Senior Manager Category Management - Construction

Manages and leads an organization of 5-6 Procurement professionals that are responsible for developing and executing strategies for services and products associated with the engineering, construction, splicing, maintenance and repair, and over build of the Lumen fiber network. Partners with internal stakeholders to understand business strategies, conveys the Procurement process and ensures Procurement is involved in initiatives up front.

This position has been designated as fully remote in the U.S.

* Manages and leads a team of category management professionals focused on project pipeline development, RFx strategy, commercial negotiations, and strategic supplier relationships.
* Responsible for category strategy and developing process improvement efforts aimed at reducing the total cost of ownership and driving overall savings objectives. Improves on time/quality performance, settles vendor disputes, and builds alliances and relationships with strategic vendors. Identifies cross functional savings opportunities, develops the corresponding strategies and executes against those strategies.
* Builds strong relationships with internal stakeholders and Finance to understand strategies / roadmaps and the corresponding budgets.
* Partners with key suppliers to understand capabilities, market trends, and identify new approaches that have not been identified by internal stakeholders.
* Manages strategic, high-visibility negotiations to achieve cost savings goals and objectives.
* Develops category playbooks that outlines the background and strategy for the category.
* Continually identify and implement new opportunities for cost savings, cost avoidance and proactively tracks these objectives.
* Delivers against targets related to cost reduction / avoidance, supplier rationalization and internal customer satisfaction.
* Fosters an environment of continuous improvement and Partners with Procurement Center of Excellence and Systems teams to drive process and systems improvements.
* Excellent abilities in negotiation and contract management.

Required:
* Bachelor's degree or equivalent education or relevant experience.
* Minimum 8 plus years of related experience.
* Preferred 5 plus years of managing and leading teams.
* Demonstrated communication and project management skills working with cross-functional teams.
* Experience managing supplier relationships for an assigned set of products and/or services including regular supplier performance reviews and discussions.
* Ability to work independently and in a team environment; self-motivated; strong analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to process large amounts of often complex data; detail oriented.
* Intermediate to advanced professional experience in sourcing and/or contracting (negotiations, drafting and administration).
* Strong to expert knowledge of procurement systems such as SAP, Ariba and Oracle.
* Excellent time management and organizational skills.
* Experience working in a fast-paced, high visibility environment with frequently shifting priorities.
* Advanced Microsoft Office skills, intermediate to advanced Excel.

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