Consultant, Procurement Category Mgmt

Nationwide Mutual Insurance•Columbus, OH

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

This Consultant role will support Nationwide’s casualty claims organizations across Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, Workers’ Compensation, and Excess & Surplus. This is an indirect procurement role focused on the third-party services, supplier relationships, and contracts that enable claims operations. The consultant will partner with claims stakeholders, Finance, Legal, Risk, and Procurement colleagues to shape sourcing strategies, evaluate options, negotiate agreements, manage supplier performance, and deliver measurable value. Success requires more than technical procurement expertise: strong communication, relationship-building, facilitation, executive presence, adaptability, and the ability to influence without formal authority are essential. The ideal candidate will act as a trusted advisor—translating complex procurement and contract concepts for business partners, navigating competing priorities and ambiguity, and building alignment to achieve practical, sustainable outcomes. The role follows our SuccessFlex model, which includes three remote workdays and two in-office days per week, with an expectation to be on-site in our Columbus OH office primarily on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for team collaboration. This role does not qualify for employer sponsored work authorization. Nationwide does not participate in the STEM OPT extension program.

Requirements

Undergraduate degree in supply chain, procurement, business, finance, accounting, management information systems, economics or related fields preferred.
Procurement, purchasing, or project management designations, as applicable.
Typically, eight or more years of experience in all aspects of supply chain management including relationship management; or equivalent professional experience in other closely related industries.
Specialized knowledge of principles, practices and procedures of supply chain management or other related industry.
In-depth knowledge of the legal environment to analyze impact of major/complex initiatives on the company.
In-depth understanding of the enterprise structure and business objectives.
Knowledgeable in financial controls, insurance business concepts, systems and data processing concepts, and financial planning/analysis.
Excellent verbal, and written communication skills and math skills required to negotiate with suppliers.
Ability to develop and maintain strong supplier relationships.
Ability to conceptually think of new projects and lead project teams towards a common objective.
Ability to influence with limited authority.
Ability to train others on most complex and technical procurement policies, practices, and processes.
Proficiency in common office software like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Responsibilities

Partners and collaborates with Business Partners, Finance, Technology and other Procurement team members to manage new sourcing requests, current contract pipelines for multimillion dollar categories and vendor agreements.
Works with reporting teams to develop data analytics and suggests revisions to Procurement policy and procedures to ensure a predictable, easy-to-follow and efficient procurement process.
Conducts advanced, continuous industry research and benchmark analysis within a defined spend category.
Establishes a category strategy for a highly technical domain, monitors purchasing trends and identifies top suppliers and innovations within the category.
Works with Business Partners to manage Business Unit and Procurement relationship by building forecasts of demand, service levels requirements, Total Cost of Ownership models, contractual and other risk requirements (by category domain, actual and forecasted spend), identifying cost reduction opportunities, and developing recommendations.
Acts as a Project Manager with business partners, Finance, Technology as needed.
Facilitates moderately complex to complex competitive bid activity, including requests for proposal (RFP), quote (RFQ) or information (RFI), where applicable.
Negotiates the terms of the contract, including conditions, clauses, and service level agreements.
Documents achieved savings for Finance approval.
Assesses supplier risk prior to contract and collaborates with applicable risk partners, including Information Risk Management, Technology Review Boards, Privacy etc., for additional specialized assessments or necessary contract provisions.
Analyzes and aligns Category goals and objectives to maximize usage of approved suppliers and best practices in Sustainability.
Mentors and trains new associates on Procurement policy, processes and helps them develop Sourcing Skills.
May perform other responsibilities as assigned.