Category Leader

PBF Energy • Parsippany, NJ

6d • Onsite

About The Position

Category Leader PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE:PBF) is one of the largest independent refiners in North America, operating through its subsidiaries, oil refineries and related facilities. We are seeking a talented Category Leader to join our team as a pivotal member that would play a key role here at PBF Energy. This role would be located onsite at our Company headquarters in Parsippany, NJ or at one of our refinery locations. The Category Leader is a strategic role within the Procurement organization responsible for developing, implementing, and managing enterprise-level category strategies for assigned categories that support the company’s operational, financial, and safety objectives within the oil and gas sector. Categories may include equipment, MRO, services, or indirect support critical to operations. This position focuses on end-to-end category lifecycle, including opportunity identification, supplier market analysis, stakeholder alignment, supplier strategy, contract negotiations, execution of strategic initiatives, and long-term performance management. The Category Leader serves as a strategic advisor to the business, identifying opportunities for innovation, sustainability, and commercial advantage through deep category expertise and supplier engagement. This role will create multi-year category plans, build and maintain supplier relationships, ensures compliance with internal standards, and drives continuous improvement in value, performance, and risk management. This role requires a strong blend of commercial acumen, strategic thinking, and leadership capabilities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing or a related field or equivalent work experience.
• Experience in category management within the Oil and Gas market.
• 3+ years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing, negotiating, category management, or supply chain experience required
• Demonstrated success leading category strategies supporting refinery operations, maintenance, and capital execution.
• Deep knowledge of spend categories and contracting models (e.g., unit rate, T&M, lump sum, alliance agreements) for profitability optimization.
• Familiarity with contract law, legal terms and conditions, and supplier governance frameworks
• Experience working in a centrally led procurement model with enterprise-wide scope
• Strong negotiation skills and commercial acumen with experience developing long-term supplier agreements.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional collaboration across refinery, technical, EH&S, and legal functions.
• Proficient in ERP (e.g., SAP), sourcing platforms (e.g., Ariba, Coupa), S2P systems and data analytics tools.
• Knowledge of category management and demand forecasting techniques.
• Ability to conduct market research.
• Flexibility to adapt to the changing market and organizational priorities.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and external stakeholders.
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% of the time to support operations across multiple facilities in the U.S.
• This position is on site 5 days a week.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in unionized environments and with contractor safety management programs preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain enterprise-wide category strategies that align with business goals for the assigned spend categories to deliver cost savings, efficiency, and risk mitigation across operations.
• Analyze market trends and dynamics, commodity trends, competitor activities and operational demand and activities across multiple refinery and field sites to identify potential savings or pitfalls for Company.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with key stakeholders, Maintenance, Turnaround and Capital Projects, etc., to align procurement strategies with business needs, develop category strategies and implement new agreements or processes.
• Manage the full category lifecycle, including supplier selection, negotiations, contracting, implementation, and performance management.
• Lead negotiations and contract development for critical services, including master service agreements, blanket POs, and project-specific scopes to optimize category performance.
• Manage end-to-end contract lifecycle from sourcing to execution and renewal, ensuring compliance with commercial terms, service-level agreements (SLAs), and safety/environmental requirements.
• Support supply assurance by proactively identifying risks (e.g., single-source, capacity constraints, geopolitical factors) and developing mitigation plans in coordination with legal and risk teams.
• Facilitate cross-site sourcing initiatives and standardization opportunities across refineries and terminals, driving total cost of ownership (TCO) improvements and eliminating non-value-added variation.
• Ensure compliance with internal procurement policies, ESG/supplier diversity initiatives, and external regulatory requirements (e.g., OSHA, DOT, EPA).
• Evaluate internal stakeholder feedback and implement changes to enhance the category services.
• Build strong relationships with strategic suppliers and contractors, driving supplier development, innovation, and value creation while maintaining accountability for safety, quality, and performance.
• Conduct thorough market research and benchmarking to create should-cost modeling, market intelligence, benchmarking, and spend analysis to support fact-based negotiations and robust category strategies to ensure vendor competitiveness trends, identify potential issues and provide actionable plans.
• Utilize and maintain procurement and analytics tools (e.g., SAP, Power BI, Ariba, or similar) to monitor performance ensuring seamless strategy execution, track savings, and report out on KPIs such as cost avoidance, cycle time, compliance, and supplier performance across the organization.
• Monitor and evaluate category performance, leveraging key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify areas for improvement and implement corrective measures.
• Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and macroeconomic factors (e.g., steel tariffs, inflation, labor shortages) that may impact supply markets and sourcing strategies to provide recommendations to senior management.
• Provide input to annual category planning, budget forecasting, and strategic supplier reviews with senior leadership.

Benefits

• In addition to salary, PBF offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes bonus eligibility, health care, retirement benefits, and paid time off.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees