Tech Category Strategy & Sourcing Manager

Cencora, Inc.; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 76,000 - 119,000; Full time

Job summary

Cencora, Inc. is seeking a Manager of Technology Category Management to lead category strategies, drive sourcing events, and deliver measurable savings across hardware, software, and services. You will collaborate with IT, finance, and legal to optimize spend and ensure compliant contracts.

The role emphasizes supplier management, contract expertise (MSA, SaaS, cloud), and leadership of analysts to execute strategic initiatives and process improvements within a national/global framework.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Information Technology or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, category management or procurement, with at least 3 years focused on technology categories.
• 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.
• Strong analytical skills; proficiency with spend analytics and sourcing tools (e.g., Ariba, Power BI, Excel).
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to influence business and IT stakeholders.
• Experience guiding or mentoring team members preferred; formal people management not required.
• Experience with MA&D sourcing support, and healthcare, pharma or other regulated industry, is a plus.
• Professional certification (CPSM, CPP, ISM or similar) a plus.

Responsibilities

• Category execution: Manage category strategies, sourcing plans and pipeline priorities for assigned spend areas, aligned with business demand, service, quality and cost objectives; develop the annual plan for assigned spend and contribute to the broader category plan.
• Productivity identification: 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.
• Sourcing and negotiation: 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 elevate 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..), governance practices to ensure compliance to maximize long term value.
• Productivity delivery: 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.
• Stakeholder coordination: 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.
• Budget and savings tracking: Manage budgets, savings tracking and delivery plans for assigned spend using financial, capacity and quality metrics; report performance to the Director and leadership.
• Market insight: Maintain current knowledge of market trends, emerging technologies (e.g., cloud, AI, cybersecurity) and vendor capabilities to inform sourcing approaches and negotiation positions.
• MA&D support: 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.
• Team guidance: Provide day-to-day guidance and coaching to analysts and other team members on analysis, sourcing events and best practices; support clear routines, accountability and escalation paths.

Skills

Analytical skills

Communication & stakeholder mgmt

Education

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

MBA preferred

Tools

Ariba

Power BI

Excel

Job description

Cencora, Inc. is seeking a Manager of Technology Category Management to lead category strategies, drive sourcing events, and deliver measurable savings across hardware, software, and services. You will collaborate with IT, finance, and legal to optimize spend and ensure compliant contracts.

The role emphasizes supplier management, contract expertise (MSA, SaaS, cloud), and leadership of analysts to execute strategic initiatives and process improvements within a national/global framework.