Global Category Lead, Full-Service CRO - Associate Director, Global Procurement R&D

1001 Amgen Inc.; Newark (NJ); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Amgen Inc. in Newark, NJ, seeks a Global Category Lead, Full-Service CRO - Associate Director, Global Procurement R&D to drive category strategies for outsourced clinical trials. You will partner with R&D, Clinical, Regulatory, and Compliance teams to ensure alignment with FDA/EMA standards and negotiate favorable terms with CRO vendors.

The role focuses on strategic sourcing, supplier governance, and delivering cost-efficient, compliant procurement outcomes across multi-year programs.

Responsibilities

• Analyze internal demand and external market data to build category plans and cost reduction initiatives.
• Lead category management for Full-Service CRO across all phases of outsourced clinical trials.
• Partner with R&D, Clinical, Regulatory, and Compliance to align with standards.
• Negotiate contracts, amendments, and terms with vendors to balance innovation and compliance.
• Provide governance frameworks with Program Leads and Study Teams to ensure high-quality delivery.
• Monitor market trends and regulatory developments to inform sourcing strategies.

Skills

Category management

Sourcing strategy

Contract negotiation

Vendor management

Cross-functional collaboration

Compliance & risk management

Job description

Career Category Finance Job Description Join Amgen’s Mission of Serving Patients At Amgen, if you feel like you’re part of something bigger, it’s because you are. Our shared mission—to serve patients living with serious illnesses—drives all that we do. Since 1980, we’ve helped pioneer the world of biotech in our fight against the world’s toughest diseases. Amgen is advancing a broad and deep pipeline and portfolio of medicines to treat heart disease, obesity and obesity-related conditions, rare diseases, inflammatory conditions and cancer. As a member of the Amgen team, you’ll help make a lasting impact on the lives of patients as we research, manufacture, and deliver innovative medicines to help people live longer, fuller happier lives. Our award-winning culture is collaborative, innovative, and science based. If you have a passion for challenges and the opportunities that lay within them, you’ll thrive as part of the Amgen team. Join us and transform the lives of patients while transforming your career.

Global Category Lead, Full-Service CRO - Associate Director, Global Procurement R&D

What you will do

Let’s do this. Let’s change the world. We are seeking an individual who thrives in ambiguity, capable of driving category management initiatives with strategic vision and precision. You will serve as the Global Category Manager and lead the global category strategy for Full-Service CRO. This includes developing multi-year category strategies that address business needs while achieving best practice outcomes, building enterprise-wide business partnerships, and activating Procurement resources to drive strategic sourcing results to reduce costs and enable top-line performance.

Responsibilities

• Anaylizing internal demand (using Business Partner Management processes), external market data, spend & specifications to produce category plans aligned with Business objectives and cost reduction / sourcing initiates.
• As a Category Manager, you will play a pivotal role in managing the innovation agenda of Procurement.
• Lead category management for Full-Service CRO, supporting all phases of fully outsourced clinical trials, including ClinPharm, Ph I-IV, Observational Research, and inherited studies resulting from M&A activity.
• Partner with R&D, Clinical, Regulatory, and Compliance teams to ensure alignment with FDA, EMA, HIPAA, and GCP standards.
• Negotiate contracts, amendments, and competitive commercial terms, rates, and discounts with vendors supporting fully outsourced clinical trials, balancing innovation with compliance & risk, while positioning Amgen and stakeholders for success.
• Partner with Program Leads, Study Teams, and R&D Supplier Governance to enable supplier governance frameworks, drive high-quality delivery and performance, and ensure effective & timely issue resolution.
• Monitor market trends & intelligence, including the evolving digital health regulations, and integrate compliance, quality, and risk mitigation into sourcing strategies.
• Provide strategic oversight as the lead for the Full-Service CRO category and sourcing, ensuring alignment between category strategies and Amgen’s evolving business needs.
• Act as a trusted advisor to ensure that procurement initiatives are aligned with broader organizational objectives.
• Guide and facilitate collaboration across cross-functional teams and regional stakeholders, ensuring that procurement strategies meet the diverse