Category Lead

• Kentucky – headquarters in Lexington, KY
• Maryland/Pennsylvania – headquarters in Canonsburg, PA
• Ohio – headquarters in Columbus, OH
• Virginia – headquarters in Chesterfield County, VA
• Indiana (NIPSCO) – headquarters in Merrillville, IN

• Establishing, leading/facilitating, and supporting cross functional category management teams to develop and maintain category plans and ongoing category performance.
• Developing deep knowledge and experience within assigned spend management responsibilities.
• Developing spend/performance and external market analyses to monitor category performance and identify performance improvement opportunities.
• Developing spend and savings/performance improvement forecasts to monitor progress and ensure goals are achieved.
• Developing plans to capture identified opportunities.
• Defining category requirements through collaborative efforts with respective stakeholder groups
• Collaborating with stakeholder groups to develop consensus on the appropriate category plans and priorities.
• Leading performance improvement initiatives defined by the category plan including strategic sourcing and other performance improvement initiatives.
• Establishing, leading/facilitating, and supporting cross functional strategic sourcing/performance improvement teams as needed/prescribed by category plans to achieve savings and performance targets (e.g. reduce cost, improve quality and result in a lower total cost of ownership, meeting supplier diversity goals)
• Leading negotiations with suppliers as needed.
• Maintaining critical supplier agreements including renewals, negotiation of terms, issue identification, tracking and resolution
• Supplier Management responsibilities include:

• Developing and maintaining supplier criticality ratings and managing resulting critical supplier relationships
• Managing supplier relationships including conducting Quarterly Business Reviews with critical suppliers and NiSource Executive Sponsors

• Stakeholder Management responsibilities include:

• Developing successful partnerships with key stakeholders / business partners to achieve desired results.
• Developing and managing cross-functional category management and strategic sourcing teams as needed
• Collaborating with stakeholders to drive needed decisions to achieve desired results.

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or equivalent work-related experience
• Proven track record to deliver results and achieve goals.
• Demonstrated ability to develop effective working relationships with others.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams.
• Ability to build support and consensus.
• Proven financial acumen and analytical abilities.

• MBA
• Certified Procurement Manager (CPM)
• Three years of leadership experience
• Experience managing large supplier agreements.
• Experience working in a Shared Services organization.
• Supply Chain experience in the utility industry.
• Knowledgeable in category management and strategic sourcing practices.

Artech Information Systems