Our client is one of the largest fully regulated natural gas and electric utility companies in the United States. We are seeking a Category Lead for a 6+ month contract based in Valparaiso, IN 46383.
You will have the opportunity to work a hybrid schedule (remote on Monday and Friday)
Qualifications:
- Minimum 3+ years strategic sourcing experience, preferably 5+ years. That does not include buyer type experience, someone issuing purchase orders.
- Purchasing expereince
- Strong organizational skills, managing multiple projects at once
- Self-starter & Initiative Communication and relationship building (leading without authority)
Responsibilities:
- Establishing, leading/facilitating and supporting cross functional category management teams to develop and maintain category plans and ongoing category performance
- Developing deep knowledge and experience within assigned spend management responsibilities
- Developing spend/performance and external market analyses to monitor category performance and identify performance improvement opportunities
- Developing spend and savings/performance improvement forecasts to monitor progress and ensure goals are achieved
- Developing plans to capture identified opportunities
- Defining category requirements through collaborative efforts with respective stakeholder groups
- Collaborating with stakeholder groups to develop consensus on the appropriate category plans and priorities
- Leading performance improvement initiatives defined by the category plan including strategic sourcing and other performance improvement initiatives
- Establishing, leading/facilitating and supporting cross functional strategic sourcing/performance improvement teams as needed/prescribed by category plans to achieve savings and performance targets (e.g. reduce cost, improve quality and result in a lower total cost of ownership, meeting supplier diversity goals)
- Leading negotiations with suppliers as needed
- Maintaining critical supplier agreements including renewals, negotiation of terms, issue identification, tracking and resolution
Supplier Management responsibilities include:
- Developing and maintaining supplier criticality ratings and managing resulting critical supplier relationships
- Managing supplier relationships including conducting Quarterly Business Reviews with critical suppliers and NiSource
- Executive Sponsors
Stakeholder Management responsibilities include:
- Developing successful partnerships with key stakeholders / business partners to achieve desired results
- Developing and managing cross-functional category management and strategic sourcing teams as needed
- Collaborating with stakeholders to drive needed decisions to achieve desired results