Raw Materials & Fuels Category Advisor

UNACEM North America•Scottsdale, AZ

14h

About The Position

Leads UNACEM North America’s Raw Materials & Fuels categories, covering limestone, additives, supplementary cementitious materials, gypsum, bauxite, coal, petcoke, gas, and alternative fuels. The role maintains category profiles and supplier market maps; runs sourcing events; administers contracts; monitors supplier performance; and applies the category strategy set by the National Categories Manager to keep plants supplied. The position manages day-to-day category activity, executes the sourcing calendar, administers contracts and suppliers, and maintains spend, cost, reliability, and market information used for category decisions. It supports production costs, plant reliability, inventory coverage, and the business’s alternative fuels and sustainability objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business Administration, Engineering, Economics, or a related field.
Three to five years of experience in procurement, category management, strategic sourcing, or supply chain.
Demonstrated experience running sourcing events and preparing bid comparisons and award recommendations.
Knowledge of category management practices, including category profiling, spend segmentation, sourcing levers, and supplier positioning.
Knowledge of sourcing event execution, including request for quotation preparation, bid comparison, cost evaluation, and award documentation.
Knowledge of raw materials and fuels used in cement production, including limestone, clay, iron ore, gypsum, pozzolans, slag, fly ash, coal, petcoke, natural gas, diesel, and alternative fuels.
Knowledge of specifications and quality parameters for cement raw materials and fuels, including calorific value, moisture, ash, and chemical composition.
Knowledge of commodity price indices, cost drivers, and freight conditions affecting raw materials and fuels.
Knowledge of spend analysis, cost breakdowns, and total cost of ownership at category level.
Knowledge of contract administration and management of framework agreements and supply contracts.
Knowledge of supplier qualification, performance measurement, supplier reviews, and claims management.
Knowledge of procurement systems and spend analytics, including SAP or equivalent platforms, and advanced proficiency in Excel.
Knowledge of procurement controls, ethics, and compliance frameworks governing purchasing.

Nice To Haves

Professional certification such as CPSM or CIPS.
Experience in cement, building materials, mining, manufacturing, or industrial environments.

Responsibilities

Maintain complete and current category profiles, including spend, volumes, specifications, suppliers, contracts, and price history.
Build and update supplier market maps, identifying available sources, capacity, logistics positions, and competitive dynamics.
Execute the category sourcing calendar and keep requests for quotation and sourcing events on schedule through award.
Prepare bid comparisons and award recommendations by evaluating price, specifications, logistics costs, service, and supply reliability.
Prepare negotiation materials, including cost breakdowns, price benchmarks, index references, and supplier positioning.
Participate in negotiations for assigned materials and fuels, securing competitive conditions and documenting agreed terms.
Administer contracts and framework agreements, tracking volumes, prices, expiry dates, renewals, and compliance with agreed terms.
Monitor supplier delivery, quality, service, and claims performance, and conduct supplier reviews with plants.
Manage supplier qualification and onboarding, maintaining qualified alternative sources for critical materials and fuels.
Monitor commodity prices, indices, and freight conditions, and report movements and their effects on category costs.
Track and document category savings and support their validation with Finance.
Coordinate category demand with plant operations, maintenance, quality, and process teams, aligning specifications, consumption, and coverage requirements.
Coordinate with the Sourcing & Inventory team on replenishment, purchase order execution, and inventory coverage.
Support qualification of alternative fuels and supplementary cementitious materials in support of business substitution targets.
Maintain accurate, complete, and auditable category records and master data in procurement systems.
Support the annual category strategy review with spend analysis, market information, and plant requirements.
Compare supply alternatives by price, specifications, logistics costs, and reliability to recommend options.
Assess price and index movements and advise on purchasing timing and contract structure.
Resolve day-to-day supplier and plant supply, quality, and service matters to maintain material availability.
Reconcile plant specification requirements with available market sources and conditions, and prioritize category workload across sourcing events, renewals, and plant needs.