IT Procurement Category Manager

About this role: 

Gartner Category Managers play an essential role leading strategic sourcing opportunities, developing category plans and negotiating highly complex contracts on behalf of multiple stakeholders. They are highly effective communicators, able to articulate the value proposition of partnering early and often with the greater Source to Contract team. This role will be responsible for Global IT Software Solutions, Subscription Agreements, and Mobility Agreements. This role routinely influences and advises senior leaders on innovative sourcing strategies that create sustainable, long-term partnerships for the overall organization.  

What you’ll do: 

• Establish strong relationships with stakeholders; building a robust understanding of mission critical priorities and requirements across spend categories and suppliers. 

• Work collaboratively with geographically dispersed stakeholders to develop strategic category plans for IT Software, Subscription and Mobility categories. Gain alignment on sourcing and negotiation strategies and short/long term category roadmaps. 

• Serve as the Procurement SME for your stakeholders and guide them on strategic sourcing and operational procurement processes. Communicate early and often. Proactively seek ways to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. 

• Maintain knowledge of current category trends, supplier capabilities and changes within the supplier and technology landscape for traditional and emerging solutions. 

• Lead cross-functional teams through a disciplined sourcing process. Facilitate stakeholders through developing requirements, evaluating suppliers and supplier selection using effective project management skills. Ensure all sourcing initiatives are conducted in a fair and ethical manner which provides a level playing field for all participants. 

• Develop negotiation plans aligned with stakeholder desired outcomes for TCO, SLAs and key business terms. Demonstrate competency and knowledge of contract development, key contracting principles, standard terms, laws/regulations and industry standards during contract negotiations. 

• Organize data sets and develop meaningful analysis of spend, cost and performance metrics. Present compelling business cases to influence decision-makers at all levels of the organization. 

• Manage compliance during all phases the contracting process. Coordinate with Gartner Legal, Finance, and IT Security when needed. Ensure all Third-Party Risk Management checks are complete prior to contract signature. Route contracts for approval and signature as required by Gartner policy. 

• Develop and facilitate business reviews with stakeholders to review supplier performance, future opportunities and/or challenges.  

• Guide stakeholders on preferred suppliers. Develop supplier management strategy to reduce and consolidate global suppliers. 

• Conduct routine planning sessions with your stakeholders to ensure addressable spend in the assigned categories are under source to contract management.  

• Potentially be a people manager in this position.  

What you’ll need: 

• Bachelor’s Degree required; Master’s Degree preferred.  

• 5+ years of relevant sourcing and negotiation experience of highly complex technology agreements across software categories with demonstrated ability to lead and delivery value. 

• Strong analytical skills with proficiency to tell the story of “what the data means”. 

• Compelling collaboration skills that foster strong relationships with internal & external business partners. 

• Ability to be creative and innovative in finding solutions and negotiating strategies. Insatiable desire to learn more and improve every day. 

• Ability to work in a fast paced, high-pressure environment and prioritize own workload 

• Strong ability to work independently and make decisions within scope of role without management approval 

• Unquestionable ethics and the desire to always do the right thing. 

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite applications, G-suite and Sourcing/Procurement solutions for e-sourcing, spend analytics, contract lifecycle management (CLM) and Procure-to-Pay (P2P). 

• Ability to manage multiple simultaneous projects requiring frequent communication, organization, time management, and problem-solving skills. 

• Ability to work with and lead geographically dispersed cross-functional teams. Multilingual skills are a plus! 

Who you are: 

• Highly motivated self-starting performer, with a demonstrated ability to influence and lead others while also working independently in a fast-paced environment. 

• Embracer of fact‐based decision making; naturally seeking to leverage and/or integrate market data, spend analytics, and cost modeling. 

• Tenacious negotiator with proven experience in setting negotiation strategies and conducting negotiations.  

• Strong communicator in both oral and written form, with excellent interpersonal skills. 

• Able to successfully prioritize and solve for complex problems, factoring instances of ambiguity and unexpected change. 

• Teachable and embracing of best practices and feedback as a means of continuous improvement 

• Consistently high achiever marked by perseverance, humility, and a positive outlook in the face of challenges