Senior Manager, Technology Category Management

Cencora • USA > TX > Remote, TX

1d • $94,500 - $148,060

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Technology Category Management owns assigned technology spend sourcing activity within one of three categories: Hardware/Telecom/Cloud, Software, or Technology Services. The role develops and executes category strategy, partners with business and IT stakeholders to capture value, and leads and coaches the team supporting the category. This is a critical role in delivering savings, risk reduction, and supplier performance for the enterprise.

The position manages category strategies and sourcing plans, identifies and delivers productivity, leads sourcing events and negotiations, and oversees supplier performance and contract compliance. It coordinates stakeholders across business, IT, Legal, Finance, Security, Sourcing, and regional teams; manages financial and performance measures; and applies market and technology insights to category strategy. The role also supports mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures and corporate initiatives, leads process improvement and standardization, oversees an onshore and offshore team, and helps drive AI adoption in procurement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Information Technology, or a related field.
• At least 7 years of experience in strategic sourcing, category management, or procurement, including at least 5 years focused on technology categories.
• Experience in the assigned technology category: hardware/telecom/cloud, software, or technology services.
• At least 3 years of experience leading or coaching team members.
• Demonstrated success negotiating complex, high-value technology contracts and delivering measurable savings.
• Strong understanding of technology commercial models, including licensing, subscription, consumption, SOW/T&M/fixed-price, and SLAs, and related risk, data privacy, and security considerations.
• Advanced analytical skills and proficiency with spend analytics and sourcing tools such as Ariba, Power BI, and Excel.
• Excellent communication and executive presence, with proven ability to influence senior business and IT stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• MBA or another advanced degree.
• Experience managing teams across multiple geographies.
• Experience with MA&D sourcing support.
• Experience in healthcare, pharma, or another regulated industry.
• Professional certification such as CPSM, CPP, ISM, or similar.

Responsibilities

• Define and manage category strategies, sourcing plans, pipeline priorities, annual category plans, and contributions to five-year and long-range plans.
• Own category productivity, analyzing spend, demand, and market data to identify savings and cost-avoidance opportunities and maintaining a prioritized pipeline.
• Lead sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations, and award recommendations, including select enterprise contracts end-to-end; guide the team on complex commercial and contractual issues.
• Drive realization of negotiated productivity by validating savings with Finance, ensuring negotiated terms are implemented and adopted, and tracking benefits to completion.
• Manage supplier performance, contract compliance, and issue resolution; conduct business reviews, track SLAs and KPIs, monitor financial and cyber risk, and advance innovation and sustainability commitments.
• Lead quarterly business reviews with strategic technology suppliers to assess performance and supplier accountability.
• Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders to align requirements, specifications, timelines, and handoffs; serve as a primary contact for business, IT, and vendor leadership and provide senior leadership with status, risks, and recommendations.
• Manage category budgets, savings tracking, resource utilization, short-term delivery plans, and category performance using financial, capacity, and quality metrics.
• Maintain knowledge of market trends, emerging technologies, and vendor capabilities to inform strategy and negotiations.
• Support MA&D and corporate initiatives, including due diligence, synergy identification, Day-1 readiness, vendor rationalization, and post-transaction integration or separation.
• Lead process improvements, onboarding, cross-training, and local standardization; review and update category policies, procedures, and playbooks.
• Oversee team performance across onshore and offshore locations; assign and review work, set goals, coach development, support talent decisions, and maintain team routines, accountability, and escalation paths.
• Bridge procurement domain knowledge with scalable AI deployment to drive operational efficiency, cost-out strategies, and automated workflows.
• Support the Director in stakeholder engagement and relationship management, fostering innovation, collaboration, and alignment across functions.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision care.
• Support for working families, which may include backup dependent care, adoption assistance, infertility coverage, family-building support, behavioral health solutions, paid parental leave, and paid caregiver leave.
• Training programs, professional development resources, and mentorship opportunities.
• Opportunities to participate in employee resource groups and volunteer activities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior