Category Lead (Enterprise Sourcing & Procurement)

Medica•St. Louis, MO

2h•$100,300 - $172,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Category Lead role serves as the strategic and operational bridge between Medica and its vendor partners, ensuring alignment with Medica’s sourcing strategy, compliance standards, and enterprise objectives. The role is actively involved in leading key aspects of the vendor lifecycle, including vendor selection, onboarding, performance management, and offboarding, with a focus on driving innovation, managing risk, and delivering measurable value. Through strong cross-functional collaboration and effective partnership with vendors, the role supports informed, data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement across vendor relationships. Operating in a fast-paced and evolving environment, the Vendor Manager plays a critical role in strengthening partnerships, influencing outcomes, and ensuring vendors contribute positively to Medica’s business goals and the needs of the teams served. There are two open Category Lead roles supporting the following business categories: Operations, Legal & Finance; Products, Health Services & Human Resources.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Business, Supply Chain or a related field
8+ years of work experience beyond degree in vendor management, sourcing and procurement strategy
Strong understanding of vendor lifecycle management and sourcing principles
Experience partnering with cross-functional teams including senior stakeholders and executive business leaders
Proven ability to influence decisions and deliver measurable business outcomes
Exceptional communication and presentation skill with an audience of internal and vendor executives

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated ability to leverage market intelligence, analytics and business insights to develop strategies, influence decisions and drive measurable outcomes
Strong understanding of supplier economics, pricing models, and value optimization across complex vendor relationships
Knowledge of commercial contracting although contracts are managed by a separate function
Proven ability to thrive in a dynamic and evolving environment while effectively managing competing priorities and changing business needs
Experience leveraging tools such as Workday, Zip, PowerBI, and Microsoft Office products
Industry experience in areas of focus not limited to Operations, Legal, Finance, Products, Health Services and Human Resources

Responsibilities

Lead the full vendor lifecycle, including vendor selection, onboarding, performance reviews, renewals, amendments, and offboarding activities.
Serve as the primary liaison between Medica and assigned vendors, fostering strong relationships, trust, and long-term collaboration.
Facilitate vendor engagement activities such as Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), strategic planning sessions, and operational check-ins.
Influence vendor counterparts, including senior leaders when appropriate, to drive service improvement, innovation, and issue resolution.
Partner with ES&P and business units to ensure timely execution of contract renewals, amendments, and terminations.
Monitor vendor performance against contractual obligations, service-level agreements (SLAs), and regulatory requirements.
Track, manage, and support remediation plans, audit findings, and risk mitigation activities in collaboration with internal stakeholders.
Maintain accurate vendor documentation, records, scorecards, and performance dashboards to support transparency and accountability.
Analyze vendor performance data, service metrics, and trends to identify performance gaps, risks, and improvement opportunities.
Develop and present reporting on vendor performance, savings achievements, service-level compliance, and value realization.
Partner with ES&P analytics teams to define meaningful performance metrics and dashboards.
Conduct ad-hoc analyses and scenario modeling to support decision-making and prioritization.
Partner with ES&P sourcing teams on RFI, RFP, and RFQ processes, including vendor evaluations and contract negotiations.
Analyze vendor portfolios to identify overlaps, reduce duplicative spend, and recommend consolidation opportunities where appropriate.
Lead or support cross-functional initiatives requiring coordination across vendors and Medica teams, including Operations, Compliance, Product, and Risk.
Translate vendor insights into actionable recommendations that improve business outcomes and the Medica experience.
Educate internal partners on vendor management best practices, tools, and policies.
Apply subject matter expertise to support accurate decision-making, problem resolution, and adherence to vendor management standards.
Share trends, insights, risks, and recommendations with partners to support continuous improvement.