Global Plastics & Tooling Category Leader

Abbott; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 99,000 - 199,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free health benefits

Excellent retirement plan

Tuition reimbursement

Education benefit (FreeU)

Career development

Job summary

Abbott, a global healthcare leader, seeks a Technical Category Manager, Plastics & Tooling, to develop and execute global category strategies across plastics components, injection molding, and tooling.

You will be the technical SME, leading cross-functional teams with Engineering, R&D, Operations, and Procurement to align requirements with business goals and drive tooling strategy, supplier readiness, and lifecycle management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in plastics/related technical discipline.
• 7+ years of plastics engineering, injection molding, tooling, or related experience.
• Understanding of injection molding processes, tool design, and plastic component manufacturing.
• Knowledge of polymer materials, cost drivers, and tooling economics.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives with engineering, operations, and procurement stakeholders.
• Proven ability to develop and execute strategic category plans delivering measurable results.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, influence, project management, and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute global category strategy for plastic components, injection molding, tooling, and related processes (manage ~$800M spend).
• Serve as technical SME in plastics engineering, polymer materials, tooling, and component manufacturing.
• Lead supplier strategy including market assessments, supplier selection, negotiations, contracting and performance management.
• Develop enterprise-wide tooling strategy focusing on standardization, governance, asset lifecycle, capacity planning.
• Partner with Procurement, Engineering, R&D, Operations, Manufacturing and Suppliers to align requirements with business goals.
• Drive supplier innovation, DFM, early supplier engagement, and best-in-class manufacturing practices.

Skills

Communication

Negotiation

Influence

Project management

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Plastics Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Polymer Engineering

Tools

Moldflow

Mold design

Job description

Abbott, a global healthcare leader, seeks a Technical Category Manager, Plastics & Tooling, to develop and execute global category strategies across plastics components, injection molding, and tooling.

You will be the technical SME, leading cross-functional teams with Engineering, R&D, Operations, and Procurement to align requirements with business goals and drive tooling strategy, supplier readiness, and lifecycle management.