Global Category Manager — Infrastructure & Construction

Applied Materials • Santa Clara, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Global Category Manager, Infrastructure & Construction, is the strategic owner of Applied’s capital construction, real estate, and facilities spend, accountable for defining the global category strategy and delivering outcomes across value capture, stakeholder experience, and risk management. This role owns the sourcing and supplier strategy for the categories that build and sustain Applied’s fabs, labs, cleanrooms, offices, and site infrastructure — including general construction, engineering & design (A&E), construction management (CM/PM/QS), EPC/PMC delivery partners, MRO, and tool install. The role sets direction (the “WHAT”) through category strategies, supplier portfolio and segmentation decisions, delivery-model selection, governance, and demand/value roadmaps, while enabling scaled execution (the “HOW”) through Strategic Sourcing Managers and the Sourcing Center of Excellence (SCoE). Operating in a center led ‘one house’ model, the Global Category Manager orchestrates cross functional alignment across Global Workplace & Infrastructure (GWI), project delivery teams, Legal, Risk, and Finance — ensuring consistent global standards with regional nuance across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, Construction Management, Finance, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Demonstrated category management leadership in construction, capital projects, real estate, or facilities — building and executing category strategies, supplier segmentation, and governance models.
• Strong commercial expertise in construction contracting: negotiations, delivery-model selection (EPC/PMC/design-build), indemnity and LOL, insurance, and total installed cost/value analysis.
• Proven ability to lead in a global, matrixed organization — driving alignment across regions, project delivery, functions, and senior stakeholders.
• Experience integrating construction, contractual, safety, and supply-market risk into supplier and category decisions.

Nice To Haves

• Experience sourcing for semiconductor, high-tech, or advanced-manufacturing facilities — fabs, labs, cleanrooms, and complex tool-install/fit-out environments.
• Experience with major GC/EPC/PMC and A&E firms (e.g., Jacobs, JLL, Linesight, and equivalent) and global construction supplier ecosystems.
• Experience developing rate-card databases, benchmarking, and value-engineering programs across multiple regions.
• Professional certifications (e.g., CPSM, CIPS, RICS, PMP) and/or MBA/MS in a relevant discipline.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain a multi year global category strategy for infrastructure and construction that aligns to Applied’s capital plan, GWI priorities, and GSP goals — including clear value levers, delivery-model direction, and execution waves.
• Establish category scope and taxonomy across construction, A&E, CM/PM/QS services, EPC/PMC, MRO, and tool install, with a clear demand/supply perspective (project pipeline, capacity, and construction-market dynamics by region).
• Develop and refresh a category roadmap that sequences initiatives by capital-program impact, urgency, risk, and market capacity, maintaining a forward looking pipeline tied to the project portfolio.
• Own the framework for selecting the right delivery model per project — EPC, PMC, design-build, design-bid-build, or hybrid — balancing cost certainty, schedule, risk transfer, and Applied’s control requirements.
• Provide guidance on lump-sum vs. reimbursable vs. GMP commercial structures, and align delivery-model decisions with the appropriate risk allocation and price-adjustment mechanisms.
• Partner with project delivery and engineering to bridge the ROM-to-BOM gap — ensuring estimating maturity, scope definition, and contracting approach are aligned before commitment.
• Own supplier portfolio design and segmentation across GCs, EPCs, PMCs, A&E firms, and specialty trades (strategic, preferred, transactional) and define the engagement model for each segment.
• Lead strategic supplier relationship management (SRM) for priority partners (e.g., major GCs, EPC/PMC firms, CM providers): performance, innovation, commercial governance, and executive alignment.
• Drive supplier rationalization, prequalification standards, and consolidation opportunities that improve leverage, ensure delivery capacity, and reduce total installed cost.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to GWI, Real Estate, and project delivery leadership; translate capital-program objectives into category strategies and sourcing priorities.
• Lead category councils and governance forums (value/risk reviews, supplier performance reviews, delivery-model reviews) to drive decisions, alignment, and accountability across regions.
• Set stakeholder engagement rhythms and communication standards so the construction sourcing experience is consistent and predictable across EMEA, APAC, and the Americas.
• Define and govern the category value pipeline (initiatives, baselines, assumptions, milestones) and partner with Finance for validation and reporting.
• Establish and maintain rate-card databases and benchmarking for PM/CM/QS and construction services across Asia, Europe, and the Americas to enable transparent, defensible negotiations.
• Drive value engineering, should-cost modeling, and total-installed-cost analysis; establish outcome metrics beyond savings (schedule certainty, quality, safety, compliance, risk reduction).
• Integrate construction and supplier risk considerations into category plans — including third party risk (TPRM), financial stability, safety/EHS performance, and capacity constraints.
• Partner with Legal, Risk/GIRM, and Insurance on indemnity, limitation of liability, insurance requirements, and price-adjustment mechanisms; ensure alignment between the contract and the project risk matrix.
• Proactively monitor construction-market risks (labor, materials, permitting, weather exposure) and translate signals into actions such as contract protections, contingency, and alternative sourcing.
• Translate strategy into sourcing wave plans and clearly defined playbooks/guardrails for Strategic Sourcing Managers and SCoE teams executing RFPs, prequalification, and negotiations.
• Oversee implementation progress and remove barriers; ensure efficient, predictable handoffs between Category, Sourcing, project delivery, and Contracting/Legal.
• Continuously refine strategy based on project outcomes, market feedback, and data insights (strategy ↔ execution feedback loop).
• Champion standard contract templates, prequalification standards, rate cards, and governance that reduce variability and improve speed and quality across the category.
• Support the talent pipeline by coaching and developing Strategic Sourcing Managers and SCoE practitioners; enable role clarity and clear governance boundaries.
• Lead change initiatives (process standardization, supplier operating models, digital procurement tools) and drive adoption across a globally distributed team.

Benefits

• supportive work culture that encourages you to learn, develop, and grow your career
• programs and support that encourage personal and professional growth and care for you at work, at home, or wherever you may go
• comprehensive benefits package
• participation in a bonus and a stock award program, as applicable

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior