Lead Specialist, Category Management (Operations)

Cheniere Energy•Houston, TX

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Lead Specialist, Category Management is an essential Supply Chain Management role reporting to the Manager, Category Management. The position manages a portfolio of contracts throughout the end-to-end contract life cycle, including sourcing, contracting, implementation, and ongoing contract management. It also helps maintain and continuously improve the SCM team's sourcing and contracting processes, procedures, tools, and systems. The role works collaboratively with business partners and suppliers to support sourcing and contracting, ensure compliance, drive continuous improvement and value delivery, and align strategies with business needs and supply market capabilities. It manages direct contract agreement negotiations in coordination with Legal, Insurance, Treasury, and Risk Management. The position also leads category strategy development and implementation, supplier qualification, contract administration, post-award management, and procurement process analytics and improvement. The position is primarily performed in a typical office environment at the company's downtown Houston office, with dedicated desk space and access to IT equipment and support. Occasional work from home, work outside usual hours or on weekends, and business travel—including occasional travel to the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi sites—may be required. Work can involve time pressures and dependence on input from others. Site visits are subject to applicable Foreign Trade Zone regulations, including drug and alcohol testing.

Requirements

Minimum eight years of relevant, progressive Supply Chain Management experience.
Experience with sourcing, competitive bidding, RFP development, bid evaluation, supplier selection, and post-award contract management.
Strong understanding of sourcing, commercial terms, and negotiation of general material and service contract provisions.
Understanding of source-to-contract and purchase-to-pay systems.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Self-motivated, with the ability to handle multiple responsibilities.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Ability to work cross-functionally with internal stakeholders.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
Effective time management skills.
Ability to think strategically and demonstrate strong attention to detail.
Ability to multitask and function in a highly dynamic atmosphere, exercising discretion independently.
Bachelor's degree preferred; an equivalent combination of education, experience, and certifications may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Oracle and GEP source-to-contract and purchase-to-pay systems.
Bachelor's degree.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with business partners to ensure their ways of working comply with company compliance requirements, ethics, and delegated authorities.
Coordinate business needs with suppliers, leveraging the company's scale.
Act as the single point of accountability for spend against delegated contracts.
Support Contract Owners in gathering performance feedback for effective contractor management.
Support delivery of category strategies for delegated contracts.
Lead the development and implementation of comprehensive category strategies for defined categories in collaboration with the Manager of Category Management.
Perform pre-qualification and qualification of new suppliers.
Ensure sourcing and contracting activities are compliant, timely, and delivered with quality.
Develop requests for proposal that consider total cost models, value, operating costs, and supplier price impacts on existing budgets.
Negotiate contracts with qualified suppliers to secure quality services, materials, and equipment on time and at optimum cost.
Prepare bid evaluations and supplier award documentation for business partner approvals.
Draft, evaluate, negotiate, and execute contracts using various commercial structures.
Ensure timely delivery of quality contracts supporting safe, reliable, and competitive operations.
Maintain and log contractual records, documentation, and correspondence in appropriate systems.
Support the Delivery Purchasing team in creating Contract Purchase Agreements and Blanket Purchase Agreements, as appropriate.
Manage post-award contract activities, including contract handover and supplier performance management, while ensuring commercial assurance.
Develop expertise in the team's GEP sourcing and contracting solution and serve as the team's lead Power User.
Integrate data from multiple sources to analyze procurement processes and identify trends and insights.
Work with SCM P&E to identify improvement opportunities in category management practices.
Lead change management efforts to implement new ways of working and support smooth transitions and user adoption.
Use data analysis and reporting tools to track and evaluate contract and category management performance metrics.
Create clear visual representations of data findings with P&E, Commercial, and Delivery teams to support decision-making and communication.
Document best practices and lessons learned to facilitate knowledge sharing within the Commercial team.