Category Specialist

bp•Denver, CO

23h•$75,000 - $110,000•Hybrid

About The Position

bpx energy, a major oil and gas producer in the United States, demonstrates its expertise in unconventional gas, including shale, to deliver hydrocarbon production and technical knowledge worldwide. With operations in Texas and Louisiana, our US onshore business has become both an outstanding oil and gas producer and a leader in reducing methane emissions. As part of BP, a global industry leader, we champion a high-energy, high-intensity environment built on accountability, collegiality, and empowerment. Role Synopsis This role reports to the Principal Category Manager for Production and supports Upstream Category Management for bpx energy. This role applies advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI techniques to improve sourcing decisions, category strategies, supplier performance, cost management, and risk mitigation across the procurement lifecycle. This role sits at the intersection of data science and procurement, translating complex data into actionable insights that directly impact cost, margin, supply continuity, and operational performance. The position partners closely with Category Managers, Production, Finance, and Digital teams. Possible Categories supported: Work Over Rigs, Well Intervention Services, Fluid Hauling, Compression, Rotating Equipment, or other categories as assigned.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Operations Research, Economics, or related quantitative field. Equivalent experience of 8 years may be considered in lieu of a degree.
2+ years of experience in data science, analytics, or quantitative roles with exposure to procurement or supply chain.
Strong analytical skills with experience using Power BI and Palantir.
Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional stakeholders and suppliers.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Exposure to oil and gas upstream operations would benefit the role.
Interest in applying digital tools and AI-enabled workflows (e.g., Copilot, Claude Palantir) to improve efficiency.
Cloud platforms including Snowflake and AWS Bedrock.

Responsibilities

Ensure that BPX and PSCM standards, processes and operating systems are implemented in all PSCM activities.
Demonstrate a foundational understanding of category management strategies and supplier management plans, including contracts (Master and commercial agreements).
Support implementation of category management and contracting plans, including short- and medium-term agreements.
Develop predictive and prescriptive models for spend and demand forecasting, cost driver modeling, supplier risk prediction, and working-capital optimization.
Apply machine learning techniques to large procurement and operational datasets.
Build scenario models to evaluate sourcing strategies under commodity volatility and capacity constraints.
Partner with Category Managers supporting Production related spend categories.
Embed analytics into category strategies, sourcing events, supplier selection, and negotiations.
Translate engineering and operational inputs into commercial insights.
Build and maintain datasets from ERP, sourcing platforms, contracts, and market data.
Understand detailed data architecture including data products and integrations.
Automate spend classification and data refresh processes.
Ensure data quality, governance, and audit readiness.
Develop dashboards and analytical tools to support spend transparency, supplier performance, and risk visibility.
Communicate insights through clear narratives and executive-ready summaries in PowerBI and Palantir.
Apply AI and generative AI tools to accelerate insight generation and sourcing preparation.
Identify opportunities to automate repeatable procurement analytics workflows.
Experience with developing in AWS Bedrock, Claude Code, Snowflake, or Palantir.
Experience in coding with Python.
Business Process automation
Familiarity with Power Platform including PowerApps, PowerPages, PowerAutomate and Microsoft Dynamics.