Data Center Cooling – Strategic Category Lead

Gradian Thermal Solutions; Osseo (MN); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, vision, and dental plans

Short-term and long-term disability

Group term life insurance

HSA, FSA, Dependent Care

8 holidays + 4 floating holidays + PTO

401k matching

Safety shoe allowance

Education assistance

Job summary

Gradian is an engineering-led provider of liquid cooling and thermal solutions for data centers and critical markets, with facilities across North America. We are seeking a Strategic Category Lead to build deep market knowledge and develop long-term supplier relationships across our cooling platforms.

You will drive multi-year category strategies, negotiate favorable terms, and collaborate with Engineering, Operations, and Finance to align category initiatives with Gradian's growth roadmap and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Operations, or related field.
• 3+ years of experience in Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, Supply Chain, Category Management, Supplier Management, Operations, or related discipline.
• Experience developing and executing category strategies and managing strategic supplier relationships.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute multi-year category strategies for assigned data center liquid cooling components that align with business objectives and support long-term growth.
• Build market intelligence across supplier capabilities, technology trends, manufacturing processes, capacity, cost drivers, and supply chain risks.
• Develop and manage the strategic supplier landscape, including supplier segmentation, sourcing strategies, supplier selection, and long-term supplier relationships.
• Lead supplier negotiations and commercial strategies to optimize total cost of ownership, capacity, lead times, commercial terms, and supply continuity.
• Partner with Engineering and Product Development to influence product cost, manufacturability, sourcing decisions, and supplier selection early in the product lifecycle.
• Develop and execute cost reduction and value creation roadmaps through VAVE, competitive sourcing, localization, supplier development, and other total-cost initiatives.
• Identify and mitigate category and supplier risks, including capacity constraints, single-source exposure, geographic concentration, long lead times, and business continuity.
• Establish supplier performance expectations and drive continuous improvement across quality, cost, delivery, technology, capacity, and responsiveness.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Category management

Negotiation

Analytical skills

Project management

Communication

Relationship management

Cross-functional collaboration

Supply chain knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Operations, or related field

Job description

Gradian is an engineering-led provider of liquid cooling and thermal solutions for data centers and critical markets, with facilities across North America. We are seeking a Strategic Category Lead to build deep market knowledge and develop long-term supplier relationships across our cooling platforms.

You will drive multi-year category strategies, negotiate favorable terms, and collaborate with Engineering, Operations, and Finance to align category initiatives with Gradian's growth roadmap and