JOB PURPOSE
The Category Manager is responsible for overseeing and optimizing the procurement and management of specific product or service categories within the organization. This role entails strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management and cost optimization to ensure the efficient delivery of goods or services that meet quality standards while adhering to cost and timeline requirements.
Category Manager manages end-to-end category strategy and strategic sourcing activities, including supplier selection, qualification and relationship management. They lead cross-functional collaboration to optimize cost, quality and supply chain efficiency and drive market analysis, negotiations and contract management to ensure a competitive advantage and long-term value creation.
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
- Develop and plan comprehensive category strategies across supply management through market trends, business needs, supplier strengths, and data-driven performance insights to support the company's evolving business needs and enhance the overall value chain and competitiveness of supply management operations.
- Collaborate and plan with cross-functional teams to align category plans through streamlined collaboration from early bidding to project execution, ensuring a consistent, realistic, and robust strategy that supports successful project delivery and procurement efficiency.
- Establish and implement strategic partnerships with key supplier(s) through e.g, long-term collaboration, Price Agreements, Pre-Bid Agreements or Tariff Agreements to achieve procurement efficiency and maintaining cost effectiveness.
- Manage and review market research and analysis by identify market trends, demand forecast, supply market analysis and opportunities for price benchmarking improvement.
- Analyse and develop a robust supplier database and market trending by leveraging available market intelligence data e.g., commodity indexes, to serve as a reliable reference for developing category plans and ensuring data-driven decision making.
- Collaborate and check mitigation strategies by continuously monitoring market indicators and assessing potential risks in anticipation of dynamic market conditions, to minimize the company's risk exposure and ensure supply continuity.
- Develop and monitor the selection of suppliers by evaluating alignment with strategic goals, develop the supplier base, and identify new suppliers through market research and stakeholder collaboration to enhance supply chain deliverables while maintaining quality and competitiveness across all project phases.
- Create, maintain, and update the supplier database by regularly reviewing supplier performance and market changes, for better alignment with the category strategy to support effective procurement decisions.
- Manage and negotiate contract and price negotiations with supplier(s) alongside the commercial task force by preparing negotiation strategies and leveraging market data to secure favourable terms and conditions that optimize cost savings and mitigate risks.
- Collaborate with the category managers and procurement/subcontracting team to develop comprehensive price analyses e.g., negotiation fact-pact, by gathering market data and conducting cost benchmarking to ensure competitive pricing and optimize value for the company.
- Build and maintain strong, strategic relationships with suppliers, prioritizing critical and high-value categories, by monitoring regular performance assessments and implementing improvement plans as needed to ensure long-term partnerships and value creation.
JOB REQUIREMENT
- Degree in Supply Chain Management / Engineering / Science or other professional related qualification.
- Minimum 8 years experience in Supply Chain Management in heavy industry.
