Strategic Sourcing Managing Director

3M HEALTHCARE; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 113,400 - 189,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive benefits

Leadership role

Job summary

CNA is seeking a senior procurement leader in Chicago to identify and implement third-party vendor solutions that support the Claims strategy and operational excellence.

The role acts as a trusted advisor to Claims leadership, delivering innovative solutions, market insights, and cost- saving initiatives while reducing risk and improving customer outcomes.

Qualifications

• Senior-level leadership in strategic sourcing and contracting.
• Ability to influence suppliers and stakeholders effectively.
• Experience leveraging auction tools for optimal outcomes.
• Strong data-driven decision making and risk management.

Responsibilities

• Directly manages a team with coaching and development responsibilities.
• Lead market research, benchmarking, and cost-trend analysis to set savings targets.
• Define business requirements and develop strategic category plans with cross-functional teams.
• Develop sourcing strategies and negotiate favorable contracts with suppliers.

Skills

People leadership

Strategic sourcing

Negotiation

Market intelligence

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management

Communication & presentation

Education

Bachelor’s Degree with Master’s preferred in Business/Operations/CS

Tools

Auction tools/strategies

Job description

Overview

At CNA, we strive to create a culture in which people know they matter and are part of something important, ensuring the abilities of all employees are used to their fullest potential. This role serves as a people leader responsible for identifying, designing, and implementing third‑party vendor solutions that enable the Claims strategy and operational excellence. The leader acts as a trusted advisor to Claims leadership, proactively bringing forward innovative solutions, emerging capabilities, and market insights that enhance customer outcomes, improve efficiency, and drive competitive advantage.

Responsibilities

• Directs the work activities and has full management responsibility for the performance, coaching and development of a team.
• Effectively communicates and shares pertinent and timely information to employees by holding team meetings, regular 1:1 discussions, reinforcing leadership messages and providing shared access to company process and protocol documentation.
• Leads research, gathers market intelligence and performs benchmarking analysis to understand the supply market and cost trends and develop an annual savings target for assigned business groups and categories.
• Establishes and leads cross‑functional teams of key stakeholders to collaboratively define business requirements, develop strategic category plans and execute initiatives that create value and reduce risk.
• Develops and drives negotiating sourcing strategies across assigned business units and categories, resulting in selection of the most appropriate strategy for the service or commodity.
• Identifies, develops and leads the execution of sourcing strategies and improvement initiatives to reduce cost, improve quality and minimize risk.
• Presents category strategy analysis and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Liaises with the Law function for the negotiation of large agreements for favorable contractual terms and key business owners aligned to policies and control areas for risk mitigation.
• Partners with an outsourced third‑party provider to provide strategic sourcing and contract management services to CNA, as needed.
• Builds strategic relationships with business leaders and external suppliers/agencies to drive results and influence business decisions with a focus on becoming a ‘trusted advisor’.
• Builds a robust understanding of the business’ strategies and purchase requirements across the enterprise in assigned categories to leverage sourcing and contracting opportunities that create the most value.
• Influences business leaders to enable the Procurement team to drive successful sourcing events, inclusive of combining multiple business needs into a single enterprise sourcing event to leverage the larger spend/opportunity and, where applicable, the ability to standardize across suppliers and services.
• Reporting relationship: Typically AVP and above.

Qualifications

• Ability to effectively lead, coach and develop a team.
• Ability to achieve results by taking a proactive long‑term view of business goals and objectives.
• Senior‑level knowledge in providing direction, consultation and recommendations in the area of strategic sourcing and contracting.
• Seasoned supplier and stakeholder influence and negotiation skills, including the ability to conduct balanced negotiations in the event a third party is both a supplier and customer of CNA.
• Experience leveraging auction tools/strategies for best outcomes.
• Recognized as a collaborative leader with internal and external partners.
• Develops team consensus based on compelling data‑based analyses against business requirements and organizational imperatives.
• Builds positive relationships with suppliers best positioned to provide CNA with goods and services at the lowest total cost of ownership given risk and quality requirements.
• Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills. Conveys information clearly and succinctly to all levels within the organization and external audiences, including effectively communicating the sourcing team’s vision, processes and value proposition.
• Ability to develop tactical and long‑term strategies.
• Excellent project management, negotiation and change management skills.
• Excellent problem‑solving and conflict resolution skills.
• Results‑driven and recognizes commitments and organizes the team to deliver against assigned targets.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree with Master’s preferred in Business, Operations Management, Computer Science, or related discipline.
• Typically a minimum of ten years related work experience.

Compensation & Benefits

• In certain jurisdictions, CNA is legally required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role. The national base pay range for this level is $97,000 to $189,000 annually.
• CNA offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package to help employees – and their family members – achieve their physical, financial, emotional and social wellbeing goals.

EEO & Accommodation

• CNA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in the recruitment process. To request an accommodation, please contact [e-mail].