Category Manager

Region / Function: North America / Procurement

Location: North America

Reports To: Director, Service Procurement or Director, Indirect Procurement

Key Relationships: SLT and management teams 

Job Summary:

This role is responsible for the procurement process for certain of Rentokil-Terminix NA spend, including management of cross-functional teams to facilitate the definition of category plans, defining and leading negotiations, supplier, and stakeholder management to optimize NA spend in the relevant category. 

Key Performance Indicators: 

Definition and delivery of category plans to drive savings, risk mitigation, and sustainability in keeping with the Rentokil -Terminix objectives to deliver in-year AOP targets and long-term sustainable competitive advantage. 

Stakeholders include senior managers

Spend accountability circa $50 - $100m but high complexity and business risk 

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• The role will lead the external facing commercial process (3rd party spend) in support of the relevant category objectives and will therefore be an integral part of the Senior Leadership Team (marketing, IT, finance, HR etc.) owning the development of sourcing strategies for that category

• Define category sourcing strategies to optimize the total Rentokil-Terminix NA spend in the relevant spend categories to deliver year on year cost savings, maximize cash, mitigate risk and drive our sustainability agenda in line with the categories objectives and the overall business AOP 

• Lead complex, cross-functional negotiations in order to deliver the objectives set out in the  sourcing strategies ensuring full optimization of the organizational spending power and ensuring the engagement and buy-in from senior stakeholders ( finance, legal, HR and operations) to ensure full alignment of the organization)

• Use strong business and legal acumen to manage high-value, high-complexity SOWs, RFx's, and contracts with minimal direction to ensure that vendor requirements are well-defined and delivered.

• Working with the legal team to ensure that the negotiated agreements are codified into legal contracts to protect the organization and ensure full delivery of the benefits (service, financial, risk mitigation). 

• Define the metrics required to ensure successful implementation of the benefits required (and defined in contracts) from the vendors and manage the implementation of the strategic sourcing initiatives that enable short and long-term business unit objectives to be achieved.

• Contract manage the ongoing relationship at senior levels to ensure ongoing delivery and ensure the defined benefits are delivered. 

• May lead procurement sourcing specialists, analysts and strategic buying teams

• Act as a subject matter category expert to coach colleagues for the smaller value areas where (where you might not lead) where the role does not directly lead the negotiation as well as serving as an internal and external reference point for procurement related questions for assigned categories, 

• Own the relevant spend maps for agreed categories and drive analytics to identify opportunities

• Proactive review of existing contracts to identify business and mitigate risk and to then be accountable to define and implement sourcing strategies and activities to improve the position and mitigate the risk. 

• Develop and manage annual cost savings, working capital improvement, budgets, and supplier performance targets set by the organizational leadership. Ensure delivery is via  the category sourcing strategy plan. 

• Foster regular communication with stakeholders both within formal settings such as the senior leadership meetings and also on a more ad hoc basis to ensure a clear understanding of the stakeholders needs as well as clarity as to the benefit procurement brings. 

• Apply a strategic approach to vendor qualification, vendor selection, the development and implementation of global sourcing strategies, management of RFI’s and RFP’s, the negotiation and development of contracts, the identification and implementation of cost savings opportunities, working capital improvement and assistance with critical supplier performance issues

• Remain current on market and category trends in an effort to continuously implement improvements

• Manage suppliers to drive quality standards, adherence to product specifications, and continuous improvement initiatives

• Improve working capital performance through the extension of payment terms

• Ensure compliance with regional and global procurement policies

• Build strong relationships between Procurement and other Functional teams

• Exhibit strong interpersonal communication skills and change management skills, demonstrated by motivating a diverse group of internal customers to follow the optimum strategy

Required Experience:

• Procurement (or relevant) experience of over3-  5 years required

• Experience with procurement best practices and a successful track record in Procurement, managing related spend in a corporate environment

• Experience in negotiating and optimizing strategic programs to match organizational goals and circumstances

• Experience developing and negotiating complex contracts

• Ability to work independently and perform against tight deadlines with multiple priorities

• Analytical and strategic problem-solving capabilities in finance and business subjects, and multi-tasking skills

• Strong influencing skills 

• Expert negotiation skills

• Effective communication and facilitation skills

• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities and deadlines

• Detail-oriented - able to review and produce accurate, professional and error-free analyses in a timely manner

• Proven ability to lead, build trust and be highly credible across levels of organizations

Required Leadership Traits and Characteristics:

• Management and Leadership qualification preferred

• Serve as a mentor to the Procurement organisation

• Build strong relationships between Procurement and other Functional teams

• Exhibit strong interpersonal communication skills and change management skills, demonstrated by motivating a diverse group of internal customers to follow the optimum strategy

Formal Education, Qualifications or Training:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance, Marketing, or relevant field

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

The physical demands are representative of those that must be met by an employee to perform the essential function to this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Incumbent must be prepared to:

• Move up to 10 pounds occasionally, by lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, or otherwise repositioning objects.
• Sitting for long periods of time while using office equipment such as computers, phones and etc.
• Fingering and Repetitive motions; such as movement of wrists, hands and fingers while picking, pinching and typing during your normal working environment.
• Express or exchange ideas with others through the use of spoken word, quickly, accurately, and at an easily audible volume, and receive detailed information through oral communication at usual speaking levels without correction, and/or make fine discriminations in the nature of sounds in the environment.

Incumbent is required to have:

• Close visual acuity to perform detail-oriented activities at distances close to the eyes, as well as visual acuity to perform activities at or within arm’s reach with skill, control, and accuracy, such as preparing and analyzing data, viewing computer screen and expansive reading.

Incumbent will be subject to:

• Inside working conditions: The change of building environment such as with or without air conditioning and heating.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.