Category Manager

Sonora Quest Laboratories / Laboratory Sciences of Arizona•Yakima, WA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Category Manager assists Senior Category Managers with strategy development and deployment, supplier relationship management, savings initiatives, supplier contract management and supplier performance management across categories of materials, equipment and services, maximizing value to the company while minimizing cost from suppliers. This role performs all functions according to established policies, procedures, regulatory and accreditation requirements, as well as applicable professional standards. The position has departmental responsibility, works under supervision using independent judgment to achieve goals. Internal customers include other staff, visitors, supervisors, and managers, while external customers include patients, visitors, vendors, other company facilities, and non-company medical facilities. The Category Manager has the freedom to determine how best to accomplish functions within established business procedures.

Requirements

Knowledge of products, procurement and contracting processes in healthcare.
Excellent skills in the areas of planning, directing, communications, solving complex problems, critical thinking, negotiations and statistical analysis.
Effective organizational, communication and human relation skills.
Ability to coordinate multiple projects simultaneously and effectively to meet multiple priorities.
Ability to travel to any company facility and/or vendor facility for meetings and product or service assessment.
Intermediate skills in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
Two (2) years’ of directly applicable experience.

Nice To Haves

Six Sigma or Lean Certified.
Project Management Certified.

Responsibilities

Negotiates with suppliers to support save, contract penetration and other deliverables, supporting through the lives of contracts.
Ensures lowest possible contract pricing is used by buying team.
Supports in the development of new sourcing strategies to drive competition, supports platform transitions (identifies, negotiates, tracks and implements initial phases, supports other phases), sustains business continuity plans (to overcome disasters), performs project management of strategic initiatives.
Acts as escalation point for late/incorrect payments and logistics issues from within organization.
Helps in developing efficiencies and for finding new opportunities to reduce supply cost through effective vendor negotiations.
Provides high quality procurement services to meet the needs of internal customers.
Promotes sound and ethical contracting and purchasing practices between the company and the vendor community and develops and maintains positive vendor relationships based on mutual respect and trust.