Global Category Lead - Meetings, Conferences, Events, Travel & Fleet

Takeda•Boston, MA

1d•$177,000 - $278,080

About The Position

The Global Category Lead provides global leadership for Meetings, Conferences, Events, Travel, and Fleet as a member of the Indirect Procurement Leadership team. The role leads category strategy and a team of category professionals, aligning business and program needs with supplier strategy, commercial models, contracts, user experience, compliance, sustainability, resilience, and value delivery. The position defines and leads an integrated global category strategy, partners with senior business leaders and program owners to shape demand and service models, builds a competitive and resilient supplier ecosystem, and leads enterprise-wide initiatives to improve external spend management. It develops category professionals and establishes global frameworks that support consistent regional and local execution. The role works across Finance, business functions, Operations, Legal, Risk, Compliance, Technology, regional teams, and relevant meetings, travel, and fleet stakeholders. It leads category planning, strategic sourcing, negotiations, contracting, supplier governance, portfolio visibility, risk integration, and value realization. It also uses market intelligence, analytics, automation, and responsible AI to improve procurement decisions and productivity.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Economics, or a related field.
Subject matter expertise across several relevant categories, such as meetings and events agencies, venues, event production, group travel, transient travel, travel management services, airlines, lodging, ground transportation, payment solutions, fleet management, or vehicle leasing.
At least 10 years of experience in procurement, category management, supply chain, supplier management, or a related commercial function within complex global organizations.
Demonstrated success developing and executing global category strategies and delivering measurable enterprise value.
Strong commercial and financial acumen, including strategic sourcing, negotiation, supplier economics, total cost of ownership, contract strategy, and value realization.
Ability to influence and constructively challenge senior leaders across functions, business units, and geographies.
Experience leading cross-functional transformation in a highly matrixed and regulated environment.
Deep understanding of supplier segmentation, relationship management, performance governance, third-party risk, business continuity, and sustainable procurement.
Strong analytical and executive communication skills, including the ability to translate market, supplier, spend, and performance data into clear decisions and compelling narratives.
Demonstrated people leadership, talent development, change leadership, and experience leading globally distributed teams.
Experience using digital tools, automation, analytics, and AI-enabled approaches to improve procurement outcomes.
Fluent written and spoken English.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or MBA.
Experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, financial services, or another highly regulated global industry.
Experience with meetings and events operating models, travel programs, fleet programs, or related technology and data ecosystems.
Knowledge of global and local market dynamics, including how enterprise strategies must adapt to regulatory, service, and market requirements.
Experience balancing stakeholder experience with commercial, sustainability, compliance, and operational priorities.

Responsibilities

Define and lead an integrated global strategy for Meetings, Conferences, Events, Travel, and Fleet aligned with business priorities, user experience, compliance, sustainability, resilience, and total cost.
Partner with senior business leaders and program owners to shape demand, service models, supplier choices, and investment priorities before commitments are made.
Build a competitive and resilient global supplier ecosystem with regional and local solutions, clear governance, and measurable performance outcomes.
Lead and develop the category team and establish global frameworks for effective regional and market execution.
Lead enterprise-wide initiatives for selected subcategories to improve external spend management.
Partner with the Meetings & Travel Center of Excellence, embedded meetings planners, fleet managers, and other stakeholders to promote consistent category approaches.
Develop and continuously evolve category strategies using spend, demand, process, supplier, risk, and market intelligence.
Manage selected subcategories and drive category excellence with the team.
Partner with Finance, business functions, Operations, Legal, Risk, Compliance, Technology, and regional teams to align sourcing with operating models, controls, transformation, and business objectives.
Shape demand and service models by assessing scope, role mix, locations, process design, automation potential, service levels, pricing mechanisms, and supplier dependencies.
Lead make-versus-buy, insource-versus-outsource, supplier consolidation, benchmarking, and competitive sourcing decisions where appropriate, while protecting critical expertise and continuity.
Own strategic sourcing, negotiation, and contracting frameworks, including master agreements, statements of work, pricing structures, rate cards, service levels, incentives, performance guarantees, audit rights, data protections, and transition provisions.
Establish supplier segmentation and governance for strategic and critical providers, including executive reviews, performance scorecards, continuous improvement, innovation, issue resolution, and remediation.
Lead complex and enterprise-critical commercial initiatives while enabling category managers to execute within approved global strategies and frameworks.
Create transparency into total and addressable spend, demand drivers, contracts, rate and fee structures, supplier performance, concentration, risk, and value realization.
Integrate third-party risk, regulatory, financial control, data privacy, information security, business continuity, sustainability, and responsible sourcing requirements into category decisions.
Maintain appropriate independence and governance boundaries for regulated or assurance services while pursuing commercial value and high-quality delivery.
Translate enterprise and functional priorities into a global category strategy, multi-year roadmap, and governed initiative pipeline.
Establish global, regional, and local decision rights and enable execution through common strategies, preferred supplier models, commercial frameworks, and buying channels.
Own the end-to-end portfolio view, including spend visibility, category taxonomy, sourcing pipeline, contracts, supplier performance, risk, tail spend, and value realization.
Use market intelligence, advanced analytics, automation, and responsible AI solutions to improve decision quality, speed, transparency, and Procurement productivity.
Lead, coach, and develop category managers and associates, improving the quality and consistency of category strategies and execution.
Allocate capacity and priorities across the portfolio, balancing enterprise value, business urgency, risk, and available resources.
Foster accountability, curiosity, inclusion, collaboration, continuous improvement, and strong business partnership.