Category Manager

American Electric Power•New Albany, OH

1d•$136,539 - $177,503•Onsite

About The Position

The Procurement Category Manager will act as Lead for assigned Procurement projects, programs, and sourcing categories. Main responsibly is to oversee the specific projects and sourcing categories by providing leadership to team members in a variety of strategic areas including sourcing, procurement, contracts, supplier relationship management, supplier development, and strategy development and execution. This position will have responsibility for achieving annual savings targets from $5 million to $20 million and manage categories with an annual spend in the from $100 million to $700 million for materials and services. To be successful, this individual requires highly advanced level of knowledge and responsibility for developing, negotiating, executing and maintaining strategic sourcing agreements for specific categories for the procurement of materials, equipment and/or services used by AEP internal customers. The Procurement Category Manager will identify cost reduction opportunities and capture real Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) savings (direct or indirect) by aggregating sourcing volumes.

Requirements

Bachelors Degree in Business Administration or related field of study.
6+ years supply chain experience.
Advanced negotiations and ability to execute complex business transactions.
Must have strong analytical, teamwork and communication skills.
Must have ability to effectively work with all levels of internal management and external suppliers and must be able to prioritize and coordinate activities to successfully perform in this position.
Expert knowledge of supply base, including market economics, supply base cost structure, supply base trends, supplier segmentation.
Expert knowledge of the market forces shaping customer’s business context.
Ability to conduct independent market intelligence and leverage personal network.
Demonstrated experience in identifying and utilizing full set of supply levers to drive category performance, including the development of complex collaboration partnership with suppliers.
Ability to conduct benchmarking and measure category performance along all dimensions of cost, quality, risk, innovation and operating processes
Ability to provide thought leadership to customers and actively shape customer’s overall strategy through sourcing lens.
Expert Analytical & Technical negotiation skills.
Ability to use automated technology systems to inform category strategies & SRM activities.
Experience using e-procurement tools.
Ability to quantify financial benefits for identified set of opportunities and initiatives.
Experience at developing complex cost and financial models.
Highly proficient with Excel and MS Office Suite.
Ability to draw strategic insight from analysis, and to effectively summarize and present insight based on the needs of the audience.
Independent self-starter and able to motivate others to accomplish ambiguous tasks.
Demonstrated track record of identifying root causes to issues and proactively resolving problems, leveraging cross-functional business partnerships.
Demonstrated success at facilitating processes for complex issues and partnering cross-functionally.
Ability to lead teams in a matrixed organization, across geographic and functional reporting lines.
Ability to own and strengthen relationships with key business partners & executives.
Compelling and persuasive communicator with excellent interpersonal skills.
Ability to present at varying levels of the organization (up to and including senior executive management) through various forms of media.

Nice To Haves

MBA or Purchasing certification is preferred but not required.
Previous experience leading employees/teams preferred.
Experience with Ariba suite of tools is a plus

Responsibilities

Manage project-driven sourcing activities for a variety of market baskets that are normally associated with high-spend, high-impact, and often complex categories across multiple business unit stakeholders.
Develop and implement strategies to achieve corporate savings goals.
Establish effective relationships and work collaboratively with Business Unit customers and suppliers to maintain customer satisfaction.
Interface with Business Unit leadership to report ongoing progress to goals.
Champion new initiatives that will support shared business objectives, support the business unit partner's needs, and enable the company to efficiently operate in a competitive and changing environment.