IT Category Manager

Location: Onsite 3 days/week - 3333 Finley Rd Ste 700 Downers Grove IL 60515

Duration: Contract 3 months with potential to extend

This position may be offered to a candidate authorized to work in the US for his/her/their stated employer without any restrictions which would prevent the candidate from working on the proposed assignment for the duration of the assignment period.

Overview:

Grant Thorntons Global Sourcing Procurement and Vendor Management team is looking for an Category Manager to lead the global commercial discussions negotiations for goods/services and assist in enabling suppliers in Ariba tool.

The category manager will be responsible for sourcing strategic services by identifying the most relevant and competitive acceptable supply sources facilitating and coordinating RFx process and working with legal to negotiate and finalize agreements.

Working with the Grant Thornton business stakeholders Category Manager will establish best in class procurement practices when third party products and services are negotiated and contracted as well as ensuring suppliers are enabled in Ariba.

The ideal candidate will have deep domain expertise with Managed Services Professional Services and Software on a global scale supporting renewals and true-ups.

The candidate will have demonstrated knowledge in at least several of the categories such as professional services marketing and HR. The candidate will have experience with source to pay platforms with SAP Ariba experience a plus.

Responsibilities:

Ensure all business functional and technical requirements for all goods or services are properly vetted market ready and commercially executed.

Provide expert strategic sourcing support and leadership for all aspects of procurement projects with a specific focus on global products and services.

Achieve savings by improving internal processes and procedures implementing supply chain efficiencies understanding and reducing total cost of ownership and balancing the overall cost quality and effectiveness for purchased products and services.

Provide market insight benchmarking and commodity expertise to the firm for decision making.

Generate annual category plans which incorporate sourcing project waves to meet business goals and business savings objectives.

Support and/or lead the analysis selection implementation management and use of process automation including eProcurement Contract Lifecycle Management and eSourcing as applicable to add efficiencies increase effectiveness and contain costs for the firms expenditures as well as supplier enablement

Coordinate with business stakeholders to ensure supplier sourcing strategies are aligned with enterprise goals and objectives.

Evaluate analyze and score supplier proposals with stakeholders and recommend strategic path forward.

Review contracts with technology SMEs business stakeholders and legal while ensuring proper contract terminology.

Develop service provider evaluation metrics to allow for fair and equitable scoring of suppliers.

Leverage Ariba ADO and Power BI for processing transactions analysis and tracking of work.

Negotiate contracts expiring on an annual basis and new deals/supplier deals.

Other duties as assigned.

Improve supplier Ariba adoption

Qualifications:

Degree(s) (e.g. Bachelors degree in Information Technology or a related field is required)

Bachelor Degree in Business Strategic Sourcing/Procurement Technology or equivalent business experience.

Minimum of 8-10 years of experience in working in with technology based strategic sourcing / IT supplier management.

Proven abilities and experience in services procurement and contract negotiations.

Expert and demonstrable knowledge of sourcing and procurement best practices and issues.

Ability to simultaneously and efficiently manage and communicate on multiple changing priorities with a variety of stakeholders.

Proven ability to lead all phases of the acquisition process for high dollar high impact procurement projects.

Outstanding verbal and written communication including proven ability to comfortably interact with all levels of leadership including one-on-one interaction with CIO CFO and firm partners.

Must possess analytical and technical skills required to understand business practices and recommend automation opportunities.

A highly motivated self-starter with the ability to plan create and execute own ideas.

Awareness of benchmarking tools/options (Gartner//ISM etc.) to support best practices and supplier recommendations

Experience in applying risk management within procurement.

Expert knowledge of supplier evaluation and contract design and legal elements.

Ability to work independently as well as in a team environment.

Ability to both manage and prioritize fluctuation of work levels to achieve results.

Interview Process:

30 minute technical interview with Manager

30 minute interview with Director

Required Skills :

Basic Qualification :

Additional Skills :

Background Check : No

Drug Screen : No