Global Category Manager

Guardian Industries; Auburn Hills (MI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Retirement plan

Paid time off

Education assistance

Parental leave

Job summary

Guardian Glass in Auburn Hills, MI is seeking a Global Category Manager to lead strategic sourcing and supplier relationships across engineering, operations, and finance. You will shape long‑term category strategies, drive negotiations, and align contracting with business objectives.

The role requires experience in capital equipment or project‑based sourcing, strong stakeholder influence, and the ability to manage complex, cross‑functional initiatives in a global environment.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, category management, or a related commercial discipline.
• Experience developing commercial strategies and leading supplier negotiations and contracts.
• Working knowledge of total cost of ownership, lifecycle economics, or investment‑case analysis.
• Experience influencing and communicating across technical, operational, financial, and legal stakeholders in a global or matrixed organization.

Responsibilities

• Partner with stakeholders to develop and refine long‑term category and supplier strategies.
• Coordinate with technical, financial, legal, and commercial stakeholders to align specifications, proposals, and contracts.
• Lead commercial and contracting strategies for assigned categories, including capital equipment and project scopes.
• Develop supplier qualification, performance, and relationship‑management approaches.
• Identify, communicate, and mitigate supply, commercial, compliance, and continuity risks.
• Build total-cost-of-ownership models to support investment decisions.
• Lead major negotiations and enable regional sourcing teams to execute category strategies.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Supplier negotiations

Total cost of ownership

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Your Job

We are looking for a Global Category Manager to join our team in Auburn Hills, MI!

Our Team

You will join Guardian's Strategic Sourcing & Procurement team and partner across functions and regions with Engineering, Operations, Maintenance, Finance, Legal, project teams, and Sourcing. You will provide strategic direction and commercial leadership while creating clear accountability and enabling others to contribute their expertise.

What You Will Do

• Partner with stakeholders to develop and continually refine long‑term category and supplier strategies that support evolving business priorities.
• Bring technical, operational, financial, legal, and commercial stakeholders together to resolve gaps between specifications, supplier proposals, and contracts before award.
• Lead commercial and contracting strategies for assigned categories, including capital equipment and project scopes.
• Develop supplier qualification, performance, and relationship‑management approaches that strengthen future sourcing decisions.
• Identify, communicate, and mitigate supply, commercial, compliance, and continuity risks with appropriate contractual protections.
• Build total-cost-of-ownership and lifecycle-economic models to support repair, replacement, and investment decisions.
• Lead major negotiations and enable regional sourcing and procurement teams to execute category strategies through clear priorities, standards, and handoffs.

Who You Are (Basic Qualifications)

• Experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, category management, or a related commercial discipline, including capital equipment or project‑based sourcing.
• Experience developing commercial strategies and leading supplier negotiations and contracts.
• Working knowledge of total cost of ownership, lifecycle economics, or investment‑case analysis.
• Experience influencing and communicating across technical, operational, financial, and legal stakeholders in a global or matrixed organization.

What Will Put You Ahead

• Experience supporting capital equipment from specification and sourcing through contracting, acceptance testing, and commissioning.
• Experience across direct, indirect, and capital spend categories.
• Experience developing supplier qualification, performance, or relationship‑management programs.

Hiring Philosophy

All Koch companies value diversity of thought, perspectives, aptitudes, experiences, and backgrounds. We are Military Ready and Second Chance employers. Learn more about our hiring philosophy here.

Who We Are

As a Koch company, Guardian Glass is one of the world's largest manufacturers of float, value‑added and fabricated glass products and solutions. We produce high‑performance glass for architectural, residential, interior, transportation and technical glass applications. You'll find our glass in homes, offices and cars and in some of the world's most iconic projects.

At Koch, employees are empowered to do what they do best to make life better. Learn how our business philosophy helps employees unleash their potential while creating value for themselves and the company.

At Koch companies, we are entrepreneurs. This means we openly challenge the status quo, find new ways to create value and get rewarded for our individual contributions. Any compensation range provided for a role is an estimate determined by available market data. The actual amount may be higher or lower than the range provided considering each candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and geographic location. If you have questions, please speak to your recruiter about the flexibility and detail of our compensation philosophy.

Our Benefits

Our benefits plan includes - medical, dental, vision, flexible spending and health savings accounts, life insurance, ADD, disability, retirement, paid vacation/time off, educational assistance, and may also include infertility assistance, paid parental leave and adoption assistance.

• medical
• dental
• vision
• flexible spending and health savings accounts
• life insurance
• ADD
• disability
• retirement
• paid vacation/time off
• educational assistance
• may also include infertility assistance
• paid parental leave and adoption assistance

Specific eligibility criteria is set by the applicable Summary Plan Description, policy or guideline and benefits may vary by geographic region. If you have questions on what benefits apply to you, please speak to your recruiter.

Additionally, everyone has individual work and personal needs. We seek to enable the best work environment that helps you and the business work together to produce superior results.

Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status. Except where prohibited by state law, some offers of employment are conditioned upon successfully passing a drug test. This employer uses E‑Verify. (For Illinois E‑Verify information click here, aqui, or tu).