Category Manager Travel Indirect (Remote)

Category Manager – Travel & Indirect Sourcing
Duration: 11/26/2024-4/30/2025
Location: REMOTE, EST
 
Must Haves:

• 7+ years of procurement related experience and expertise in evaluating contractual terms and conditions
• Proficient with Microsoft Office
•  Strong industry experience negotiating and contracting with hotels, airlines, catering/restaurants, travel management companies and other indirect procurement categories such as finance, consulting, etc.
• Experience with contract management, P2P systems, and tools

Preferred:

•  A bachelor’s degree in business, management, finance, supply chain management or related work experience preferred

This role will be a temporary position in order to fill in for our Category Manager for Travel and Indirect Spend. In this role you will execute the strategic sourcing, vendor relationship, and contract management activities for Travel, Events, and Finance categories. You will implement innovative sourcing strategies, engage in comprehensive industry and supplier research, and manage the bidding and RFP process. Lead contract negotiations and supplier performance management activities to secure competitive process and favorable terms. You will collaborate closely with Program and Service units to competitively source products and services that align with both mission and financial objectives. Your strategic and proactive mindset and operational excellence will be key drivers of success in this role.

In this role, you will:

Collaborate with business partners to drive value (30%)

·       Work within the procurement organization to provide dedicated support to our internal stakeholders.

·       Partner with business unit stakeholders to select vendors and determine workstreams where price competition would be beneficial and coordinate RFI’s, RFP’s and RFQ’s

·       Bring industry benchmarks, expertise, knowledge of trends, consultant, and other third-party data to bear in preparation for vendor selection and negotiation

Execute agreements and manage vendors (50%)

·       Lead vendor negotiations to ensure that our contracts at competitive prices and favorable terms with an emphasis on meeting space, hotels, audio visual, catering, finance, and potentially other indirect procurement categories.

·       Coordinate with legal, governance, risk & compliance and our business units for contract review and negotiation

·       Anticipate and manage contingencies and dependencies, ensuring proactive planning and real-time analytical thinking during intense periods of delivery

·       Own and manage key vendor relationships for appropriate issue escalation; Work with vendors to resolve performance and to bring about improvements where needed

Improve our support and performance (20%)

·       Utilize P2P tools like Workday, Concur and Strategic Sourcing to establish and help improve operational processes from project intake to invoice approvals

·       Practice continual improvement to strengthen the value proposition for internal clients and improve key performance as measured by KPIs that are important to key constituents

About You

You have:

·       7+ years of procurement related experience and expertise in evaluating contractual terms and conditions

·       Strong industry experience negotiating and contracting with hotels, airlines, catering/restaurants, travel management companies and other indirect procurement categories such as finance, consulting, etc.

·       Superior quantitative and qualitative analytical skills

·       Proven track record of negotiating large multi-year contracts and negotiating with various vendors essential for large-scale events

·       Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to foster positive working relationships at all organizational levels.

·       Initiative and an ability to work in a self-directed environment 

·       Experience with contract management, P2P systems, and tools

·       A bachelor’s degree in business, management, finance, supply chain management or related work experience preferred

·       Proficient with Microsoft Office (MS Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint) 

·       You must be authorized to work in the US (no visa for this role, please, thank you)