Category Manager (New Gas Generation)

Ameren Services Company; St. Louis (MO); Hybrid; USD 111,000 - 172,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Pension plan

401(k) with company match

Paid vacation & holidays

Parental/family caregiver leave

Job summary

Ameren Services is seeking a Category Manager to develop and implement Ameren-wide sourcing strategies for a multi-billion dollar spend, partnering with business stakeholders and suppliers to maximize value and supply continuity.

The role emphasizes leading negotiations, driving cost savings, and managing supplier relationships across diverse categories with a hybrid in-office/work-from-home arrangement in St. Louis, MO.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Business, Economics, Engineering or related field.
• SCMP or CPSM designation preferred.
• Seven or more years in SCM, category management, strategic sourcing, purchasing or related fields.

Responsibilities

• Represent Procurement to Ameren businesses and implement sourcing strategies.
• Lead negotiation and contract execution with suppliers to maximize value.
• Analyze and leverage spend across Ameren segments and define business needs.
• Develop and implement complex category strategies to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Lead cross-functional teams to build category strategies with market intelligence and supplier diversity.

Skills

Category management

Strategic sourcing

Contract negotiation

Vendor management

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's Degree

SCMP / CPSM

Job description

About Ameren Services (B&CS)

Ameren Services provides administrative support and services to Ameren Corporation and its operating companies, subsidiaries and affiliates. Ameren Services includes a wide range of skill sets and roles, from finance and legal experts to digital and cyber specialists, plus those charged with ensuring environmental compliance and operational safety. Together, we help execute a strategy that enables Ameren to deliver superior long‑term value to customers, shareholders and the environment.

Our benefits include:

• Medical coverage on date of hire
• 100% employer paid cash balance pension plan
• 401(k) with company match fully vested on date of hire
• Minimum of 15 days paid vacation and 12 paid holidays
• Paid parentalleave and family caregiver leave

About The Position

The Category Manageris responsible for the developmentand implementation of Ameren-widesourcingstrategiesforassignedcategoriesofapproximate $2.5 Billion of annualsourceablespend toleverage the supply base, ensure continuity of supply, maximize cost savings/value realization, and supporttheachievement of Ameren's business strategy in a proactive manner by truly partnering with the business stakeholders as well as the vendors.

Key responsibilities include:

• Represent the Procurement organization to the broader Ameren businesses and implement strategies to strategically source related spend
• Utilize the sourcing process to develop, implement and manage proposal activities; lead negotiation and completion of contracts with suppliers to maximize benefits across Ameren.

• Analyze and leverage spend across all Ameren business segments. Segment spend based on category and work with stakeholders to definecurrent and futurebusiness needs.
• Ensure assigned category(ies) are procured in a manner which mitigates risk and provides the highest overall total value to Ameren through:

• Supplier assessments and rationalization
• Diverse spend
• Negotiationstrategy and execution to drive lowestTotal Cost of Ownership(TCO)

• Make vs. buy analyses
• Should cost models
• Cycle time improvements
• Securityand continuityofreliablesupplyContinuous improvement

Internal Stakeholder Management:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with team members in Ameren's sourcing organization
• Develop and maintain astrong network and foster collaboration with key internal stakeholders and suppliersto gain input into demand planning and forecasting, assist in strategy development, advocate the use of the negotiated contracts and influence strategy implementation.
• Balance commercial and contractual complexities with stakeholders, through influencing change(without authority), driving enterprise consistency and delivering valuewith internal clients and external stakeholders,e.g.manage stakeholder expectations,operational cultures and individual business requirement,establish and adjust priorities, manage supplier dispute resolution process

• Leads cross-functional teams consisting of technical SMEs, operations SCM personnel, Legal and other stakeholders, as required, in the development and implementation of sourcing strategies

Market Intelligence (MI) & Cost Modelling:

• maintain company-wide demand profiles and external supply and demand MIinformation;
• interpret MI to drive category strategies and provide direction to stakeholders (i.e.raising changes in market conditions which could have an impact to cost or schedule);

• understand the marketplace for assigned category(ies), including industry structure and new and non-traditionalsuppliers;
• buildcost models, identifying value and cost drivers, to drive for better understanding of costs and results during supplier negotiations.

Development and implementation of category strategies:

• foroptimizing and leveraging category management processes, policies and tools with the potential for significant corporate financial impact.
• forlong‑term strategy development and implementation of a complex categories within the materials and/or equipment portfolio, to achieve lower total cost of ownership and higher value for Ameren.
• forthe development and implementation of complex category strategies that mitigate risk and deliver competitive advantage for Ameren
• understand, monitor, and be proactive to current category market conditions/trends, developing technologies, supply chain capacity/capability, product knowledge and supply/demand challenges
• apply a broad and deep subject matter expertise in category management, market dynamics, and economic and industry trends impactingAmerento support the development of appropriate categorystrategies;

• lead cross-functional teams to build comprehensive category strategies utilizing market intelligence, demand management, sustainability, supplier diversity and total cost of ownership, with follow through metrics as required to assure performance, supply continuity and managerisk;
• execute sourcing strategies,from proposal development and solicitation,to contract negotiation, to recommending solutions and contractexecution;
• partnerwith suppliers to conduct cost assessments with the goal of reducing costs and identifyingimprovementsdrivecontractutilizationwith effective implementation plans, metrics and reporting.

Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college orUniversityrequired,preferablyin Finance, Business,Economics, Engineeringor relatedfield.MBA, other related graduate degree, or Doctorate preferred.Sevenor moreyears ofprogressively responsible and relatedexperience inthe SCM field,(i.e.,category management, strategic sourcing, purchasing),consulting, cost accounting, or financerequired. Candidates must possess direct procurement and project execution experience on one or more new combined cycle gas generation projects for an electric utility. Experience must include planning and execution of major equipment and construction procurements supporting project development and delivery.

Candidates with an advanced degree or Doctorate will be considered with five or more years of experience.

Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP) / Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) designation or equivalentpreferred.

Hybrid role 3 days in office 2 days WFH at the Ameren HQ in St. Louis, MO

In addition to the above qualifications, the successful candidate will demonstrate:

Superior communication (oral and written), interpersonal, and presentation skills, with strong influencing and persuasive talents. Demonstrated ability to be innovative, take initiative, lead and manage change. Experience negotiating substantially large and complex commercial agreements. Ability to monitor and manage supplier relationships and performance without supervision.Must be a proven expert in category planning, development & execution, as well as ability to achieve tangible results in competitive and non-competitive supplier negotiations both directly and as a coach to others.Demonstrated ability to navigate through the strategic sourcing process required.Strong negotiation and project management skillsrequired.Must have thorough understanding of purchasing, accounts payable, work management and financial systems applications. Thorough understanding of Ameren's systems applications (e.g., Oracle Purchasing, accounts payable, etc.) preferred.Proven ability to achieve results while effectively managing the associated change and to measure, analyze, (e.g., TCO, NPV, cost price analysis) and understand complexbusiness issues required.Proficiency with MicrosoftOffice Suiterequired.

Additional Information

Ameren's selection process includes a seriesofinterviews and may includecandidate testing and/or an individualaptitude or skill-basedassessment. Specific details will be provided to qualified candidates.

Compensation Range:

$111,100.00 - $172,200.00

At Ameren, base salary is one component of a competitive compensation package for employees. Our pay ranges are broad to allow for movement within our organization and to accommodate different skill sets and levels of expertise. We take into consideration a variety of factors including, but not limited to, skills, abilities, experience, education, credentials, and internal equity when determining the base salary offered. Roles are eligible for additional rewards including annual incentive payments based on individual and company performance.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, genetic information, military service or status, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other class, trait, or status protected by law.