As the Senior Category Manager for the Knowledge and Data service line within External Capabilities and Insights (eC&I), you will lead one of the firm's most critical, high-impact, and rapidly evolving category portfolios. This is a senior leadership role that blends strategic direction-setting, hands-on operational execution, and people leadership with direct implications for how the firm leverages third-party Knowledge and Data providers to deliver world-class client service. You will serve as the firm's owner for this category, with accountability for shaping and executing a bold multi-year strategy that aligns with firm's, practice's, and client service team's (CST) needs. This includes evolving the external capability ecosystem, unlocking innovation through generative AI (gen AI) and emerging technologies, modernizing commercial models, and embedding best-in-class governance across procurement, risk, IP, and ESG. Your mandate is to ensure the right capabilities are in place reliably, responsibly, and at-scale; to meet the firm's most pressing client and knowledge needs. You will oversee a dedicated team of Category Managers and Specialists, each responsible for a specific practice portfolio. You will lead across this structure, guiding direction, challenging, and aligning strategy across diverse stakeholder groups. You will engage deeply with practice leadership, CSTs, Optimize, and Firm Functions to orchestrate consistent, high-value delivery across all areas of the Knowledge and Data service line. You will also act as a critical thought partner and operating arm to the Global Director of eC&I; helping steer team priorities, shape the broader eC&I delivery, and lead from the front on cross-service-line/ functional initiatives. You will play a central role in shaping how McKinsey sources, integrates, scales, governs, and deploys external knowledge in an increasingly complex fast-moving, risk-conscious environment. You will serve as a key architect of the firm's Knowledge and Data operating model, managing strategic vendor relationships, leading complex negotiations, and driving the commercial and performance agenda with rigor. You will ensure service line health by owning financial oversight, supplier performance tracking, and SOP development in close collaboration with Optimize Chassis, Legal, Risk, and Finance. Equally important, you will serve as a sponsor, mentor, and coach to senior talent—investing deeply in building a culture of apprenticeship, excellence, and inclusive leadership. You will develop future category leaders while modeling the standards of strategic judgment, collaboration, and integrity expected at this level. This is a senior leadership position with firm-wide reach, structural impact, and direct relevance to how we serve clients. As the senior-most leader for Knowledge and Data within eC&I, you will operate as a true extension of the Global Director providing leverage across the full portfolio, steering priority initiatives, and stepping in to lead from the front. Success in this role requires sound judgment, personal maturity, and a founder's mindset, with the ability to translate vision into execution and ambiguity into impact.