Strategic Category Manager: Goods & Services

DC Water; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

DC Water is seeking a Category Manager, Goods & Services, to lead complex sourcing across multiple categories, including IT, professional services, and construction. The role requires strategic sourcing, supplier negotiations, and cross-functional leadership to deliver value and cost savings while ensuring contract compliance and risk management.

You will mentor junior staff, drive RFx development, manage stakeholder relationships, and present sourcing decisions to senior leadership in a

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 to 7 years of progressive experience in sourcing and contracting.
• Experience developing and implementing category and sourcing strategies.
• Strong expertise in RFx process, proposal evaluation, deal negotiation, and contract negotiation.
• Bachelor's degree in business, technical, program management, vendor management, or contract management from an accredited college or university.

Responsibilities

• Develops, implements, and manages category and sourcing strategies to add value to DC Water, achieve department and business goals, and generate cost savings.
• Independently manages and leads cross-functional teams through the entire sourcing and contracting process, including developing business and technical requirements, understanding the total cost of ownership, the supply base, market drivers, developing customized solicitations, analyzing proposals, conducting supplier viability assessments, supplier selection, and contract negotiations and execution.
• Handles contract, internal and/or supplier issues and escalations.
• Optimizes internal processes, workflows, and interfaces to enhance category-specific productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness.
• Attends Outreach events to cultivate relationships with suppliers and leads efforts to optimize the sourcing process.
• Manages supplier business relationships, including contract and Service Level Agreement negotiations, establishing metrics, ensuring supplier performance, and leading business meetings.
• Manages business relationships with internal customers, including maintaining stakeholder engagement to ensure strategies are aligned with current and future requirements.
• Monitors key performance metrics for sourcing categories, including cost savings, supplier performance, and contract compliance.
• Supports creation, modifying and management of risk management objectives, statements of work, NDAs, RFP/RFI/RFQ requests, and manages dispute resolution for commercial needs.
• Advises on category and sourcing and procurement procedures, policies, business practices and contract interpretation. Enforces compliance with procurement-related program policies and procedures.
• Conducts detailed category segmentation to uncover growth opportunities, drives actionable insights, and serves as a subject matter advisor for assigned categories.
• Promotes and supports DCW initiatives related to supplier diversity, fostering a diverse and inclusive supplier base.
• Provides recommendations to eliminate barriers to strategic and operational success in sourcing and procurement for the assigned categories.
• Presents and explains sourcing decisions and pricing to internal customers, the Director and Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer, and other senior management concerning contract pricing and other contractual matters. Works with General Counsel on specific contract language as required.
• Demonstrates ability to manage multiple simultaneous complex sourcing projects.
• Performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned at the discretion of the immediate supervisor, the Director, and Vice President.

Skills

Category Management

Strategic Sourcing

RFP/RFI/RFQ Development

Contract Negotiation

Program Management

Communication Skills

Stakeholder Management

Analytical Thinking

Problem Solving

MS Word

MS Excel

PowerPoint

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

DC Water is seeking a Category Manager, Goods & Services, to lead complex sourcing across multiple categories, including IT, professional services, and construction. The role requires strategic sourcing, supplier negotiations, and cross-functional leadership to deliver value and cost savings while ensuring contract compliance and risk management.

You will mentor junior staff, drive RFx development, manage stakeholder relationships, and present sourcing decisions to senior leadership in a