Sr. Category Leader, IT - (req68285)

Kohler • Kohler, WI

127d • $129,150 - $165,000

About The Position

This role will be responsible for supporting the financial and operational performance within specific areas of IT Categories including a share of the $175M IT spend. Responsible for negotiating XaaS, telecom, infrastructure, security, AI, and IT service agreements globally, for all business units. Accountable for supporting the IT team with supplier selection, value analysis, and go/no go decisions. Serves as the liaison between legal, privacy, risk, IT and business stakeholders and supplier partners. Analyzes supplier quotations, SOWs and other contracts to determine the best solution based upon metrics such as value delivered and total cost of ownership. Familiar with a variety of purchasing concepts, practices, and procedures.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Supply Chain, Operations, IT, Business or another related field (Advanced degree a plus)
• Minimum 10 years of IT and/or strategic purchasing experience (specific IT purchasing experience a plus)
• Experience independently managing contracts and projects with $1-10M in annual spend
• Experience utilizing supplier and contract management platforms (Jaggaer a plus)

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of Category Strategies
• Learn and understand the current state of the category in the market and at Kohler
• Identify gaps issues and challenges affecting assurance of supply, quality, service, cost, lack of innovation and relationships
• Proactively identify future areas of opportunity to address cost, building a pipeline of value to be executed through a variety of sourcing and other approaches
• Support the execution of IT and business projects and initiatives focused on driving and delivering value to the organization
• Develop sourcing strategies for cross-functional RFx, evaluation, supplier selection, proposal analysis, and contract negotiation
• Manage and defend against cost increases at contract renewal
• Implement various negotiation tactics to minimize unfavorable risk and impact to Kohler
• Evaluate and support the addition of new providers and technology, and improved processes
• Support the management of existing vendor relationships and performance
• Interact with senior leaders and report on cost savings and avoidance, risk mitigation, and keep stakeholders informed of project development
• Become an expert in understanding the procurement purpose and process
• Develop key relationships with stakeholders and provide training and support
• Identify areas of improvement in the procurement team and process, and propose changes to make improvements happen

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• 401k

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Electrical Equipment, Appliance, and Component Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree