Category Manager, Professional Services - Remote New England
The Opportunity
As a Category Manager, you will be responsible for managing all elements of MassMutual's category strategy for your assigned area. This will include the design, development, and oversight of a category plan (strategy). You will also serve as the lead contact between key business executives and procurement, understanding their strategy and aligning your category strategy appropriately. You will serve as the procurement expert for your category, partnering across the business and with other procurement functional areas including strategic sourcing, supplier diversity, procurement operations, and supplier relationship management. A strong mix of analytic, strategic vision, and communication skills will ensure your success. This position will be responsible for category management activities related to the purchase of professional services, with subcategories that include: consulting, financial services, and information services. You will report to the Head of Category Management & Strategic Sourcing.
The Team
The team is comprised of seasoned category management professionals with experience in procurement and category management. In addition, the team includes category analysts who support the category managers in designing and delivering the strategy. The broader procurement team in a rapidly developing and growing group of procurement professionals who are excited about transformation and improving procurement. The team understands the challenges of transformation and is capable of building and managing at the same time. The team is also highly collaborative and supportive, with development & training support available.
The Impact
Your impact would include but is not limited to:
Develop and execute complex category strategies aligned with business goals and budgetary targets
Drive key sourcing events and negotiations, leveraging the full suite of sourcing capabilities
Bring category subject matter expertise to optimize license structure across key 3rd party relationships, facilitating business growth while ensuring effective cost management
Work with Business to execute against the corporate strategy, providing key insight into 3rd party capabilities and industry trends.
Coordinate with Procurement, Contracting, Spend Analytics, Risk, Diversity, Accounts Payable, etc. to ensure an effective sourcing process and end-to-end supplier management approach
Work with broader sourcing team to set category baseline, conduct market analysis, RFIs, RFPs, etc.
Act as liaison with Stakeholders / Business owners for specific category escalations including being accountable for category prioritization and pipeline management. Develop and maintain strong advisory working relationships with key business, operations, and technology stakeholders
Champion third party risk management process compliance and Supplier Diversity
Work hand in hand with business customers to understand requirements, requests and feedback on vendors to support selection
Develop, lead and execute strategies for assigned categories
Analyze complex supplier data (including spend, usage and performance)
Create and monitor category budgets, as appropriate
Explore market opportunities to improve upon current spending
Assist in administration of bidding processes (i.e. Request for Proposal process)
Partner with Procurement and business stakeholders to develop and execute supplier negotiations strategies to achieve the best value and least risk for the organization
Minimum Qualifications
8+ years of professional working experience that required building strong relationships with stakeholders and partners
5+ years of experience in professional services category management
4+ years of experience negotiating with top management consulting firms
4+ years of Executive-level communication and presentation skills as well as listening skills enabling the stakeholders to align with our procurement best practices
Strong financial acumen and understanding of how effective category management relates to company results
Team player at executive levels who collaborates with business units and functional partners (i.e., IT, finance, HR, legal)
Strong influence skills to encourage leaders from across MassMutual towards positive supplier relationships and results delivery
Courage to influence across the organization for compliance with standards and escalate noncompliance when needed
Working knowledgeable of general procurement value stream best practices
Demonstrated verbal and written communication, change management capabilities, business acumen, project management and leadership skills
Understanding of rate card negotiations & onshore vs offshore analysis
Ideal Qualifications
8 years' experience in professional services sourcing, 3rd party relationship function for professional services, or in relevant professional services sales
Bachelor's degree in Finance, Supply Chain Management or related field
Experience creating and leading category strategy for professional services
Experience in large-scale sourcing activities (RFPs) to realign suppliers in the category
Extensive experience negotiating agreements and managing complex vendor / client relationships.
Subject Matter Expert in professional services subcategories, including extensive knowledge of market characteristics, cost and fee structures, competitive environment and key trends
Experience negotiation agreements that mix internal shared services center resources with external professional services resources
Extensive experience in managing professional services subcategories with a diverse set of category-relevant internal business constituents
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MassMutual is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer Minority/Female/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Individual with Disability/Protected Veteran. We welcome all persons to apply. Note: Veterans are welcome to apply, regardless of their discharge status.
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