Professional Services Category Manager

Nesco Resource•Fort Worth, TX

13h

About The Position

The Professional Services Category is part of American's Procurement organization and manages end-to-end sourcing across Contact Centers, Consulting Services, Benefits, Contingent Labor, Marketing, Legal, and Financial Services. The Category Manager/Senior Category Manager develops and implements sourcing strategies, leads contract negotiations, strengthens stakeholder engagement, and drives vendor value creation. The role involves building relationships with internal partners and vendors, leading sourcing events that deliver measurable savings and improvements, and addressing contracting, financial analysis, risk, legal, and regulatory requirements. The role leads strategic sourcing across the benefits vendor ecosystem, including medical carriers, PBMs, TPAs/ASO administrators, stop-loss carriers, brokers and consultants, benefits administration platforms, wellness vendors, voluntary benefits providers, and specialty point solutions. It evaluates proposals and supplier performance, negotiates commercial and contractual terms, delivers cost savings and value protection, supports compliance-aware vendor management, and creates governance tools and audit-ready documentation. The position partners with Legal, Finance, consultants, IT/security, business stakeholders, vendors, and senior leaders on sourcing, implementation, and transformation projects. The posting describes a growing, high-performing, collaborative Strategic Sourcing team, with opportunities to work on high-impact projects, engage senior leadership, develop procurement expertise, and build a professional network. Nesco Resource offers associates a benefits package that includes a MEC plan with Medical, Vision, Dental, 401K, and EAP services.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
At least 3 years of related work experience.
Sourcing experience in indirect categories other than IT or Contingent Labor.
Basic financial analysis and cost-savings skills, including Excel.
Strong project management skills.
Excellent problem-solving, customer-service, and communication skills.
Strong business acumen and understanding of supply-chain concepts, with work experience applying those concepts.
Negotiating and influencing skills.
Ability to use technical tools for analysis, problem-solving, forecasting, and quality improvement.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
High ethical standards.
Ability to navigate ambiguity, complex stakeholder dynamics, and change.
Self-directed, organized, and resourceful, with the ability to manage and prioritize multiple simultaneous tasks and execute as planned.
Strong communication, executive presence, positive attitude, and ability to work in a fast-paced environment while juggling projects.

Nice To Haves

Degree in Procurement, Supply Chain, Business Administration, Business Management, Finance, Accounting, or another related field.
Knowledge of Source to Pay systems.
Knowledge of Coupa and Levelpath.
Experience with benefits, including medical and pharmaceutical benefits.
Process-mapping abilities.
Supplier risk analysis experience.
Vendor relationship management skills.
Previous experience with Source to Pay systems.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end strategic sourcing, including category strategy development, RFx execution, supplier evaluation, market research, negotiations, and vendor performance monitoring.
Manage sourcing across the benefits vendor ecosystem, including medical carriers, PBMs, TPAs/ASO administrators, stop-loss carriers, brokers and consultants, benefits administration platforms, wellness vendors, voluntary benefits providers, and specialty point solutions.
Run RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, renewals, benchmarks, and market checks to support supplier comparisons, documented decisions, competitive leverage, and defensible sourcing outcomes.
Negotiate commercial and contractual terms, including pricing, fees, rebates, guarantees, SLAs, implementation obligations, audit and data-access rights, market-check language, termination terms, confidentiality, and renewal protections.
Analyze supplier proposals, claims and utilization trends, renewal projections, administrative fees, PEPM/PMPM structures, PBM economics, rebate arrangements, stop-loss terms, service levels, and total cost of ownership.
Deliver hard savings, cost avoidance, value protection, and working-capital improvements through sourcing, contract optimization, vendor consolidation, fee transparency, market checks, rebate and performance-guarantee improvements, and process optimization.
Partner with Legal, Finance, consultants, IT/security, and business stakeholders to align sourcing strategies, contract terms, implementation plans, financial impacts, and risk considerations.
Recognize when regulatory and plan-related topics require review, including ERISA fiduciary concepts, DOL service-provider oversight, broker/consultant compensation disclosures, voluntary benefit safe harbor requirements, RxDC, gag clause attestation, Transparency in Coverage, HIPAA, ACA, COBRA, and plan documents.
Create and manage vendor governance tools, including scorecards, performance-guarantee trackers, SLA dashboards, QBR/BR materials, corrective action plans, escalation paths, renewal dashboards, and contract compliance reviews.
Monitor vendor performance against contractual, operational, financial, service, implementation, reporting, member-experience, and compliance expectations, and drive timely resolution of performance gaps.
Maintain organized, audit-ready sourcing, evaluation, negotiation, business-case, financial-improvement, contract, and vendor-governance documentation.
Manage high-visibility and regulatory-complex projects, applying project management, executive communication, stakeholder influence, analytical storytelling, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.