Category Manager II
Crown Castle
- Canonsburg, PA
- Permanent
- Full-time
- Manage a portfolio of Small Cell and Fiber projects from strategic evaluation to sourcing, negotiation, award, contract execution and cost savings tracking.
- Report supplier spend, contract, and market analysis for various Service categories.
- Conduct RFx events (through Coupa), prepare bid analysis, present sourcing recommendations to leadership.
- Analyze and calculate procurement costs and develop cost reduction strategies.
- Drive purchasing decisions based on cost, contractor resource availability, scenario analysis and market trends.
- Negotiate contracts with suppliers including unit costs, discounts, terms of service and quality/performance criteria.
- Manage all new and existing contracts (in conjunction with Vendor Management and Legal), suppliers, and deliver performance results.
- Ensure procurement compliance within company, Legal, and governmental requirements.
- Working with legal counsel to ensure that all contracts relating to service delivery contain all details of the negotiation.
- Develop strategic sourcing strategies for Regional/Market teams that do not have sourcing processes or strategies.
- Drive stakeholder alignment by communicating effectively with partners on key objectives, scopes of work, SOVs/IMNs and supplier performance expectations.
- Develop partnerships with all cross-functional areas including Network I&O team, Product Management, Finance, Legal, Risk and Supply Chain teams.
- Identify new opportunities and drive results to support productivity and cost savings goals.
- Drive risk management and business continuity planning with internal stakeholders.
- Use Supply Chain best practices when developing and implementing process improvements or system controls.
- Support new suppliers during the onboarding process.
- Lead change management when establishing new sourcing programs and drive on-going evaluations to ensure savings and supply.
- Monitor contractor performance and manage issue resolution / escalation process
- Establish and maintain supplier relationships by serving as a single point of contact for contractual matters for area of responsibility
- Manage record keeping for all contract-related correspondence and documentation
- Provide contract-related issue resolution, both internally and externally
- Monitor and complete contract close-out, extension or renewal, as appropriate
- Communicate contract-related information to all stakeholders
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to interact professionally with a diverse group, executives, managers, and subject matter experts
- A thorough understanding of supply chain sourcing methodologies.
- Ability to establish and maintain priorities to complete assignments by deadlines
- Ability to analyze data sets and create pivots or formulas, as needed, for recommendations, reporting and review.
- Develop and monitor strategy implementation and contract compliance for key spend categories
- Track performance within each spend category and define impact
- Uphold internal and external policies, regulations, and laws.
- Proactively identify and act on problems before issues occur
- Provide creative solutions to business problems
- Exceptional analytical and strategic thinking abilities with good financial acumen.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Demonstrated organization and Project Management skills
- Proficient with MS Office suite and other work-related software
- Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams & SharePoint
- Excellent time-management and organizational skills.
- Strong negotiation skills.
- Ability to teach and train peers on process
- Ability to be agile and adjust priorities with changing needs of the business
- Willingness to travel to develop, promote, and maintain strategic sourcing relationships.
- Bachelor’s Degree in business, economics, finance, logistics, or in a related field. (Master’s Degree Preferred)
- Two plus (2+) years of procurement experience in a related industry or Supply Chain (previous strategic/category management experience preferred).
- Outside Plant / Inside Plant / Venue Construction knowledge preferred but not required
- Demonstrated ability to negotiate large deals & contracts.