Manager, Technology Category Management

Cencora; Clifton (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Training and development

Mentorship programs

Volunteer activities

Job summary

Cencora, Inc. seeks a Manager, Technology Category Management to lead category strategy and sourcing for Hardware/Telecom/Cloud, Software, or Technology Services. You will negotiate, manage contracts, and drive cost productivity while aligning with business and IT stakeholders.

Responsibilities include leading sourcing events, evaluating suppliers, and ensuring contract compliance. You will monitor SLAs, risk, and savings, and mentor analysts while coordinating cross-functional teams in a large

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Information Technology or related field; MBA preferred.
• 5+ years in strategic sourcing, category management or procurement, with 3+ years in technology categories.
• Proven success negotiating technology contracts and delivering measurable savings.
• Knowledge of technology commercial models (licensing, subscription, SOW/T&M).
• Strong communication and stakeholder management; no formal people management required.

Responsibilities

• Lead category strategies, sourcing plans and pipeline priorities for assigned spend areas.
• Lead sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations and award recommendations.
• Manage contracts within delegated authority and escalate complex issues.
• Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders to align requirements, timelines and handoffs.
• Maintain knowledge of market trends and vendor capabilities to inform sourcing.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Category management

Vendor negotiations

Stakeholder management

Power BI

Excel

Ariba

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Information Technology or related field

MBA preferred

Tools

Ariba

Power BI

Excel

Job description

If you want to make a difference at the center of health, come join our innovative company and help us improve the lives of people and animals everywhere. The Manager, Technology Category Management executes category strategy and sourcing activity for assigned technology spend within one of three categories: Hardware/Telecom/Cloud, Software, or Technology Services. The role identifies, negotiates and delivers productivity, manages supplier relationships, and partners with business and IT stakeholders to capture value. This role is critical to delivering savings, risk reduction and supplier performance for the enterprise.
Manage category strategies, sourcing plans and pipeline priorities for assigned spend areas, aligned with business demand, service, quality and cost objectives; Analyze spend, demand and market data to identify productivity (cost savings and cost avoidance) opportunities such as consolidation, demand management, renegotiation, rate and license optimization and process improvement; maintain the opportunity pipeline for assigned spend.

~ Lead sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations and award recommendations to secure commercial value and category continuity within policy and control requirements; manage contracts within delegated authority and escalate complex or high-value commercial and contractual issues to the Director.

~ Contract expertise: MSA, Saas, Cloud Agreements and demonstrate expertise in technology contract terms (pricing models, licensing rights, IP etc..), Deliver negotiated productivity through realization, validating savings against baseline spend with Finance, driving implementation and business adoption of negotiated terms, and tracking benefits to completion.

~ Supplier management: Manage supplier performance, contract compliance and issue resolution to address service, quality, risk and supply concerns; run supplier reviews, track SLAs and KPIs, and flag financial and cyber risk.

~ Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders (business, IT, Legal, Finance, Security, Regional Sourcing/Country Leads) to align requirements, specifications, timelines and handoffs; serve as primary contact with business and vendor counterparts for assigned spend and provide timely status updates with risks and recommendations to the Director.

~ Manage budgets, savings tracking and delivery plans for assigned spend using financial, capacity and quality metrics; report performance to the Director and leadership.

~ Maintain current knowledge of market trends, emerging technologies (e.g., cloud, AI, cybersecurity) and vendor capabilities to inform sourcing approaches and negotiation positions.

~ Support MA&D and corporate initiatives, including vendor overlap and synergy analysis, due diligence, Day-1 readiness and post-transaction integration or separation.

~ Process improvement: Contribute to process improvements, onboarding, cross-training and local standardization efforts; follow and help maintain category policies, procedures and playbooks, and support adoption of approved tools and practices.

~ Provide day-to-day guidance and coaching to analysts and other team members on analysis, sourcing events and best practices; Hardware / Telecom / Cloud: end-user and data center hardware, networking, telecom and carrier services, public cloud and hosting (IaaS/PaaS), consumption and commitment models (e.g., Software: enterprise, SaaS and infrastructure software; platform and ecosystem vendors (ERP, security, data, collaboration, AI).

~ Technology Services: IT consulting, systems integration, application development and managed services, staff augmentation, outsourcing and offshore delivery models.

Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Information Technology or related field; MBA preferred.

~5+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, category management or procurement, with at least 3 years focused on technology categories; experience in the assigned category (hardware/telecom/cloud, software or technology services) required.

~ Demonstrated success negotiating technology contracts and delivering measurable savings.

~ Working knowledge of technology commercial models (licensing, subscription, consumption, SOW/T&M/fixed-price, SLAs) and related risk, data privacy and security considerations.

~ Ariba, Power BI, Excel).

~ Strong communication and stakeholder management skills; formal people management not required.

~ In addition to traditional offerings like medical, dental, and vision care, we also provide a comprehensive suite of benefits that focus on the physical, emotional, financial, and social aspects of wellness. This encompasses support for working families, which may include backup dependent care, adoption assistance, infertility coverage, family building support, behavioral health solutions, paid parental leave, and paid caregiver leave. To encourage your personal growth, we also offer a variety of training programs, professional development resources, and opportunities to participate in mentorship programs, employee resource groups, volunteer activities, and much more. Full time Salary Range*
$Cencora is committed to providing equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or membership in any other class protected by federal, state or local law.
Therefore, harassment is prohibited and all matters related to recruiting, training, compensation, benefits, promotions and transfers comply with equal opportunity principles and are non-discriminatory.
Cencora is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the employment process which are consistent with legal requirements.