Sr Buyer and Category Leader

Ashland Inc. • Texas City, TN

9d • Remote

About The Position

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Category Leader – Indirect MRO / CAPEX / Site Services – Global Procurement to join our Global Procurement team. This is a very visible, significant role within the Company and the procurement function. This position will report to Associate Director MRO/Site Services, – Global Procurement. The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following: Develop Category Strategy plans following 7 step strategic sourcing methodology and use appropriate support tools to drive results and deliver savings. Ensuring all procurement services are met for the assigned Ashland plants, labs, and / or facilities. Negotiate, implement, and manage strategic contracts to ensure optimum cost and reliable supply. Identify opportunities for cost savings, better efficiency, and other areas of improvement; recommend and/or implement policy or process changes, as appropriate. Develop and deploy supply risk assessment and mitigation programs to ensure business continuity. Manage operational issues related to supply challenges. Facilitating RFP / RFQ / RFI and preparing Coupa sourcing / bidding events according to engineering specifications and / or business requirements. Conducting bid analysis with a cross functional team and awarding based on internal team consensus. Lead cross-functional team as well direct reports. However, person would be responsible for managing assigned high value/complex spend categories directly. Be an active member of MRO / Site Services Leadership Team and actively collaborate with other leadership team members to deliver on procurement/corporate objective. Develop and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers driving optimized value through strategic relationship management program. Extracting and analyzing spend data by various criteria from various ERP/S2P reporting tools (Coupa, SAP, QlikView). Representing as Corporate Agent: Ensuring Regulatory Compliance and Corporate Policies are enforced. Ensuring strict compliance to Ashland’s Zero Incident Culture and Responsible Care Guidelines. Travel – Limited. Up to 25% to visit Ashland sites, supplier visits, internal meetings, and industry conferences.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years of strategic MRO / CAPEX / Site Services procurement and/or related experience required.
• Minimum Education: bachelor’s degree preferably in engineering discipline; MBA and / or CPSM Certification a plus
• Leading a team and directly managing complex multi category spend greater than $60MM.
• Demonstrated knowledge of category management and use of 7SSS (Step Strategic Sourcing) methodology
• Demonstrated knowledge of applying TCO (total cost of ownership) and other methodologies in evaluating suppliers’ proposals
• Strong knowledge of deploying and leveraging Supplier Relationship Management program in a global supply base
• Demonstrated expertise in deploying supply Risk Assessment and Mitigation program in diverse categories of materials.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Contracting practices and processes in a global environment
• Strong communication, follow-up, presentation, and teamwork skills to be performed with a sense of urgency as required.
• Good knowledge of Coupa and other tools such as SAP, Ariba

Nice To Haves

• Experience in Chemical or Pharmaceutical industry and/or in Fortune 500 companies a plus
• Five plus years’ experience – dealing with senior management, leading team, and managing complex small value spend as well as multi-millions $ high value spend/contracts.
• Demonstrated experience working in diverse global cross-functional teams in highly matrixed environment.

Responsibilities

• Develop Category Strategy plans following 7 step strategic sourcing methodology and use appropriate support tools to drive results and deliver savings.
• Ensuring all procurement services are met for the assigned Ashland plants, labs, and / or facilities.
• Negotiate, implement, and manage strategic contracts to ensure optimum cost and reliable supply.
• Identify opportunities for cost savings, better efficiency, and other areas of improvement; recommend and/or implement policy or process changes, as appropriate.
• Develop and deploy supply risk assessment and mitigation programs to ensure business continuity.
• Manage operational issues related to supply challenges.
• Facilitating RFP / RFQ / RFI and preparing Coupa sourcing / bidding events according to engineering specifications and / or business requirements.
• Conducting bid analysis with a cross functional team and awarding based on internal team consensus.
• Lead cross-functional team as well direct reports.
• Manage assigned high value/complex spend categories directly.
• Be an active member of MRO / Site Services Leadership Team and actively collaborate with other leadership team members to deliver on procurement/corporate objective.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers driving optimized value through strategic relationship management program.
• Extracting and analyzing spend data by various criteria from various ERP/S2P reporting tools (Coupa, SAP, QlikView).
• Representing as Corporate Agent: Ensuring Regulatory Compliance and Corporate Policies are enforced.
• Ensuring strict compliance to Ashland’s Zero Incident Culture and Responsible Care Guidelines.

Benefits

• industry competitive salary and benefits
• pay-for-performance incentive plans
• a diverse work environment where employees feel challenged and valued
• opportunities for development and advancement throughout our global organization

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior