest total cost of ownership and high-quality product while identifying value improvement opportunities.

• Collaborates with manager to align production supplier requirements and sourcing strategies with those of new product development (NPI) for designated suppliers/categories to ensure uninterrupted material availability, alignment of risk, and cost goals with long term vision for the category / business

• Prioritizes category team projects in collaboration with manager and ensures team goals and objectives are achieved

• Leverages knowledge of commodity trends to propose strategies and educate stakeholders

• Develops and presents category strategy reviews

• Supplier Performance Management

• Leads supplier scorecarding and supplier business reviews for assigned suppliers

• Proactively collaborates with supply base and procurement team to understand and communicate demand changes and minimize excess inventory or material shortages

• Leads continuous improvement efforts needed with suppliers

• Escalates issues with supplier executive leadership with support and guidance of manager

• Risk and Capacity Management

• Develops mitigation plans and programs for assigned suppliers and critical sub-tier suppliers; collaborates with manager and cross-functional peers to drive implementation

• Leads capacity assessments for assigned suppliers and critical sub-tier suppliers; anticipates long-term risks and installs proactive mitigations

• May serve as project manager for key supplier capacity or risk mitigation initiatives

• Leverages problem solving skills and develops counter-measures to implement long-term solutions to identified problems

• Contract and Cost Management

• Establishes contractual agreements with suppliers and amendments to existing agreements

• Negotiates long-term volume pricing, risk mitigation, and capacity agreements with key suppliers to support Intuitive’s volume growth

• Reviews, administers, and manages long-term purchase order and delivery commitments to designated suppliers as necessary to support production and/or sales requirements within the business

• Leads identification and implementation of cost reduction ideas to achieve year-over-year cost goals within assigned category(ies)

• Operational Management

• Supports plant purchasing by leading negotiations with suppliers to adopt and implement lean sourcing principles to enable 100% material availability and optimization of on-hand inventory levels

• Embraces continuous improvement techniques to drive toward attainment of key purchasing metrics (supplier on-time delivery, quality, risk management, inventory velocity, and cost reduction)

• May lead change management/change order implementation for complex projects

• Supports master data integrity for suppliers and parts

• Mentors colleagues within the supply chain organization. Identifies process and training improvement opportunities and drives closure of identified gaps.