Lead Category Manager - IT

Motiva Enterprises; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 130,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Motiva Enterprises in Houston, TX is seeking a Lead Category Manager - IT to drive strategic IT sourcing across the business. You will translate needs into actionable sourcing strategies, negotiate with suppliers, and ensure alignment with procurement policies and risk controls.

The role partners with IT, Cyber Security, Finance, Legal, and Supply Chain to optimize total value, drive innovation, and deliver measurable outcomes for Motiva’s technology initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Category Leadership: Provide strategic and tactical sourcing support across assigned categories, aligning activity with business priorities.
• Value and Cost Optimization: Lead economic analysis, cost modeling, and TCO evaluations to support bids and supplier decisions.
• Supplier Relationship Management: Build strong supplier relationships and lead performance management to improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost outcomes.

Job description

At Motiva, our employees' energy, passion, and dedication to excellence are what make us who we are and what allows us to generate energy that makes a house a home, gets us from point A to point B, and enables our health and wellbeing. We invest in every aspect of our employees' lives because, at Motiva, our people matter.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Motiva refines, distributes and markets petroleum products throughout the Americas. The company's Port Arthur Manufacturing Complex in Port Arthur, TX, is comprised of North America's largest refinery with a total throughput of 720,000 barrels per day, the largest base oil plant in the western hemisphere, and an integrated chemical plant. Under exclusive long-term brand licenses with Shell and Phillips 66 (for the 76® brand), Motiva's commercial operations supply more than 12 billion gallons of fuel to customers annually. Motiva is wholly owned by Aramco, one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemicals companies.

Position Overview:

As a key member of Motiva's Supply Chain team, the Lead Category Manager - IT is responsible for the development and execution of category and sourcing strategies across assigned IT procurement categories. This position leads the development and execution of technology category strategies, leveraging commercial expertise, market intelligence, supplier management, and contract negotiations to optimize total value, mitigate risk, drive innovation, and support business objectives.

The Lead Category Manager partners closely with stakeholders across Information Technology, Cyber Security, Finance, Legal, and Supply Chain to translate business needs into actionable sourcing strategies and commercial outcomes.

This role supports Supply Chain as a strategic, value-adding business partner by helping drive value creation, strengthen supplier partnerships, mitigate risk, champion compliance, and deliver outcomes aligned with company policies, procedures, and ethical standards.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Category Leadership

• Provide strategic and tactical sourcing support across assigned operational areas and categories, ensuring that sourcing activity aligns with business priorities.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to business stakeholders, translating business requirements into sourcing strategies, commercial recommendations, and supplier solutions that support enterprise objectives.
• Develop and lead the implementation of sourcing and category strategies that support business needs and align with approved category methodologies and overall business objectives.
• Lead end-to-end strategic sourcing initiatives from opportunity identification through contract execution, delivering measurable value through supplier selection, commercial optimization, and risk mitigation.
• Conduct spend analysis, market analysis, supplier capability assessments, and benchmarking to identify opportunities to improve value delivery, service levels, and supply base optimization.
• Develop negotiation strategies supported by market intelligence, supplier analysis, business requirements, commercial leverage, and total cost of ownership considerations.
• Track category performance measures, sourcing metrics, and operational KPIs to evaluate effectiveness and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Maintain awareness of suppler markets, industry trends, pricing models, commercial structures, and emerging risks impacting assigned categories.

Value and Cost Optimization

• Identify and execute value chain initiatives that drive cost competitiveness, service performance, and greater overall value across assigned categories
• Partner with stakeholders to evaluate demand drivers, challenge requirements (as appropriate), and identify opportunities for optimization (standardization, consolidation, scope refinement, .
• Conduct economic analysis, cost modeling, and total cost of ownership analysis to support bid evaluations, sourcing decisions, and business case development.
• Develop credible business cases and return on investment models supported by market data, commercial considerations, and relevant business and technical factors.
• Proactively identify opportunities for cost savings, cost avoidance, risk reduction, and enhanced value delivery across the supply base.
• Track and report value delivery, including savings, cost avoidance, risk reduction, supplier performance improvement, working capital impact, and service-level improvements.
• undefined

Supplier Relationship Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers to ensure reliability, quality, innovation, and cost effectiveness across the supply base.
• Lead supplier performance management efforts, including KPI reviews, issue resolution, and continuous improvement initiatives to improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost outcomes.
• Apply appropriate supplier performance management strategies for strategic, critical, and high risk suppliers per Motiva Supply Chain policy.
• Negotiate and re-