Digital Technology and AI (DTA) & Professional Services Category Manager

Biomarin; San Rafael (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

BioMarin in San Rafael, California, is seeking a Category Manager for Global Sourcing and Procurement. This role involves developing procurement strategies in Information Technology and Professional Services to support organizational objectives. Candidates should have over 5 years of relevant experience in procurement, excellent communication skills, and familiarity with tools like Ariba and SAP.

The position requires a Bachelor’s degree in a related field, managing supplier relationships, and strategic planning. The selected candidate will help optimize procurement practices at BioMarin.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Procurement, Sourcing, or IT-related roles.
• Experience managing category strategies and stakeholder engagement.
• Ability to align procurement activities with business priorities.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute sourcing and category strategies.
• Collaborate with category leaders to ensure support.
• Handle complex negotiations with strategic suppliers.

Skills

Sourcing and procurement best practices

End-to-end category strategies

Supplier management

Complex IT contract negotiations

Analytical capabilities

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business, or related field

Tools

Ariba

SAP

Microsoft 365 applications

Job description

BioMarin’s Technical Operations group is responsible for creating our drugs for use in clinical trials and for scaling production of those drugs for the commercial market. These engineers, technicians, scientists and support staff build and maintain BioMarin’s cutting‑edge manufacturing processes and sites, provide quality assurance and quality control to ensure we meet regulatory standards, and procure the needed goods and services to support manufacturing and coordinating the worldwide movement of our drugs to patients.

Global Sourcing and Procurement

The Global Sourcing and Procurement (GSP) organization is accountable for driving and delivering procurement value to support stakeholders’ and organizational strategic objectives. The GSP function delivers value to BioMarin by leading transformation change and implementing industry‑leading category strategies that directly support the corporate strategy. The GSP organization leverages market intelligence, subject‑matter expertise and business insights in the procurement of goods and services and management of BioMarin’s growing third‑party spend of $1B+. Through collaboration with external suppliers and internal business partners, GSP helps bring innovative new medicines to patients.

The Information Technology and Professional Services Category Manager is an individual contributor role supporting the Information Technology and Professional Services organization enterprise‑wide. This role reports to the Associate Director – Information Technology and Professional Services Leader, who reports to the Sr. Director, Global Enterprise Services Sourcing.

Role Scope

The Category Manager is responsible for executing best‑in‑class procurement strategies, working with and supporting category leaders, fostering strong and broad relationships with stakeholders, and promoting innovation and ongoing process improvement in operational practices.

The role is primarily focused on developing and executing category strategies in Information Technology and Professional Services & Data, including but not limited to the following:

• SaaS
• Services
• AI
• Professional Services

The role will work with other category managers to ensure alignment on related services or overlapping suppliers supporting other categories, such as Software, etc. focusing on developing and executing category strategies in Information Technology and Professional Services & Data, the Category Manager will only provide direct support for the Services and Professional Services categories within these areas.

Focus on aligning Information Technology strategies to any function requiring support from outside firms.

This role will collaborate closely with category leaders from across the BioMarin organization to ensure that all functions are fully supported, experience an optimized engagement, and receive a high quality product.

Strategy & Leadership

• Strategic Planning: Ability to develop and execute sourcing and category strategies that align with BioMarin’s goals and support effective procurement operations.
• Stakeholder Management: Build strong relationships with key internal and external partners, manage senior stakeholders, and foster cross‑functional collaboration.
• Procurement Leadership: Demonstrate thought leadership in procurement, influence stakeholders, and advocate for best‑in‑class sourcing practices.
• Finance Partnership: Collaborate closely with the Finance team to support functional stakeholders in achieving business objectives.
• Industry Awareness: Maintain up‑to‑date knowledge of industry trends and procurement best practices, and share insights with the team.
• Communication: Exhibit strong written and verbal communication skills to effectively engage with stakeholders and suppliers.

Operational Focus

• Sourcing and category management: Assist in managing the creation and implementation of sourcing strategies to support savings, risk mitigation, and assist the team with process improvements.
• Supplier Relationship Management: Collaborate business plans with strategic suppliers and optimize supplier performance, ensuring alignment with BioMarin’s goals.
• Negotiations: Handle complex negotiations with strategic planning, ensuring alignment with BioMarin’s operational and business objectives.
• Results Focused: Aim for measurable outcomes by tracking savings and performance through SLAs and KPIs, and develop a roadmap for future opportunities.
• Source to Pay Transformation: Contribute to transformation initiatives by providing input on process and technology solutions, and collaborate across teams to improve outputs.
• Compliance: Ensure adherence to policies and procedures, work closely with the Quality team, and support internal audit activities as needed.

Skills Required

• Demonstrated experience with sourcing and procurement best practices.
• Demonstrated end‑to‑end experience developing and operationalizing category strategies.
• Understand risk elements of suppliers within the category markets and define/engage risk assessment and mitigation tactics.
• Proven experience in fostering collaboration and supporting team dynamics.
• Experience in supplier management and complex IT contract negotiations (i.e. SaaS, AI).
• Results‑driven mindset and capabilities.
• Excellent communicator and interpersonal skills with comfort working cross‑functionally to gather information and resolve conflicts.
• Motivated, high‑energy, curious, self‑starter and strong business mindset.
• Experience with procurement technology, preference for Ariba/SAP, Icertis.
• Strong analytical capabilities, including the ability to interpret spend data, build dashboards and reports, perform market and supplier analysis, and translate insights into actionable category strategies.
• Demonstrated use of AI tools (e.g., Microsoft Copilot) to enhance productivity, accelerate analysis, summarize contracts and supplier information, and drive efficiency across procurement workflows.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook) to support analysis, reporting, collaboration, and stakeholder communication.

Qualifications

Minimum Level of Education Required: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business, or related field. MBA/post‑graduate qualifications in a related field would be an advantage.

Area of Specialization: Sourcing & Procurement, Information Technology. Manager‑level experience in procurement, ideally with exposure to global operations or the pharmaceutical sector.

• 5+ years of experience in Procurement, Sourcing, or IT‑related roles.
• Familiarity with procurement tools such as sourcing, quotation analysis, contract negotiation, and supplier review; experience with Ariba and SAP is a plus.
• Experience managing category strategies, stakeholder engagement, and supplier relationships.
• Basic understanding of IT contract types and procurement channels.
• Awareness of external supplier environments and relationship models.
• Working knowledge of finance (cost benchmarking, basic supplier audits) and contracting processes.
• Ability to align procurement activities with business priorities and assess implementation risks.
• Experience collaborating in a matrixed business environment.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build effective partnerships with stakeholders.
• Solid analytical, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Comfortable working under deadlines in a dynamic environment.

Travel Requirements

• Periodic travel will be required to various BioMarin sites and supplier locations.

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.