Executive Director, Category Management

This position is located in Ithaca New York. The successful candidate will have the option to perform this role remotely at a locationof their choosing within the United States.

The NewYork Convenience of employer guidelines require New York State individual tax reporting andwithholdings for this position. Additional individual state income tax filings may also be required if workingoutside New York State.

No Visa sponsorship available for this position.

About the Role

Cornell University is seeking a highly accomplished collaborative and results-driven Executive Director Category Management to design build and lead an enterprise-wide category management capability across Cornell Ithaca Cornell Tech Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City and Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar.

Reporting to the Chief Procurement Officer the Executive Director Category Management will establish and operationalize a contemporary category management model that delivers measurable enterprise value while supporting Cornells academic research and clinical missions.

This role is responsible for the endtoend design governance and execution of category managementfrom strategy and operating model development to talent building technology enablement supplier relationship management and enterprise sourcing execution. The Executive Director will serve as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders leading complex cross-functional initiatives and influencing outcomes across a highly distributed matrixed organization.

While remoteeligible the role requires periodic travel to key Cornell locations including but not limited to Ithaca (NY) New York City and Qatar as well as engagement with peer institutions across R1 higher education and affiliated clinical environments.

Culture & Values

Every member of the Cornell community is expected to foster a culture of belonging and a healthy work environment by communicating across differences; being cooperative collaborative open and welcoming; showing respect compassion and empathy; engaging and supporting others regardless of background or perspective; speaking up when others are excluded or treated inappropriately; and supporting worklife integration for oneself and others.

What You Will Lead

The Executive Director will design and execute an enterprise category management capability with clear measures of success including but not limited to:

• Expansion of Spend Under Management (SUM) spend under contract competitive bidding and the reduction of rogue/maverick spend.
• Successful deployment of enterprise-level cost-savings programs to include the planning for and pipelining of procurement cost savings opportunities committing those savings via sourcing events/sourcing waves and the delivery of resultant hard savings (runrate) and soft savings (cost avoidance) back to the business.
• Category strategy maturity execution quality and institutional coverage.
• Adoption and outcomes of a robust Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) program.
• Effective use of sourcing spend contract and analytics technologies including process automation.
• Strong stakeholder alignment and adoption of category strategies.
• Development and scaling of high-performing source-to-contract and/or category management teams.
• Advancement of responsible sourcing (ESG) initiatives and local/diverse supplier engagement.

What Were Looking For

The ideal candidate is a proven executive leader with deep expertise in building and scaling category management functions within large complex and decentralized enterprises.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in business administration supply chain management finance engineering or a related field (or equivalent experience); advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of demonstrated experience applying and leading category management frameworks ideally in distributed or matrixed organizations.
• Demonstrated success building enterprise category management capabilities including segment/Level 12 category structures (preferably UNSPSCaligned) spend taxonomies analytics governance and execution models.
• Experience across a mix of indirect and direct/missioncritical categories with special consideration for capital construction and clinical spend.
• Executive presence with a proven ability to influence without authority align senior stakeholders and work through misalignment and internal negotiations to deliver collaborative cost savings outcomes with limited oversight.
• Advanced negotiation contracting and supplier management expertise including complex sourcing events and enterprise agreements.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen including total cost of ownership modeling and benefits validation.
• Technology fluency including experience serving as a product owner for contracting sourcing and spend analysis platforms; proven experience deploying/utilizing AIenabled sourcing and contracting tools preferred.
• Demonstrated commitment to inclusive leadership and advancing diversity equity and inclusion through sourcing and supplier engagement practices.

Core Leadership Capabilities

• Enterprise and strategic thinking
• Team leadership talent development and organizational scaling
• Datadriven decisionmaking and procurement technology fluency
• Clear confident and adaptable communication

Preferred Qualifications

• Relevant professional certifications (e.g. ISM CPSM CSCP/CPIM CPM CPPO/CPPB PMP)
• Experience in higher education healthcare research or similarly complex environments with decentralized stakeholders.
• Active participation in professional procurement associations particularly those supporting higher education or clinical procurement (e.g. NAEP Ivy Vizient)

What Cornell Offers

Cornell University offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package including:

• Educational benefits and lifelong learning opportunities
• Robust health and wellness programs
• Generous paid time off including three weeks of vacation 14 universitypaid holidays (including end of year winter break shutdown through New Years Day).
• Superior retirement contributions.
• Employee discounts and access to a wide range of campus and community resources

Cornell is located in Ithaca New York at the heart of the Finger Lakes regionhome to natural beauty vibrant arts and culture awardwinning dining wineries and an active community that supports all ages and interests.

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Non-Union Positions

Noted pay ranges reflect the potential pay opportunity for each job profile. The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined considering the following criteria:

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• Unique applicable skills

• Academic Discipline

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