Director, Category Management

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On the Mass Mutual Procurement team, we have a goal to enable Mass Mutual’s mission and vision by providing the right supplier solution at the right time. Our mission is to streamline the procurement process, align supplier partners to meet business needs and continuously increase the value provided to our policyholders. Mass Mutual is hiring experienced business professionals with substantial team‑leadership experience in procurement, specifically Category Management.

This role will lead a team of procurement professionals to support the initiatives of the assigned categories.

The team is comprised of seasoned, collaborative professionals with experience in procurement, category management, supplier management, and sourcing.

• Responsible for the management of Category teams (5-8) comprised of experienced Category Managers.
• Team may engage in high dollar value deals (in excess of $1 million dollars), organizational M&A activity and high-level escalations. Team is also responsible for a wide range of portfolios.
• Responsible for setting goals and objectives for team, providing guidance and support and communicating job expectations.
• Leads Procurement work across assigned areas and supports the Head of Category Management.
• Execute complex category and supplier strategies aligned with business goals and budgetary targets.
• Drive key sourcing events and negotiations, leveraging the full suite of sourcing capabilities.
• Work with stakeholders to execute against the corporate strategy, providing key insight into 3rd party capabilities, and help align on company-wide supplier management strategies and industry trends.
• Work with sourcing professionals to set category baseline, conduct market analysis, RFIs, RFPs, etc.
• Act as liaison with stakeholders for specific category escalations including being accountable for category prioritization and pipeline management including serving as the supplier relationship champion and expert of strategic supplier relationships.
• Work hand in hand with business customers to understand requirements, requests and feedback on vendors to support selection.
• Handles complex long-term focused projects involving multiple disciplines or business units.
• Partner with Procurement and stakeholders to develop and execute supplier negotiations strategies to achieve the best value and least risk for the organization.
• Guide Procurement in preparation for and facilitating of contract negotiations and oversee the overall contracting process from a supplier experience and quality standpoint.
• Lead supplier onboarding and offboarding activities, including, but not limited to, coordinating supplier training, granting system access and ensuring that the supplier is familiar with main contacts.
• Ensures that services and products meet the strategic needs of stakeholders. Participates in the negotiation process of SLA agreements and ensures that contractual obligations are met.
• Pursues new supplier relationships, when necessary, seeks to achieve the most profitable service from suppliers. May initiate contract changes when required.
• Strengthen the process structure for Category management by improving standards and partnering with other Procurement functions to develop best practices.
• Mentor and/or direct less experienced managers or employees.
• Responsible for Procurement processes not limited to Product/Service Sourcing, Supplier Selection, Pricing/Terms Negotiation, Order Processing, Contract Administration, Supplier Performance Management, and Strategic Sourcing.
• Bring category subject matter expertise to optimize license structure across key 3rd party relationships, facilitating business growth while ensuring effective cost management.
• Determine and lead appropriate supplier specific ongoing monitoring plan (operational business review meetings, executive oversight meetings, issue management reviews, performance monitoring, contract management reviews, risk management reviews etc.)
• Lead investigations on all supplier issues by working with relevant internal stakeholders and help the supplier to resolve issues efficiently. Loop in appropriate Mass…