Director, Category Management

Procurement

Full-Time

Boston, MA or Springfield, MA

The Opportunity

On the MassMutual Procurement team, we have a goal to enable MassMutual’s mission and vision by providing the right supplier solution at the right time.  Our mission is to streamline the procurement process, align supplier partners to meet business needs and continuously increase the value provided to our policyholders. MassMutual is hiring experienced business professionals with substantial team-leadership experience in procurement, specifically Category Management.  This role will lead a team of procurement professionals to support the initiatives of the assigned categories. 

The Team

The team is comprised of seasoned, collaborative professionals with experience in procurement, category management, supplier management, and sourcing.

The Impact

• Responsible for the management of Category teams (5-8) comprised of experienced Category Managers.
• Team may engage in high dollar value deals (in excess of $1 million dollars), organizational M&A activity and high-level escalations.  Team is also responsible for a wide range of portfolios.
• Responsible for setting goals and objectives for team, providing guidance and support and communicating job expectations.
• Leads Procurement work across assigned areas and supports the Head of Category Management.
• Execute complex category and supplier strategies aligned with business goals and budgetary targets.
• Drive key sourcing events and negotiations, leveraging the full suite of sourcing capabilities.
• Work with stakeholders to execute against the corporate strategy, providing key insight into 3rd party capabilities, and help align on company-wide supplier management strategies and industry trends.
• Work with sourcing professionals to set category baseline, conduct market analysis, RFIs, RFPs, etc.
• Act as liaison with stakeholders for specific category escalations including being accountable for category prioritization and pipeline management including serving as the supplier relationship champion and expert of strategic supplier relationships.
• Work hand in hand with business customers to understand requirements, requests and feedback on vendors to support selection.
• Handles complex long-term focused projects involving multiple disciplines or business units.
• Partner with Procurement and stakeholders to develop and execute supplier negotiations strategies to achieve the best value and least risk for the organization.
• Guide Procurement in preparation for and facilitating of contract negotiations and oversee the overall contracting process from a supplier experience and quality standpoint.
• Lead supplier onboarding and offboarding activities, including, but not limited to, coordinating supplier training, granting system access and ensuring that the supplier is familiar with main contacts.
• Ensures that services and products meet the strategic needs of stakeholders. Participates in the negotiation process of SLA agreements and ensures that contractual obligations are met.
• Pursues new supplier relationships, when necessary, seeks to achieve the most profitable service from suppliers. May initiate contract changes when required.
• Strengthen the process structure for Category management by improving standards and partnering with other Procurement functions to develop best practices. 
• Mentor and/or direct less experienced managers or employees. 
• Responsible for Procurement processes not limited to Product/Service Sourcing, Supplier Selection, Pricing/Terms Negotiation, Order Processing, Contract Administration, Supplier Performance Management, and Strategic Sourcing.
• Bring category subject matter expertise to optimize license structure across key 3rd party relationships, facilitating business growth while ensuring effective cost management.
• Determine and lead appropriate supplier specific ongoing monitoring plan (operational business review meetings, executive oversight meetings, issue management reviews, performance monitoring, contract management reviews, risk management reviews etc.)
• Lead investigations on all supplier issues by working with relevant internal stakeholders and help the supplier to resolve issues efficiently. Loop in appropriate MassMutual teams if risk profile or contract updates become necessary.

The Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 8+ years procurement and/or sourcing experience
• 5+ years people management experience or commensurate leadership experience
• 2+ years leading a Procurement team and/or function in financial services or similar industry/environment.
• 4+ years of Executive-level communication and presentation skills as well as listening skills enabling the stakeholders to align with our procurement best practices.

The Ideal Qualifications

• Strong financial acumen and understanding of how effective category management relates to company results.
• Strong influence skills to encourage leaders from across MassMutual towards positive supplier relationships and results delivery.
• Experience creating and leading category strategy.
• Possesses a strong understanding and prior working experience in supplier management activities including performance management (SLAs, KPIs etc.), relationship management, contracting and risk management.
• Experience negotiating agreements and managing complex vendor / client relationships.

What to Expect as Part of MassMutual and the Procurement Team:

• The desire to drive change and improvement in the procurement function supporting our mission to be a leading procurement organization
• Focused one-on-one meetings with your manager
• Networking opportunities including access to Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, African American, women, LGBTQ, veteran and disability-focused Business Resource Groups
• Access to learning content on Degreed and other informational platforms
• Your ethics and integrity will be valued by a company with a strong and stable ethical business with industry leading pay and benefits

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MassMutual is an equal employment opportunity employer. We welcome all persons to apply.

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