Category Director-Professional Services Team Lead

Truist•Atlanta, GA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Reporting to the Senior Category Director and leading a team of associates, the Category Director is a senior industry leader responsible for overseeing demand and supply management across complex, high value Professional Services categories and assigned Lines of Business. As a people leader, the role sets clear vision and expectations, coaches and develops talent, and fosters an inclusive, high-performance culture grounded in empowerment, accountability, and continuous growth. In addition to category and sourcing leadership, the Category Director personally owns and delivers a set of strategic sourcing projects, while guiding the team in executing category strategies, sourcing initiatives, and key projects on time and to expectation. Serving as a trusted advisor to senior business and executive leaders, the role drives collaboration, prioritization of business needs, and effective engagement of Enterprise Corporate Services (ECS) resources to deliver sustainable value while optimizing total cost of ownership and managing supplier and third-party risk. This position manages categories with high spend and strategic importance and is a key owner and stakeholder in Truist’s end to end third party strategy and supply chain execution. There is a 5 day in-office expectation.

Requirements

A Bachelor's degree is required
8 to 10 years of relevant experience in sourcing (and related functions) at a senior management level with regulated organizations known for the strength of their operational, customer service, and risk excellence.
Direct management experience of a sourcing/procurement team function with strategic development responsibilities in Financial Services and/or heavily regulated industry
Knowledge of the market, suppliers and cost drivers. Demonstrated excellence in management of complex, high-value supplier relationships
Subject Matter Expertise in strategic sourcing methodology and techniques
Demonstrated leadership capabilities in team development and thought leadership
Demonstrated ability to develop client relationships
Strong analytical skills
Strong project management and time management skills
Strong business acumen
Exceptional negotiation and influencing skills
Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate effectively at all levels, particularly at the management level
Executive presence and effective presentation skills
Proven track record of delivering material cost savings and supplier consolidation
Highly self-motivated with the ability to drive change in a matrixed organization with minimum supervision

Nice To Haves

An MBA, Masters in Supply Chain and industry certifications are preferred
Experience in decentralized and highly matrixed environments where leadership and influencing skills are necessary to bring about change is preferred
Ideally, this experience should be broad based involving several of the following functions: procurement, sourcing and third party management

Responsibilities

Effectively manage a direct team of Category Managers. Implements category strategies with high spend levels, complexity, and strategic importance within his/her portfolio to optimize business efficiency and drive maximum value.
Develops an understanding of the current category activity within Truist and determines where SSM can have a greater involvement and drive value. Specializes by developing deep expertise within the category(s). Maintains deep understanding of global supply markets, competitors and product innovations.
Builds strong relations ships with 'internal customers' and industry suppliers. Partners with Business Leaders and Executives to ensure that sourcing strategies/category plans and execution are aligned with the Business and MoE/ecosystem Goals.
Leads cross functional teams in the development of category specifications, RFIs, RFPs, contracts, and sourcing project plans.
Helps develop a bench of talent by sharing best practices with the broader team, and by supporting to continuous learning events.
Performs market data analysis for negotiations and supplier selection, and leads high-complexity sourcing events. Compiles commodity profile details such as supplier performance, volume forecasts, and design specifications. Analyzes trends and dynamics of supply markets, and prepares commodity-specific performance metrics & dashboards.
Ensures that best practices in the sourcing process are followed. Execute the full sourcing process which includes development of scope, supplier selection, commercial negotiation, third party risk acceptance and contract execution. Engages risk stakeholders as needed for sourcing activity.
Drive to remedy inconsistent vendor performance across the enterprise and improve vendor performance/ optimizing allocation of spend
Promote risk excellence and sound risk management as the first line of defense by driving and owning bank-wide policies including sourcing and purchasing, travel and expense reimbursement and contingent workforce. Also ensure compliance with Bank policies for regulatory directives and other firm-wide policies.
Actively manage pipeline of projects for team and ensure project delivery to agreed upon timelines and expectations. Participates in special projects and performs other duties as assigned