Senior Indirect Procurement & Category Strategy Lead

Authority Brands; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Authority Brands Inc. is seeking a Senior Category Manager, Indirect Procurement to own strategy and execution for unit-level indirect and contract-service categories across our franchise network.

You will lead spend analysis, market research, negotiations, contracting support, and implementation planning to deliver savings and improve service levels. Collaborating with franchisees, Brand teams, Finance and Legal, you will establish category programs, governance, and adoption plans, while

Qualifications

• 5-8 years of progressive experience in indirect procurement, strategic sourcing, or category management, including leading RFPs and supplier negotiations.
• Experience evaluating complex service-pricing structures, transaction fees, service levels, implementation requirements, contractual terms, and supplier performance measures.
• Experience implementing suppliers and programs across multiple business units, field locations, or franchise operations and driving stakeholder adoption.
• Proven category and supplier risk-management experience, including service-continuity planning, supplier due diligence, and proactive identification of emerging risks.
• Understanding of financial reporting and ability to use technology to generate category insights, monitor value delivery, and improve execution.

Responsibilities

• Manage an assigned portfolio of unit-level indirect and contract-service categories, including uniforms and linen, facilities maintenance, janitorial services, pest control, landscaping, waste and recycling, payment processing, fleet-related services, security, telecommunications, and other recurring location-level operating services.
• Develop category strategies incorporating spend, demand, and supply-market analysis; buyer-side Porter's Five Forces and SWOT analyses; sourcing and negotiation levers; supplier segmentation; risk mitigation; implementation requirements; and adoption plans.
• Establish and execute annual category value-delivery plans, including savings, cost avoidance, working-capital improvement, supplier performance, risk reduction, and franchisee adoption objectives.
• Aggregate franchisee demand and purchasing volume to improve pricing, contractual protections, service levels, and supplier accountability while maintaining flexibility for local operating requirements.
• Create and manage category timelines and reporting to confirm negotiated savings and other value are realized at the franchise location level.
• Lead competitive sourcing activities, including Requests for Proposals (RFPs), supplier evaluation, negotiations, award recommendations, and contracting support.
• Evaluate commercial models for recurring services, including unit rates, transaction fees, equipment charges, implementation costs, rebates or incentives, service-level credits, price-adjustment provisions, renewal terms, and termination rights.
• Implement awarded supplier programs across the franchise system, including stakeholder approval, franchisee communications, enrollment, supplier onboarding, training, transition planning, issue resolution, and adoption measurement.
• Partner with cross-functional leaders and franchisees to build support for procurement initiatives and drive utilization of preferred supplier programs.
• Establish supplier governance based on category criticality, including scorecards, business reviews, corrective-action plans, performance monitoring, innovation pipelines, and executive escalation.
• Manage category and supplier risk, including service continuity, supplier coverage and capacity, information-security and data-privacy considerations, payment-card and transaction-processing requirements where applicable, regulatory requirements, and contingency planning.
• Help develop a data-capture system that improves visibility into systemwide purchases and identifies opportunities to leverage scale.
• Support broader procurement and supply-chain initiatives as required.

Skills

Indirect procurement

Strategic sourcing

Category management

RFP management

Supplier negotiations

Supplier risk management

Data analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Presentation skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, finance, engineering, or related discipline

Tools

Microsoft Office

AI tools

Job description

Authority Brands Inc. is seeking a Senior Category Manager, Indirect Procurement to own strategy and execution for unit-level indirect and contract-service categories across our franchise network.

You will lead spend analysis, market research, negotiations, contracting support, and implementation planning to deliver savings and improve service levels. Collaborating with franchisees, Brand teams, Finance and Legal, you will establish category programs, governance, and adoption plans, while