North American Chemical

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced North American Chemical & Energy Procurement Category Manager to join our team. As a North American Chemical & Energy Procurement Category Manager, you will be responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and performance of a specific product category within our company. Your main goal will be to maximize sales and profitability by effectively managing inventory, analyzing sales data, and implementing effective pricing strategies.

Description: The North American Chemical & Energy Procurement Category Manager is responsible for the strategic management of all Utilities, Industrial Gases, Chemical and Energy procurement in the North America region. He/she will be responsible for driving value delivery, including savings, innovation, quality, sustainability, speed, and risk management. This individual is tasked with developing and executing comprehensive category strategies, managing supplier relationships, and leveraging market insights to achieve competitive advantage and cost savings. The Category Manager collaborates closely with cross-regional, cross-functional, and cross-segment teams to understand business needs, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement procurement initiatives.

Responsibilities/Job Requirements : Develops and executes category strategies, driving value through data-driven initiatives on demand mgmt., strategic sourcing, innovation, and process efficiencies for all aspects of Utilities, Industrial Gases, Chemical & Energy procurement in the North America region. Conducts thorough market research and analysis to understand industry trends, supplier landscapes, and emerging opportunities and risks. Understanding Manufacturing and Business needs and the supplier capabilities. Know the market, the relative importance of cost, demand, and growth rates of the business, etc. Builds strong relationships with key suppliers, conducts negotiations, manages contracts, and evaluates supplier performance to ensure mutual success. Provides expertise on functional and cross functional teams, special projects, etc. and utilizes knowledge to work directly with functional groups to obtain resolution. Works closely with the Procurement Operations Leader and Site Procurement Manager, to identify recurring service failures and risk management. Partners with business to understand requirements and ensure that category strategies align with broader organizational objectives and support business needs. Guide the development of strategies and tactics for management of Chemical and Energy procurement, creating efficiencies and lowering costs. Ensure quality and regulatory compliance procedures and processes are in place. Drives alignment with fellow Category Managers to achieve value synergies across regions and segments and share best practices. Initiates, organizes, and leads improvement efforts. Leads tender events and award recommendations, working out price agreements and frame contracts. Develop and execute a low cost/high service strategy in accordance with the overall sourcing and procurement strategic plan. Drafts, reviews, and finalizes contract creation. Maintains initiatives in PMO tracking tool and reports initiative progress and procurement KPIs to CPO on a biweekly basis. Identifies and mitigates risks within category, including supply chain disruptions, price volatility, and compliance. Evaluates new digital tools (e.g. e-auction) and supports implementation plan where applicable. Influences leadership decisions toward right outcomes, accounting for perspectives in category management. Drives and improves the performance of strategic activities within Procurement organization. Develops short term and long-term strategies to improve service, lower costs, and enabling growth, through a deep knowledge of trends in the chemical and energy sector. Develops and executes strategies, driving value through initiatives on demand management, strategic sourcing, process efficiencies and innovation. Develop, and implement strategies to identify and institutionalize best practices to improve all aspects of the planning, supply network and asset management services to ensure the company has a service and cost advantage versus our competition. Promote and champion new ideas and best practices. Introduce and champion Best Practices of top performing Procurement organizations. Develop, monitor, report and meet department budgets as agreed to, with sourcing management. Work with the respective site operations on incidental charges or Operational Flow Orders (OFO) for natural gas, with a view to mitigating or averting these costs; includes sample vetting of monthly invoices prior to submission to Accounts Payable. Works with IT Support or Service-Provider to correct I/T systems issues identified by Site Procurement Operations etc. to optimize & improve efficiencies through automation.

Functional Competencies : Strategic planning and implementation: Develops and implements procurement strategies specific to chemical and energy procurement. Savings initiative leadership: Adept in conducting strategic sourcing, leading projects, and challenging status quo. Category data analysis: Proficient in conducting in-depth analyses to inform data-driven decision-making. Market interventions leadership: Able to lead market screenings, tenders, and concept competitions. Supplier and market analysis: Understands market dynamics, cost structures, and supply market trends. Negotiation strategy: Develop effective negotiation strategies and implement them to secure favorable terms. Awarding: Highly capable of preparing award scenarios and recommendations, price agreements, & frame contracts. Contract creation: Skilled in drafting & reviewing contracts. Performance tracking: Assesses internal capabilities and performance based on established benchmarks and targets. Supplier development and collaboration: Fosters collaboration and mutual success with key suppliers. Digital tools evaluation: Sufficient knowledge in digital tools and capable of effectively implementing in practice.

Professional Competencies : Influential decision-making: Ability to convey strong business cases to decision-makers; considers diverse views. Strategic thinking development: Ability to shift focus beyond transactional activities and into strategic value. Stakeholder collaboration: Ability to work effectively with both internal and external stakeholders where relevant.

Education : Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Finance, Supply Chain, or other equivalent field, MBA/ advanced degree will be a plus. Certifications such as CPSM, CTPRP, CISA, CISSP are highly regarded.

Work Experience : 10+ years of total working experience in procurement. 5+ years in category management role, preferably in the same or similar category applied for and within large companies (USD 250 million+ in procurement spend). Proven track record in identifying and implementing initiatives with significant impact on total procurement value, leveraging various value creation tools and strategies. Proven track record in collaborating with category managers across regions and business segments to co-create value. Proven track record in managing diverse supplier bases, improving supplier performance, and driving innovation. Experience in driving strategic decisions based on comprehensive market analysis and identification of trends. Experience in negotiating, managing, and administering complex contracts with key suppliers. Experience in integrating digital tools with procurement processes. Experience in issue-resolution, with proven track record of identifying root causes and resolving issues. Experience with workflow management tools, and ERP systems (e.g. SAP), and Microsoft office applications, including managing large databases.

To be considered for employment in this position you must be eligible to work in the United States without company sponsorship now or in the future.

We are an equal opportunity employer.

Drug tests are required unless prohibited by state law.

This employer uses E-Verify

#J-18808-Ljbffr