Director, IT Sourcing & Category Management

Intuitive; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive in Sunnyvale is seeking a Director of IT Sourcing & Category Management to lead global IT procurement strategy, supplier performance, and risk management. You will partner with the CIO and senior IT leaders to drive cost savings and value creation across software, cloud, hardware, and services.

You will build and mentor a high-performing team, shape category roadmaps, govern supplier relationships, and champion procurement transformation across the organization, delivering measurable

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading global IT procurement and category management.
• Proven track record in strategic sourcing across software, cloud, hardware, telecom, and services.
• Strong leadership and people development skills.
• Ability to partner with CIO and senior IT leaders.
• Risk management and supplier performance optimization experience.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute global category strategies across IT spend categories.
• Create multi-year category roadmaps aligned with objectives.
• Lead strategic sourcing from identification through contract and supplier management.
• Drive procurement best practices, policy adoption, and process compliance.
• Partner with IT leadership to align procurement with technology plans.
• Identify opportunities to optimize spend and manage risk.
• Lead, mentor, and develop the sourcing team.
• Establish organizational priorities, performance expectations, and development plans.
• Drive workforce planning and workload balancing.
• Foster accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Conduct performance reviews and talent development.
• Establish executive supplier relationships and governance.
• Lead executive business reviews and supplier performance management.
• Identify and mitigate supplier risks including cybersecurity.
• Drive preferred supplier strategies and consolidation.
• Represent procurement in strategic planning and major initiatives.
• Lead negotiations for software, cloud, hardware, and services.
• Partner with Legal, Security, and Finance during contracting.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Category management

Supplier relationships

Team leadership

Procurement governance

Contract negotiations

Tools

Contract lifecycle management software

ERP systems

Spend analytics tools

Job description

Job Description

Primary Function of Position

The Director, IT Sourcing & Category Management is responsible for leading Intuitive's global IT procurement strategy, category management, supplier management, and sourcing operations across software, cloud, hardware, telecommunications, digital services, and professional services. This role partners closely with the CIO, Head of Digital Products, executive IT leadership, and key cross-functional stakeholders to develop category strategies, optimize supplier performance, manage risk, deliver cost savings, and support business growth and innovation.

The Director will lead a team of sourcing professionals while driving procurement transformation initiatives, operational excellence, and strategic supplier partnerships that align with company objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy & Procurement Leadership

• Develop and execute global category strategies across IT spend categories, including software, cloud infrastructure, hardware, telecom, digital services, and professional services.
• Create and maintain multi-year category roadmaps aligned with business objectives, market trends, and technology priorities.
• Lead strategic sourcing initiatives from opportunity identification through negotiation, contracting, implementation, and supplier management.
• Drive enterprise-wide procurement best practices, policy adoption, and process compliance.
• Partner with IT leadership to align procurement strategies with technology investment plans and organizational priorities.
• Identify opportunities to optimize spend, reduce risk, improve supplier performance, and enhance business value.

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of sourcing and category management professionals.
• Establish organizational priorities, performance expectations, and development plans for team members.
• Drive workforce planning, resource allocation, and workload balancing across sourcing initiatives.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and customer service.
• Conduct performance reviews, coaching discussions, succession planning, and talent development activities.

Supplier & Relationship Management

• Establish and manage executive-level supplier relationships with strategic technology partners.
• Develop supplier segmentation and governance strategies to ensure supplier performance aligns with business objectives.
• Lead executive business reviews and oversee supplier performance management processes.
• Identify and mitigate supplier-related risks, including financial, operational, cybersecurity, compliance, and business continuity risks.
• Drive preferred supplier strategies and supplier consolidation initiatives where appropriate.

Stakeholder Management & Business Partnership

• Serve as the primary procurement business partner for CIO, Head of Digital Products, and other key executive leadership and functional stakeholders.
• Build trusted relationships with executive leaders to influence sourcing strategies and investment decisions.
• Facilitate alignment between procurement, IT, Finance, Legal, Information Security, and business stakeholders.
• Support business case development, supplier evaluations, and executive decision-making processes.
• Represent procurement in strategic planning discussions and major technology initiatives.

Commercial Management & Negotiations

• Lead high value and complex supplier negotiations for enterprise software, cloud services, hardware, telecommunications, digital platforms, and technology services.
• Develop negotiation strategies that optimize commercial outcomes while mitigating business and contractual risk.
• Partner with Legal, Information Security, Privacy, Finance, and other stakeholders throughout the contracting lifecycle.
• Ensure contract compliance and identify opportunities to improve commercial terms and supplier accountability.
• Drive achievement of annual savings, cost avoidance, and value creation targets.

Procurement Transformation & Continuous Improvement

• Lead initiatives that enhance procurement tools, processes, governance, and operational effectiveness.
• Drive adoption of procurement technologies, sourcing tools, contract lifecycle management, and intake/orchestration platforms.
• Establish metrics, reporting, and performance dashboards to measure procurement outcomes and category performance.
• Promote continuous improvement initiatives that increase efficiency, transparency, and stakeholder satisfaction.