Category Manager, IT & Corporate Services

This is a full-time position that will report to Director, Indirect Sourcing and COE. The Sourcing Manager, Corporate Services and IT has primary sourcing responsibilities for Tier 1 Vendors, with leadership responsibilities for their team supporting Corporate Services and IT Sourcing. Deliverables include Tier 1 supplier engagement, leading sourcing events and conducting category management activities of spend, while maintaining/improving product quality and supplier service levels. The successful candidate will continuously apply the 4-step procurement framework to categories and identify efficiency and cost reduction opportunities in alignment with key stakeholder priorities in functional member organizations and in corporate functions.

• Oversee Information Technology and Professional Services category strategy development with a cross-functional, category team to:
  
  
  
  • Create the situation assessment for the category including internal and external assessments, analysis of the business requirements, value chain and capability assessments (SWOT, 5-Forces, SCP, cost curves, etc.)
  • Lead option generation that includes commercial, specification and demand levers and choices of what we will do and what we will not do
  • Prioritize category strategy option execution in alignment with business, technology and manufacturing requirements
  
  
  
  

• Conduct IT/Professional Services category management activities
  
  
  
  • Lead initiatives that deliver the value (cost savings or value to functional area) utilizing project management skills and change management techniques
  • Track the performance of spend to understand price and volume variances; make adjustments to approaches based on results.
  • Develop and lead supplier relationship teams, where applicable, to drive continuous performance improvement (annual target development, quarterly progress, etc)
  • Develop supplier engagement plans for major suppliers.
  • Conduct supplier development activities to identify additional potential suppliers.
  • Lead sourcing events for the IT and Professional Services category
  • Lead and conduct RFI's and RFP's utilizing an eRFx tool as the preferred method of engagement.
  • Negotiate contracts and amendments as necessary to deliver the category strategy and deliver initial and ongoing cost advantage.
  • Ensure pricing is managed per the contract and approve all price increase requests by suppliers.
  
  
  
  

• Bachelors Degree required (business, engineering, science, or supply chain) with Masters Degree preferred.
• A minimum of 5 years commercial experience is required.
• Previous exposure to purchasing, sourcing or commercial experience such as contract negotiations, market assessments, strategy frameworks (e.g. Porter analysis, SWOT analysis, etc) is strongly preferred.
• Five years project and/or program management background.

• Strong ability to communicate verbally and in writing to build consensus with individuals and stakeholder groups in a variety of situations.
• Experience dealing with complex vendor relationships to deliver optimum value for Eastman
• Experience with Information Technology ERP Software (SAP) or Systems specification, capability, and normal commercial offer terms for large enterprises (>1000 users).
• Experience with problem solving in a structured manner using data and problem-solving frameworks.
• Demonstrated Capability to learn new techniques and quickly applying them (action orientation).
• Experience leading cross-functional teams in challenging situations.