Senior Category Manager, Packaging

Tenneco • Northville, MI

299d

About The Position

Tenneco is one of the world's leading designer, manufacturers and marketers of automotive products for original equipment and aftermarket customers, with approximately 78,000 team members working at more than 300 sites worldwide. Through our four business groups, Motorparts, Ride Performance, Clean Air and Powertrain, Tenneco is driving advancements in global mobility by delivering technology solutions for diversified global markets, including light vehicle, commercial truck, off-highway, industrial, motorsport and the aftermarket. This position is responsible for leading value generation, sourcing, and profitability improvement initiatives to optimize indirect and corporate spend across various packaging categories such as Corrugate, Cartons, Packaging Supplies, Returnable/Reusable Packaging, and Pallets. Close interaction and coordination with internal partners and external suppliers is required. Success will be measured on spend addressed, savings achieved, and working capital impact. The central challenge of the position is to capture value from indirect spend categories while meeting key business objectives such as service, quality, timing, and security of supply. The position may be based in Northville, MI and reports directly to the Executive Director, Indirect Procurement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in business, engineering, or related field.
• MBA or other advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Supply Chain Management, Procurement, or similar roles.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• In-depth experience with world-class strategic sourcing and category management practices, including e-Sourcing.
• Self-confidence and clarity of expression to lead discussions with internal executive audiences.
• Hands-on experience leading multi-regional or global initiatives.
• Proficient in relevant supply chain and business software, such as SAP and ERP programs.
• Experience managing indirect spend categories using multi-step strategic sourcing processes.
• Track record of managing change through influence.
• Expert-level financial and analytical skills.
• Strong project management skills, including stakeholder, timeline, and meeting management skills.
• Strong negotiation skills; expert understanding of terms, conditions, and contracting techniques.
• Excellent communication skills, including written, verbal and presentation skills.
• Able to work up, down, and across a large organization.
• A flexible, dynamic, self-demanding and proactive individual.

Responsibilities

• Help to drive corporate indirect procurement and profit improvement.
• Work with corporate team, business units, and regional stakeholders to prioritize an evolving portfolio of high-value process improvement and sourcing initiatives.
• Serve as a full partner to the business in evaluating and challenging the status quo to surface value opportunities.
• Lead the aggregation, normalization, and analysis of spend data to identify potential value opportunities.
• Ensure proper sequencing and business support for value capture initiatives.
• Drive sourcing projects emerging from category planning.
• Define goals, including roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.
• Incorporate business requirements into sourcing plans and RFP strategies.
• Manage the planning and launch of RFx events, leveraging eSourcing tools as appropriate.
• Enhance competition by leveraging spend and qualified new suppliers.
• Leverage market trends and intelligence to drive value and provide guidance to stakeholders and businesses.
• Coordinate and lead negotiations; help stakeholders understand trade-offs and benefits of negotiation strategies/outcomes.
• Develop global/regional contracts that are commercially sound and provide optimum protection of company assets.
• Quantify and report both identified and implemented sourcing project results.
• Identify and capture profit improvement opportunities beyond leveraged sourcing.
• Ensure appropriate cross-functional partnering on process improvement projects.
• Track and work with corporate finance to report results for identified projects.
• Foster relationships with suppliers to create short-term and long-term value for the company.
• Lead global business reviews with strategic suppliers to ensure performance against contracted obligations and business unit expectations.
• Anticipate and minimize performance issues via use of key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Identify root causes and drive for efficient resolution of issues at hand by working across both internal and external stakeholders.

What This Job Offers

• Industry: Transportation Equipment Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree