Category Sourcing Manager

Zoetis, Inc; Kalamazoo (MI); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Zoetis, Inc. in Kalamazoo, MI, seeks a Category Sourcing Manager to support scientific services spend within VM RD.

You will partner with Finance, Legal, and Procurement to ensure budget adherence and policy compliance, while developing category strategies and mitigating supply risks. You will lead supplier relationships, drive cost-saving initiatives across CRO and regulatory services, and manage RFx processes and contract negotiations to protect continuity, quality, and cost.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, supply chain, or a scientific discipline.
• 3+ years of strategic sourcing/procurement experience within an R&D organization or supporting scientific services spend.
• Experience running end-to-end sourcing events (RFx), negotiating terms, and documenting savings/value.
• Working knowledge of contracts and common scientific-services commercial structures (rate cards, milestone-based SOWs, T&M, change controls).
• Proficiency with MS Office; experience with procurement/ERP tools such as Oracle and/or SAP, Ariba, Spend Control Tower, and BI/reporting tools.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for internal customers: identify potential vendors, analyze bids, negotiate costs/terms, document savings, and recommend purchasing method.
• Drive vendor strategies and cost-savings initiatives across scientific-services categories (e.g., CRO/contract research and regulatory outsourced services such as translations).
• Issue RFQs/RFPs to approved suppliers; coordinate stakeholder-supplier Q&A; and compile bid comparisons (pricing, timelines, assumptions, risks).
• Manage supplier relationships through regular business reviews, vendor presentations, and performance discussions.

Skills

RFx management

Negotiation

Stakeholder alignment

Analytical thinking

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Oracle

SAP

Ariba

Spend Control Tower

BI reporting

MS Office

Job description

States considered: MI

Role Description

Position Summary: The Category Sourcing Manager is responsible for supporting several categories of scientific services spend for Zoetis Veterinary Medicine Research & Development (VMRD) to meet the business needs of the organization. This role partners closely with Finance, Legal, and other Procurement teams (Corporate and Manufacturing) to ensure purchases are within budget and compliant with Zoetis Finance, Legal, and Procurement policies. In partnership with key stakeholders, the role builds category and vendor strategies, identifies supply and commercial risks, and develops mitigation plans to protect continuity, quality, and cost. The role also leads supplier relationship management activities to drive performance, collaboration, and continuous improvement across the supplier base.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for internal customers: identify potential vendors, analyze competitive bids, negotiate costs and terms, document competitive/negotiated savings, and recommend the appropriate purchasing method.
• Drive vendor strategies and cost-savings initiatives across assigned scientific-services categories (e.g., CRO/contract research services and regulatory outsourced services such as translations).
• Issue RFQs/RFPs to approved suppliers; coordinate stakeholder -supplier Q&A; and compile side-by-side bid comparisons (pricing structure, timelines, assumptions/exclusions, and risk/capacity signals).
• Manage supplier relationships by coordinating regular business reviews, vendor presentations, performance discussions, and acting as the main communications point of contact.
• Interface with external partners to troubleshoot business, service, and relationship issues to ensure contractual obligations and service levels are met.
• Support development of a competitive vendor base to create and sustain advantage for VMRD and better leverage external spend.
• Partner with Procurement Associates to resolve complex invoicing issues, respond to internal customer inquiries, support purchasing and financial systems, and review purchase order requests.
• Work with Legal to ensure appropriate agreements are in place (e.g., MSAs, SOWs, confidentiality, data/privacy, IP/ownership, and publication terms as applicable) to enable continuity of internal customers' work.
• Analyze VMRD spend and trends; maintain and refresh category plans/strategies, preferred supplier lists, and sourcing pipelines as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, Finance, Supply Chain, or a scientific discipline.
• 3+ years of strategic sourcing/procurement experience within an R&D organization or supporting scientific services spend.
• Demonstrated experience running end-to-end sourcing events (RFx), negotiating terms, and documenting savings/value.
• Working knowledge of contracts and common scientific-services commercial structures (rate cards, milestone-based SOWs, T&M, change controls).
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite; experience with procurement/ERP tools such as Oracle and/or SAP, Ariba (CatMan), Spend Control Tower, and BI/reporting tools.

Skills & Attributes

• Strong stakeholder partnership skills: ability to influence and drive alignment across scientific, finance, and legal partners.
• Analytical mindset with comfort working in ambiguous, fast-moving R&D environments.
• Clear written and verbal communication; able to summarize options, tradeoffs, and recommendations for decision makers.
• High integrity and attention to detail; consistent adherence to policies and documentation requirements.

Work Model

Work Model:
Hybrid 50% in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Travel: as business needs dictate.

Full timeRegularColleague

Zoetis is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status or any other protected classification. Disabled individuals are given an equal opportunity to use our online application system. We offer reasonable accommodations as an alternative if requested by an individual with a disability. Please contact Zoetis Colleague Services at [e-mail] to request an accommodation. Zoetis also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act. All applicants must possess or obtain authorization to work in the US for Zoetis. Zoetis retains sole and exclusive discretion to pursue sponsorship for the acquisition or maintenance of nonimmigrant status and employment eligibility, considering factors such as availability of qualified US workers. Individuals requiring sponsorship must disclose this fact. Please note that Zoetis seeks information related to job applications from candidates for jobs in the U.S. solely via the following: (1) our company website at www.Zoetis.com/careers site, or (2) via email to/from addresses using only the Zoetis domain of "@zoetis.com". In addition, Zoetis does not use Google Hangout for any recruitment related activities. Any solicitation or request for information related to job applications with Zoetis via any other means and/or utilizing email addresses with any other domain should be disregarded. In addition, Zoetis will never ask candidates to make any type of personal financial investment related to gaining employment with Zoetis.