Sr. Consultant, Procurement Category Management | HR and Corporate Services

Nationwide Mutual Insurance • Columbus, OH

12h • Onsite

About The Position

This role serves as a senior procurement category lead for Human Resources and select Corporate Services sourcing, with primary ownership of the Total Rewards portfolio. The role directly owns category strategy, sourcing execution, and supplier management for Associate and Retiree Benefits Planning & Programs, Retirement Programs, and Disability and Leave Management. In addition to direct category ownership, this position provides leadership and coverage across a broader HR and Corporate Services portfolio supported by a team of three, including Talent Acquisition & Culture, Compensation, Associate Wellbeing & Safety, Talent Management, Fleet Services, Aviation, and Protective Services workstreams.

Requirements

• Undergraduate degree in supply management, procurement, business, finance, accounting, management information systems, economics or related fields strongly preferred.
• Procurement, purchasing or project management designations, as applicable.
• Typically, 10 or more years of business experience in all aspects of procurement processes, specific to the specialized category, including contract negotiation and project management or equivalent professional experience in other closely related industries.
• Proven, specialized knowledge in a technical spend domain (category).
• Must have a thorough understanding of supply chain management and procurement policies, programs, practices and procedures.
• Must have knowledge or familiarity of current information technologies.
• Demonstrated knowledge in project management concepts and techniques.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills to interact and collaborate with all levels in the business units and external suppliers.
• Ability to display executive presence and command skills.
• Ability to develop and influence relationships with suppliers and top-level leaders.
• Ability to negotiate highly complex and integrated business solutions which include, contracts, fee schedules, legal terms and conditions and service level agreements.
• Advanced skills in mathematical, financial or statistical concepts to handle all aspects of financial planning and analysis as well as procurement processes.
• Analytical and business savvy to develop, recommend and implement innovative and sophisticated solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret and understand the most complex legal documents and contracts.
• Ability to present such material and information to a variety of audiences.
• Advanced proficiency in common office software, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, accounts payable systems.
• Ability to keep abreast of current technical category trends.
• Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.

Nice To Haves

• Strong experience in category management and sourcing for benefits, retirement, leave management, talent-related services, or other complex business services categories.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple stakeholder groups
• Ability to lead complex negotiations, oversee strategic suppliers, and coach or coordinate work across consultants and specialists supporting adjacent categories.

Responsibilities

• Lead category strategy development, sourcing execution, supplier negotiations, renewals, and contract support across assigned HR and Corporate Services categories.
• Serve as the primary Procurement partner for Total Rewards stakeholders and coordinate closely with team members aligned to Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, and Corporate Services support areas.
• Drive stakeholder alignment, supplier governance, risk mitigation, and long-range category planning across strategic and service-intensive spend categories.
• Translate business needs into sourcing strategies that balance service quality, compliance, supplier performance, and enterprise value.
• Partners and collaborates with multiple Business Partners, Finance, Technology and other Procurement team members to manage new, complex sourcing requests, current contract pipelines for multimillion dollar categories and vendor agreements.
• Work with reporting teams to develop data analytics and make changes to Procurement policy and procedures to ensure a predictable, easy-to-follow and efficient procurement process.
• Conducts extensive, continuous industry research and benchmark analysis within a defined spend category.
• Establishes a detailed category strategy for a highly technical domain, monitors purchasing trends and identifies top suppliers and innovations within the category.
• Consults with Business Partners and is a trusted advisor to manage Business Unit and Procurement relationship, by building forecasts of demand, service levels requirements, Total Cost of Ownership models, contractual and other risk requirements (by category domain, actual and forecasted spend), identifying cost reduction opportunities, and developing recommendations.
• Acts as Project Manager executing with business partners, Finance, and Technology.
• Facilitates highly complex competitive bid activity, including requests for proposal (RFP), quote (RFQ) or information (RFI), where applicable.
• Negotiates the terms of the contract, including conditions, clauses, and service level agreements.
• Documents achieved savings for Finance approval.
• Assesses supplier risk prior to contract and collaborates with applicable risk partners, including Information Risk Management, Technology Review Boards, Privacy etc., for additional specialized assessments or necessary contract provisions.
• Analyzes and aligns Category goals and objectives to maximize usage of top suppliers and best practices in Sustainability.
• Mentors and trains new associates on Procurement policy, processes and helps them develop Sourcing Skills.
• May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Benefits

• medical/dental/vision
• life insurance
• short and long term disability coverage
• paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date
• nine paid holidays
• 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off
• 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off
• 401(k) with company match
• company-paid pension plan
• business casual attire

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree