Category Manager

Experience: Not Available to Not Available years

Location: Gautam Buddha Nagar, India

Skills: strategic sourcing, negotiations, contract management, spend analytics, Excel, PowerPoint, Ariba, SAP, Oracle, stakeholder management

Job Summary
Drive strategic sourcing, category governance, and cost optimization across business services (non-admin) categories by enabling value delivery, supplier innovation, and process excellence aligned to HCLTech procurement objectives.

Key Responsibilities
1. Category Strategy & Value Creation
Support Category Head in developing and executing category strategies for Business Services (e.g., talent platforms, assessments, consulting, marketing, events, digital tools).
Identify cost optimization opportunities (cost-out, demand rationalization, TCO reduction) through benchmarking and analytics.
Drive year-on-year savings, working capital improvement, and value creation initiatives.

2. Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Delivery
Lead end-to-end sourcing lifecycle – RFx, commercial negotiations, contracting, and award.
Ensure competitive bidding, supplier evaluation, and fact-based decision-making.
Enable eSourcing and digital procurement adoption (Ariba / ERP platforms).
Support contract structuring with milestone-based payments and risk mitigation.

3. Supplier Management & Market Intelligence
Drive supplier onboarding, development, and performance management.
Conduct market research, benchmarking, and supplier landscape analysis.
Identify opportunities for supplier consolidation, innovation, and alternate sourcing.
Track vendor performance (SLAs, KPIs, delivery quality) and drive continuous improvement.

4. Stakeholder Management & Business Partnering




Act as a procurement business partner to internal stakeholders (HR, L&D;, Marketing, IT, etc.).
Translate business requirements into commercially viable sourcing strategies.
Manage escalations, align expectations, and ensure high stakeholder satisfaction (IPSAT improvement).
Drive demand governance and compliance to procurement policies.

5. Governance, Compliance & Risk Management
Ensure adherence to procurement policies, audit requirements, and compliance frameworks.
Work closely with Legal for contract governance and risk mitigation.
Monitor commercial risks, payment terms, and contractual obligations.
Support audit readiness and documentation standards.

6. Data Analytics & Reporting
Perform spend analysis and actionable insights generation.
Prepare management MIS reports covering savings, compliance, sourcing pipeline, and category performance.
Track procurement KPIs – savings %, SLA adherence, cycle time, adoption metrics.
Use Excel, PPT, and analytics tools to support decision-making.

7. Process Excellence & Digital Enablement
Drive process improvements (cycle time reduction, automation, standardization).
Promote eRFX adoption and procurement digitization initiatives.
Identify opportunities for workflow optimization and stakeholder self-service models.
Ensure adherence to defined SLAs and continuous process enhancement.

Skill Requirements
Strong understanding of Business Services / Non-Admin procurement categories.
Expertise in strategic sourcing, negotiations, and contract management.
Proficiency in spend analytics, Excel (advanced), and PowerPoint.
Experience with Ariba / SAP / Oracle or similar procurement platforms.
Solid commercial acumen and stakeholder management skills.
Ability to manage multiple sourcing projects in a dynamic environment.

Other Requirements
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📌 Category Manager (Noida)
🏢 HCL Technologies
📍 Noida