Senior Manager, Technology Category Management

Value Apothecaries; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Cencora in the United States is seeking a Senior Manager, Technology Category Management to own the category strategy and lead cross-functional sourcing for Hardware/Telecom/Cloud, Software, or Technology Services.

The role partners with business and IT stakeholders to capture value, drive productivity, and guide the team in achieving savings, risk reduction, and supplier performance for the enterprise.

Responsibilities

• Category strategy and pipeline: Define and manage category strategies, sourcing plans and pipeline priorities for assigned technology spend; align with business demand and cost objectives.
• Productivity identification: Identify opportunities for cost savings, consolidation, demand management and process improvement; build a prioritized opportunity pipeline.
• Sourcing and negotiation: Lead sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations and awards with support from Sourcing Managers; handle complex commercial issues.
• Productivity delivery: Drive delivery of negotiated productivity and ensure terms are adopted by the business; track benefits to completion.
• Supplier management: Manage supplier performance, contract compliance and risk; conduct business reviews and monitor KPIs.

Job description

Our team members are at the heart of everything we do. At Cencora, we are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures, and every person here is essential to us being able to deliver on that purpose. 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.

Job Details

The Senior Manager, Technology Category Management owns assigned technology spend sourcing activity within one of three categories: Hardware/Telecom/Cloud, Software, or Technology Services. The role develops and executes category strategy, partners with business and IT stakeholders to capture value, and leads and coaches the team supporting the category. This is a critical role in delivering savings, risk reduction and supplier performance for the enterprise.

Responsibilities

• Category strategy and pipeline: Define and manage category strategies, sourcing plans and pipeline priorities for assigned technology spend, aligned with business demand, service, quality and cost objectives; develop the annual category plan and contribute to the five-year strategy and long-range plan.
• Productivity identification: Own category productivity (cost savings and cost avoidance); analyze spend, demand and market data to identify opportunities such as consolidation, demand management, renegotiation, rate and license optimization and process improvement; build and maintain a prioritized opportunity pipeline.
• Sourcing and negotiation: Lead sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations and award recommendations, including select enterprise contracts end-to-end with support from Sourcing Managers, to secure commercial value and category continuity within policy and control requirements; guide the team on complex commercial and contractual issues.
• Productivity delivery: Drive delivery of negotiated productivity through realization, validating savings against baseline spend with Finance, ensuring negotiated terms are implemented and adopted by the business, and tracking benefits to completion.
• Supplier management: Manage supplier performance, contract compliance and issue resolution across the category portfolio, addressing service, quality, risk and supply concerns; run business reviews, track SLAs and KPIs, monitor financial and cyber risk, and drive innovation and sustainability commitments. Lead QBR with strategic technology suppliers to evaluate performance and drive supplier accountability.
• Stakeholder coordination: Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders (business, IT, Legal, Finance, Security, Sourcing and Corporate Program Managers, Regional Sourcing/Country Leads) to align requirements, specifications, timelines and handoffs; serve as primary contact with business, IT and vendor leadership and provide timely status updates with risks and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Financial and performance management: Manage category budgets, savings tracking, resource utilization and short-term delivery plans using financial, capacity and quality metrics; guide team analysis of category performance to improve results.
• Market and technology insight: Maintain current knowledge of market trends, emerging technologies (e.g., cloud, AI, cybersecurity) and vendor capabilities to inform strategy and negotiation positions.
• MA&D and corporate initiatives: Support MA&D and corporate initiatives, including due diligence, synergy identification, Day-1 readiness, vendor rationalization and post-transaction integration or separation.
• Process improvement and standardization: Lead process improvements, onboarding, cross-training and local standardization efforts to stabilize throughput, strengthen quality and support adoption of approved tools and practices; review and update category policies, procedures and playbooks.
• Team leadership: Oversee team performance across onshore and offshore locations; assign and review work, set goals, coach development, and support talent decisions to maintain clear routines, accountability and escalation paths; hold regular team meetings to review progress and remove obstacles.
• AI Adoption: Bridge traditional procurement domain knowledge (strategic sourcing, category management, and procure-to-pay) with scalable AI deployment, driving operational efficiency, cost-out strategies, and automated workflows.
• Director support: Support the Director in stakeholder engagement and relationship management, fostering innovation, collaboration and alignment across functions.

Category Focus

• 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., EDP/MACC, reserved capacity).
• Software: enterprise, SaaS and infrastructure software; licensing models, renewals, true-ups and audits; platform and ecosystem vendors (ERP, security, data, collaboration, AI).
• Technology Services: IT consulting, systems integrati