Director, Technology Strategic Sourcing & Category Management

Mwiah; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Mwiah is seeking a senior sourcing leader to drive technology category strategies and savings across a global portfolio. You will own the sub-category roadmap, run end-to-end RFx events, and partner with technology, legal, and finance to secure favorable terms and compliance.

The role requires deep expertise in strategic sourcing, vendor management, and multi-year planning, with demonstrated success managing large complex contracts and cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in a related field.
• 10+ years in strategic sourcing, procurement, and category management.
• 4+ years in technology or data sourcing; 5+ years in management.

Responsibilities

• Directs technology category strategies, sourcing plans, renewal calendars, and pipeline priorities.
• Leads sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations, and award recommendations.
• Directs supplier performance, contract compliance, and issue resolution across the portfolio.
• Manages category budgets, savings tracking, and delivery plans with metrics.
• Owns sub-category roadmaps, in-year execution, and multi-year strategy.
• Partner with Technology, Legal, Finance, and business leaders to align requirements and terms.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Negotiation

Category management

Vendor management

Financial modeling

Stakeholder management

Data-driven decisions

SaaS/Cloud knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in business / supply chain / CS / IS

MBA or master's in related field preferred

Tools

SAP Ariba

Coupa

Job description

* Directs technology category strategies, sourcing plans, renewal calendars, and pipeline priorities for assigned spend areas in alignment with business and technology demand, service, quality, and cost objectives.* Leads sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations, and award recommendations to secure commercial value and category continuity within policy and control requirements.* Directs supplier performance, contract compliance, and issue resolution to address service, quality, risk, and continuity concerns across the assigned portfolio.* Manages category budgets, savings tracking, resource utilization, and delivery plans using financial, consumption, and quality metrics.* Oversees team performance, assigns and reviews work, coaches development, and supports talent decisions to maintain clear routines, accountability, and escalation paths.* Acts as the single accountable owner for the assigned sub-category, including its roadmap, in-year execution plan, and multi-year strategy.* Defines the sub-category profile, spend baseline, supplier landscape, and risk assessment, and keeps them current as demand shifts.* Operates within the category-based model rather than a vendor-tier model, segmenting suppliers by value, risk, and criticality instead of by relationship status.* Supports transition from the legacy vendor-tier structure, including scope clarification, knowledge transfer, and adoption of new ways of working within the assigned area.* Coordinates with peer category owners, including the MA&D category, where suppliers, agreements, or requirements overlap.* Serves as the defined sourcing business partner to assigned Technology leaders and their teams for all requirements within the sub-category.* Runs a standing cadence with business partners to capture project plans, budgets, and demand signals ahead of need, and to flag renewals with enough runway to preserve leverage.* Maintains a rolling demand and renewal forecast for the sub-category so purchases are planned and proactively managed rather than handled tactically on arrival.* Aggregates and challenges requirements across teams to reduce duplication, consolidate overlapping suppliers and licenses, and right-size specifications and consumption before sourcing begins.* Owns assigned vendor relationships within the sub-category, including business reviews, performance discussions, roadmap alignment, and day-to-day escalation.* Builds and maintains the category plan, including sourcing approach, supplier strategy, savings targets, and sequencing of initiatives.* Runs competitive sourcing events end to end, including RFx design, supplier evaluation against business requirements, technical specifications and security standards, scenario analysis, and award recommendation.* Identifies alternative supplier models, licensing and consumption constructs, and demand management opportunities that reduce total cost of ownership.* Maintains market and benchmark intelligence for the sub-category, including rate, unit price, and consumption comparisons.* Leads negotiations for assigned agreements, securing commercial and legal terms that optimize total cost of ownership, quality, and service delivery.* Negotiates commercial constructs with Legal support, including master agreements, statements of work, service levels and credits, subscription and license terms, renewal, true-up, and termination provisions.* Coordinates with Information Security, Privacy, and Risk on data protection, audit rights, and regulatory requirements before award.* Escalates material commercial risks, exceptions, and supplier disputes with a clear recommendation.* Tracks and reports category spend, savings pipeline, and realized value, and validates outcomes with Finance and business partners.* Builds cost models, bid analyses, and business cases that support fact-based recommendations and negotiations.* Manages unplanned high-spend demand and major spot buys within policy and control requirements, and works to reduce their frequency through better forward planning.* Partners with Technology, Information Security, Legal, Finance, and business stakeholders to align requirements, specifications, timelines, and handoffs, and provides timely status updates with risks and recommendations.* Secures stakeholder adoption of category strategies and awarded agreements, driving contract implementation, compliance, and value capture.* Supports technology sourcing needs arising from mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and integration activity for the assigned sub-category.* Applies procurement governance, delegation of authority, and code of conduct requirements consistently across category activity.* Drives process improvement, standardization, onboarding, and cross-training to stabilize throughput and strengthen quality.* Uses AI and automation in sourcing workflows where approved to reduce administrative effort and increase time on strategic category work.* Supports supplier diversity, ESG, and responsible sourcing objectives within the category supply base.* Maintains accurate data in procurement systems, including sourcing, contract lifecycle, and spend platforms, so category and demand reporting is reliable.* Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, computer science, information systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience required.* Advanced degree (MBA, or master's in supply chain, computer science, or a related field) preferred.* 10+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, and category management, including 4+ years in technology or data sourcing, or a related field required.* 5+ years of experience in a management capacity required.* Demonstrated track record negotiating and managing complex technology supplier contracts and portfolios of $50M+ in annual spend required.* Experience owning a defined category or sub-category within a category-based procurement or category management operating model required.* Experience acting as a procurement business partner to technology or business leaders, including building forward demand and renewal visibility, preferred.* Experience in a large, matrixed global organization preferred.* Certification in procurement, supply management, or project management (such as CPSM, CIPS, or PMP) preferred.* Hands-on expertise in strategic sourcing and contract development for technology and data categories, including SaaS, cloud services, infrastructure, IT services, telecom, packaged software, cyber security, data solutions, and emerging technologies.* Ability to build and maintain a category roadmap covering both near-term execution and multi-year strategy.* Strong negotiation skills with a working command of commercial and legal terms in technology agreements.* Skilled at business partnering, including running a demand and renewal cadence with stakeholders and influencing requirements early.* Knowledge of vendor management, compliance, governance, and risk management frameworks, including third-party and cyber risk requirements.* Knowledge of the technology supplier landscape, licensing and consumption models, and industry trends relevant to the assigned categories.* Ability to translate business and technology requirements into category strategies, sourcing plans, and executable initiatives.* Strong financial and analytical skills, including cost modeling, bid analysis, ROI evaluation, and data-driven recommendations.* Effective communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence without authority across functions.* Ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives to deadline in a matrixed global environment, and comfort operating while an operating model is still maturing.* Ability to establish spend baselines, category profiles, risk assessments, controls, performance measures, and KPI reporting.* Proficiency in procurement tools (such as SAP Ariba or Coupa), contract lifecycle