Senior Category Manager

Salesforce•Atlanta, GA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Salesforce is seeking a Senior Category Manager to join their Technology Sourcing Team. This individual contributor role is responsible for executing sourcing strategies and managing technology sourcing projects, with a focus on Software, SaaS, and Generative AI. The role involves negotiating and managing commercial contracts, fostering relationships with strategic software suppliers, and ensuring cost-effective procurement decisions. The position reports to the Sr. Director of Software Sourcing and operates on a hybrid schedule.

Requirements

BA/BS degree in Supply Chain Management, or Finance, plus 5-10 years experience or equivalent preferred.
A technical education, or knowledge of Software, SaaS licensing and Public Cloud is a must.
Strong understanding of legal concepts as related to contract negotiations.
Excellent relationship management skills, as well as the ability to work collaboratively with suppliers, and internal business customers, and senior management.
Strong presentation skills with the ability to analyze and explain pricing models and contract terms.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills and strong interpersonal skills.
Strong business acumen.
Experience in sourcing processes (i.e., RFx development and execution) and reviewing, analyzing, drafting and negotiating contract terms with respect to major projects of medium/high complexity.
Works well under pressure, ability to multitask and is a skilled time manager that is comfortable working under minimal supervision.

Nice To Haves

Experience presenting complex information to senior leaders.
Understanding of business contract law, and experience with negotiating contracts for the licensing of software; including AI complexities.
Experience negotiating AI solutions; with firm understanding of token based pricing / consumption models
Experience negotiating large enterprise software engagement
Experience using Salesforce and Coupa is desirable.

Responsibilities

Build and manage strategic relationships with stakeholders and suppliers.
Implement software-related supplier-sourcing strategies to ensure high quality, on time delivery, and cost competitiveness.
Collect data and perform spend analysis, category profiling, then analyze, and report data to explain economic forecast market trends, applying mathematical models and statistical techniques for cost modeling.
Provide category reports detailing spend and usage trends, supplier performance metrics, savings, and improvement opportunities, etc.
Support implementation of procurement best practices for cross-functional project teams.
Utilize RFI (Request for Information), RFP (Request for Proposal), and RFQ (Request for Quote) techniques to identify, select, and engage with suppliers to ensure competitive market advantage.
Implement proactive procurement philosophies, strategies, policies, procedures, and systems in order to meet business requirements and cost objectives.
Organize and support business reviews with suppliers including development, preparation and review of supplier scorecards and performance metrics.