Category Manager, NA - Indirect Procurement

Avery Dennison; Mentor (OH); On-site; USD 107,250 - 160,160; Full time

Job summary

Avery Dennison seeks a Category Manager North America to optimize total cost of ownership in Indirect Materials & Services. You will lead sourcing, negotiate contracts, and coordinate multi-site procurement across North America. Strong analytical and cross‑functional collaboration skills are essential.

Requires 5+ years in indirect procurement and a Bachelor's in a relevant field; MBA is a plus. The role is based in Mentor, Ohio, with a focus on cost, quality, service, and supplier relationships.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, or Engineering; MBA is a plus.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in indirect procurement.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute strategic sourcing initiatives to optimize TCO for assigned categories.
• Lead the sourcing process including RFP/RFI development, supplier selection, competitive bidding, and contract negotiations.
• Coordinate regional procurement activities and consolidate indirect spend across North America.
• Negotiate with suppliers to achieve best value while ensuring quality and reliability.

Skills

Negotiation

Strategic thinking

Analytical

Problem solving

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Teamwork

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business

MBA (optional)

Tools

Google Workspace

Ariba

Job description

Job Description

At Avery Dennison, we are transforming our Global Procurement function to be a value creator. The journey to evolve from being a support function to a competitive advantage heavily relies on our talent who continue to remain our biggest asset.

As Category Manager North America, you should enhance total value procured from the Indirect supply base by leading standardization and consolidation solutions across Avery Dennison businesses in North America. This position investigates all new developments relative to Indirect Materials & Services, and makes recommendations designed to reduce costs and improve quality. The Category Manager is also responsible for negotiating commercial terms and implementing procurement agreements with suppliers. This role is based on sustained delivery of business results, including supply assurance, cost, quality, service and innovation, which are required to meet the business needs. The Indirect Procurement Categories are Facilities Management, Utilities, MRO, Packaging, Travel, Professional Services, Capital Equipment, HR Services, Freight, IT and Marketing. This position will be assigned to manage specific procurement categories, or projects spanning multiple categories as required, and will report to the NA Regional Procurement Leader

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute strategic sourcing initiatives to optimize the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for assigned categories of goods and services, ensuring alignment with global Procurement transformational goals and objectives .
• Lead the sourcing process for assigned categories, including RFP/RFI development, supplier selection, competitive bidding, and contract negotiations to secure best value for the organization.
• Identify and deliver cost savings targets for assigned Categories or projects within North America & across Divisional Indirect Categories. Initiatives could cut across all Indirect Categories or other areas where opportunities exist
• Coordinate regional and multi-site procurement activities, consolidating indirect spend to achieve volume economies and enhance procurement leverage
• Work with key internal customers to implement best practices and ensure operational efficiencies are met
• Aggressively manage supplier base across category area
• Leverage Indirect spend across North America
• Work with Global Category lead to develop and implement Global strategies.
• Implement best practices and cost reduction initiatives across North America
• Lead North American supplier negotiations and contract execution
• Categorize spend data in support of overall Procurement strategies
• Coordinate and consolidate multi-site / local unit Indirect Procurement process
• Track and report savings
• Support procure-to-pay process improvements within Category area
• Develop and implement strategies to improve working capital
• With assistance of cross divisional, cross functional team, develop and implement metrics, which objectively demonstrate success for each cost center and P&L affected
• With assistance of cross-divisional team, develop method of objectively measuring and scoring the performance suppliers
• Analyze suppliers and markets to identify trends, industry dynamics, opportunities for marketplace advantage, and new ideas for products, processes and services
• Gather information about competitors’ materials, technologies, supply base, sourcing strategies, etc. to benchmark competitors’ costs, service, etc.
• Work to develop/publish/implement strategies that enable high quality, delivery, and productivity cost savings.
• Negotiate with suppliers to achieve the lowest cost consistent with considerations of quality, reliability of source and urgency of need.
• Develop and maintain appropriate and productive supplier relationships.
• Improve cooperation across geographic and organization boundaries by identifying barriers and working with Regional Procurement Leaders to eliminate barriers.
• Develop and maintain appropriate and productive supplier relationships, including involvement in critical negotiations

Qualifications

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO BRING TO THE TEAM

Avery Dennison has a long history of being a market leader. Your history is important to us. It should include the following:

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Operations, or Engineering. An MBA is good to have.

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years experience in Indirect Procurement

Skills Competencies

• Strong negotiation, strategic thinking, commercial, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional and diverse teams.
• In-depth knowledge of procurement best practices and industry trends in indirect procurement.
• Self-starter with the ability to drive indirect procurement projects from initiation to conclusion, effectively collaborating with diverse individuals at all levels of the organization
• Manage and lead multiple projects simultaneously.
• Presentation experience and skills required.
• Proficient in Google workspace, Ariba and function-specific software is a plus.
• Demonstrated success in leading change toward a centralized process.
• Highly motivated with solid team-working skills

WHERE YOU’LL WORK

Mentor, Ohio (30 Minutes East of Cleveland)

Additional Information

The salary range for this position is $107,250 - $160,160 year.

The hiring base salary range above represents what Avery Dennison reasonably expects to pay for this position as of the date of this posting. Actual salaries will vary within the range, and in some circumstances may be above or below the range, based on various factors including but not limited to a candidate’s relevant skills, experience, education and training, and location, as well as the job scope and complexity, responsibilities, and regular and/or necessary travel required for the position, which may change depending on the candidate pool. Avery Dennison reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, or other protected status. EEOE/M/F/Vet/Disabled. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

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