Assistant Director, Strategic Sourcing & Category Manager

Assistant Director, Strategic Sourcing & Category Manager

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Reporting to the Director of Strategic Sourcing, the Assistant Director, Strategic Sourcing and Category Manager plays a critical role in optimizing the university's procurement processes and maximizing value across its supply chain. This position is responsible for leading strategic sourcing initiatives, developing and implementing category management strategies, and negotiating complex contracts to achieve best-in-class results. The ideal candidate will be a skilled negotiator, a strategic thinker, and an experienced professional with a deep understanding of the full procurement lifecycle.

This role requires a high degree of collaboration with University stakeholders, faculty, and staff to ensure that procurement activities align with institutional goals and support academic and research missions. This person will work closely with the Director of Strategic Sourcing to provide leadership to the Strategic Sourcing Team to include performing spend analysis, providing guidance to other team members, and leading special projects as assigned.

This position will have responsibility for multiple categories and will work collaboratively with assigned category stakeholders to influence campus buying behaviors with the goal of reducing costs, improving provider service levels and increasing efficiencies. Position will lead competitive bid processes and negotiate contracts to consolidate, reduce, and drive spend to strategic supplier suppliers. This position will be responsible for analyzing spending, assessing business needs, and conducting market research to identify savings opportunities.

Position will implement category strategies to achieve savings targets and will execute strategic sourcing events in partnership with campus stakeholders, track and report on savings and other key metrics. Position will also facilitate business reviews with strategic suppliers to elevate performance and support supplier relationship performance management efforts.

Success in this position requires the ability to multitask while balancing the responsibilities of the Assistant Director role as well as assigned category manager responsibilities. Position will initiate and execute clearly defined category strategies that align with SPC directives and priority initiatives while meeting target goals and measurable positive impact metrics. Critical success factors include continually monitoring and reporting on key metrics;

establishing collaborative stakeholder relationships and influencing buying behaviors to gain buy-in for process improvements and recommended strategies; developing and maintaining category subject matter expertise, negotiating competitive University-wide contracts and managing supplier relationships. Maintaining open communication and collaboration between key stakeholders and Strategic Sourcing will be critical to ensure continued strategic procurement effectiveness and success.

• Lead and manage all aspects of the strategic sourcing process, from needs assessment and market analysis to supplier selection and contract award.
• Manage the evaluation of supplier proposals and presentations, ensuring a fair and transparent selection process. Coordinate with department representatives and/or committee members through review & selection process.
• Develop and execute sourcing strategies for high-spend and critical categories, including Request for Proposals (RFPs), Request for Information (RFIs), and other competitive solicitations.
• Conduct comprehensive market research to identify potential suppliers, emerging technologies, and industry trends.
• Analyze spending data and stakeholder requirements to identify opportunities for cost savings, process efficiencies, and value creation.
• Collaborate with University departments to gain an understanding of unique service level requirements and availability of resources to define requirements and develop clear, concise sourcing documents (ensuring alignment with…