Global Category Manager – Sales Support

Takeda•Boston, MA

About The Position

This role is part of Takeda’s Indirect Procurement team and is responsible for developing and executing the global Marketing & Sales Support category strategy. The Global Category Manager partners with Commercial stakeholders to understand business priorities, shape demand, develop sourcing strategies, manage supplier relationships and category contracts, and deliver measurable enterprise value. The role uses market intelligence, supplier insights, spend analytics, digital capabilities, and business requirements to build and continuously evolve the category strategy, balancing cost, service, innovation, risk, sustainability, and business performance while supporting Commercial teams across markets. The position leads global and regional sourcing initiatives, negotiations, supplier selection and transitions, contracting strategy, supplier governance, and end-to-end spend management. It translates category strategy into executable plans and pipelines, works across functions and regions, and uses analytics, automation, and responsible AI to improve decisions, execution, transparency, and stakeholder experience. The role operates within global strategies and governance while adapting execution to legitimate regional, market, and functional requirements, and provides the Global Category Lead with insights, recommendations, risks, decisions required, and progress updates.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, business, finance, or another relevant field.
At least 8 years of experience in category management, strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier management, commercial strategy, or a related function within complex global and matrixed organizations.
Proven experience developing and executing global or multi-market category strategies that deliver sustainable enterprise value and support business objectives.
Subject matter expertise in Marketing & Sales Support spend categories or comparable Commercial services categories; pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or another highly regulated industry experience is relevant.
Strong understanding of Commercial business needs and ability to translate stakeholder requirements into effective category, sourcing, contracting, and supplier strategies.
Strong commercial and financial acumen, including strategic sourcing, negotiations, supplier economics, total cost of ownership, contracting, pricing models, and value management.
Ability to analyze complex spend and supplier landscapes and turn insights into actionable category strategies and sourcing opportunities.
Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to engage, constructively challenge, and align senior leaders across functions, business units, and geographies.
Strong supplier relationship management capabilities, including supplier segmentation, governance, performance management, issue resolution, risk mitigation, and strategic partnership development.
Track record of delivering measurable outcomes across cost optimization, productivity, business performance, supplier innovation, risk management, and sustainability.
Knowledge of supplier risk, business continuity, regulatory requirements, responsible sourcing, and sustainable Procurement practices.
Experience using digital Procurement technologies, advanced analytics, automation, and AI-enabled solutions to improve decision making and business outcomes.
Excellent leadership, communication, negotiation, and cross-functional collaboration skills, with the ability to influence outcomes and drive change in a dynamic global environment.
Fluent written and spoken English.

Nice To Haves

MBA or advanced degree.
Experience managing Commercial or Marketing & Sales Support service categories across multiple countries or regions.
Experience developing global commercial frameworks that require thoughtful regional or local adaptation.
Experience operating in a regulated environment with complex stakeholder, supplier, privacy, and contracting requirements.

Responsibilities

Develop, implement, and continuously evolve the global Marketing & Sales Support category strategy in alignment with enterprise priorities, Commercial objectives, and long-term value goals.
Develop a detailed understanding of category spend, demand drivers, supplier concentration, geographic differences, business requirements, and addressable spend.
Use market intelligence, spend analytics, supplier insights, and emerging technologies to identify opportunities, shape demand, and improve category performance.
Own and manage a multiyear category pipeline across strategic sourcing, demand management, supplier optimization, commercial improvement, and other value opportunities.
Partner with stakeholders early to influence requirements, specifications, service models, supplier strategies, commercial models, and sourcing decisions.
Lead complex global and regional sourcing initiatives, supplier negotiations, selections, transitions, and contract implementations for Marketing & Sales Support services.
Develop commercial strategies and models, including pricing frameworks, rate structures, discounts, volume arrangements, incentives, service levels, and performance mechanisms.
Design and manage a supplier ecosystem that balances specialized capabilities, competitiveness, service quality, innovation, resilience, performance, and business needs.
Establish supplier segmentation, governance, performance management, business reviews, issue resolution, and strategic relationship management approaches.
Lead the category commercial contracting strategy, including developing and optimizing Master Service Agreement frameworks that downstream service agreements, Statements of Work, and purchase orders can leverage.
Manage category spend end to end, including tail spend analysis and appropriate buying channels, preferred supplier approaches, and spend management strategies.
Identify supplier consolidation, standardization, demand management, commercial model optimization, and process improvement opportunities where they support business objectives.
Integrate supplier risk, business continuity, responsible sourcing, quality, privacy, information security, and sustainability considerations into category and supplier strategies.
Ensure compliance with Procurement policies, contractual obligations, applicable regulatory requirements, and enterprise governance standards.
Monitor market developments, supplier capabilities, technology, and evolving commercial models relevant to Marketing & Sales Support services.
Translate the global category strategy into a category plan, initiative pipeline, sourcing calendar, supplier roadmap, and stakeholder engagement plan.
Operate within global strategies, decision rights, preferred supplier models, commercial frameworks, and buying channels while adapting execution to legitimate regional, market, and functional requirements.
Maintain an end-to-end view of assigned spend, demand, pipeline, contracts, supplier performance, risk, tail spend, and value realization.
Use market intelligence, advanced analytics, automation, and responsible AI solutions to improve decisions, execution speed, transparency, and stakeholder experience.
Build trusted relationships and influence across Commercial functions, Global Finance, Value Delivery, Takeda Business Solutions, Legal, Procurement, regional teams, and other relevant cross-functional groups.
Lead cross-functional project teams without direct authority and clarify decisions, actions, owners, milestones, and value outcomes.
Provide the Global Category Lead with insights, recommendations, risks, required decisions, and progress against the category plan.