Category Manager, Innovation

Diageo•Stamford, CT

2d•$102,375 - $170,625

About The Position

The Procurement Category Manager, Innovation connects Diageo’s brand and innovation ambitions with supplier capabilities across North America. The role embeds Procurement early in the innovation lifecycle, anticipates packaging and liquid capabilities required by the pipeline, and translates business strategy into scalable supplier solutions. It shapes sourcing choices and supplier partnerships for future launches; day-to-day execution is handled by Innovation Project Managers, Supply Category Procurement, and in-market teams, working within the frameworks and standards established by this role. The position supports all North American locations and innovation programs and reports to the Supply Procurement Director, Raw Materials, Logistics and Supply Innovation. It owns the innovation Supplier Performance Management framework and leads improvements to the end-to-end innovation value chain. The role works across multiple markets and programs, balancing speed, cost, risk, and capability, and influencing senior stakeholders across Brand, R&D, Innovation, Finance, Supply, and Commercial. The role creates and delivers North America’s Sourcing Innovation strategy; develops supplier capability and innovation pipelines; shapes financial and value-creation approaches; and establishes performance, governance, and continuous-improvement practices. It also owns the strategic graphics supplier relationship across the North America portfolio, including joint business planning, business reviews, performance, cost, and capacity. The position is based at the primary location listed as 3WTC, with additional locations at Plainfield Tech Centre and Stamford.

Requirements

University degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Engineering, or equivalent.
Six to eight years of experience in procurement, innovation, supply chain, and/or R&D in a fast-paced, forward-thinking, value-adding environment.
Experience in packaging and/or liquid categories, with exposure to new product development or commercialization.
Track record of building stakeholder alliances and influencing senior leaders across functions.
Experience developing and managing strategic supplier or agency relationships.
Strategic thinking and business acumen, with the ability to connect sourcing decisions to brand, category, and business strategy.
Influence and negotiation skills to shape decisions, build alignment, and navigate conflicting priorities in a matrixed organization.
Analytical and data-driven capabilities, including building business cases, cost models, and scenarios.
Advanced written and verbal communication and storytelling skills for communicating complex ideas to different audiences.
Critical thinking, risk sensing, trade-off analysis, and sound decision-making under ambiguity.
Change leadership and a continuous-improvement mindset, with the ability to take work from concept through execution.
Proficiency in SAP, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and a working understanding of source-to-pay processes.
Enthusiastic, tenacious, and a strong team player.

Nice To Haves

Purchasing, project management, and/or business qualification such as CIPS or an MBA.
Comfort with business intelligence tools such as Power BI or Tableau.
Curiosity about emerging technologies and AI and how they can improve insight generation and ways of working.

Responsibilities

Create and deliver the North America Sourcing Innovation strategy, linking the innovation pipeline to sourcing plans, supplier capability roadmaps, and value objectives.
Own the strategic graphics supplier relationship across the North America portfolio, including joint business planning, business reviews, performance, cost, and capacity.
Partner with Brand, Innovation, and R&D leadership early in the stage-gate process to shape concepts and inform go/no-go decisions on cost, supply risk, and supplier readiness.
Translate business innovation priorities into packaging and liquid category sourcing strategies aligned with global category strategy.
Establish Procurement Innovation best practices and an operating model, including handoffs from launch to base-business procurement.
Advise senior stakeholders and use data, scenarios, and clear communication to influence decisions and explain sourcing and financial drivers.
Build and manage an innovation pipeline with external partners; identify suppliers to address business challenges and turn supplier ideas into actionable projects.
Assess packaging and liquid supplier and market landscapes, including emerging technologies, materials, sustainability solutions, and supplier capabilities.
Lead supplier capability-gap assessments and determine when to develop, onboard, or exit suppliers.
Source new-to-world suppliers and technologies and lead strategic selection and negotiation of critical partnerships.
Design and run supplier-enabled innovation events, including innovation days and challenges, with R&D and Brand.
Guide COGS-setting for new-to-world components, establish cost-modeling principles, and challenge assumptions early in development.
Identify and deliver savings and value opportunities through innovation sourcing, design-to-value collaboration, and process improvement.
Anticipate supply risk and conduct scenario planning for the innovation portfolio, developing mitigation paths for critical launches.
Own the innovation KPI framework for packaging and liquid suppliers, including OTIF delivery and compliance, and use performance insights to drive supplier development.
Set innovation Supplier Performance Management and Supplier Lifecycle Development Process standards, and guide and coach Innovation Project Managers and Supply Category Procurement.
Define and champion Procure-to-Pay compliance requirements for innovation; embed them in ways of working, monitor compliance, and escalate recurring issues.
Lead process-improvement and Way of Working initiatives that simplify the innovation value chain and create scalable best practices.
Facilitate cross-functional forums with Finance, Supply, Marketing, Legal, Quality, and R&D, and escalate conflicting priorities to senior leaders.