Senior Manager, Corporate Procurement - Category Management

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Senior Manager, Corporate Procurement to lead strategic sourcing, supplier management, and category strategy across professional services and contingent labor.

This role will manage a high-spend, enterprise-wide category and work closely with senior leadership, HR, Finance, Legal, and business leaders to improve supplier performance, reduce costs, strengthen governance, and develop long-term sourcing strategies.

The ideal candidate has strong experience in professional services, contingent labor, strategic sourcing, and category management, along with the ability to lead complex negotiations and influence senior stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy & Sourcing

• Develop and execute multi-year category strategies for professional services and contingent labor.
• Manage categories such as:
• Management consulting
• Temporary staffing
• Statement-of-work (SOW) services
• Independent contractors
• Workforce solutions
• MSP and VMS programs
• Analyze spending, supplier performance, market conditions, and business needs to identify sourcing opportunities.
• Develop annual sourcing plans and prioritize major sourcing and renewal initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to reduce unmanaged spend, duplicate suppliers, inconsistent pricing, and unnecessary costs.
• Develop preferred supplier strategies and drive adoption across the organization.
• Establish labor rate benchmarking and market intelligence programs.

Strategic Sourcing & Negotiations

• Lead complex RFx processes, supplier selections, renewals, and negotiations.
• Negotiate labor rates, staffing markups, rate cards, volume discounts, conversion fees, SOW pricing, and service levels.
• Develop negotiation strategies and commercial models that improve overall value.
• Conduct Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and financial analysis to support sourcing decisions.
• Partner with Legal and business stakeholders to negotiate and finalize contracts.
• Manage large, enterprise-wide sourcing projects from strategy through implementation.

Contingent Labor Management

• Develop and improve contingent workforce sourcing and governance programs.
• Evaluate direct supplier, VMS, and MSP models based on business needs and spend.
• Improve visibility into contractor spend, headcount, tenure, rates, utilization, and supplier performance.
• Establish processes for supplier onboarding, SOW approvals, contractor tracking, and workforce reporting.
• Partner with HR, Talent Acquisition, Legal, and Finance to address worker classification and compliance risks.
• Develop standards and guidelines for engaging contingent workers.

Supplier Management

• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with key suppliers.
• Segment suppliers based on spend, risk, importance, and business impact.
• Lead Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) and Annual Business Reviews with strategic suppliers.
• Develop supplier scorecards and performance metrics.
• Monitor supplier performance, service levels, pricing, quality, and compliance.
• Identify supplier risks and develop mitigation plans.
• Lead supplier improvement and innovation initiatives.
• Drive supplier consolidation and preferred supplier adoption.

Stakeholder Management

• Serve as a trusted procurement advisor to senior and executive leadership.
• Partner with HR, Finance, Legal, Talent Acquisition, IT, and business leaders.
• Understand stakeholder needs and recommend the appropriate sourcing or workforce model.
• Present category strategies, sourcing recommendations, business cases, and results to leadership.
• Represent Procurement in executive meetings, steering committees, and supplier governance meetings.
• Build strong relationships across the organization and influence decisions without direct authority.
• Create clear executive presentations, reports, and recommendations.

Financial Management

• Deliver measurable savings, cost avoidance, and other financial benefits.
• Analyze labor rates, supplier spend, inflation, utilization, and supplier concentration.
• Partner with Finance to track and validate savings.
• Develop financial models and scenarios to evaluate sourcing options.
• Improve contract value through better pricing, terms, incentives, and performance requirements.
• Monitor category budgets, savings targets, and sourcing pipelines.

Governance & Process Improvement

• Establish policies and standards for professional services and contingent labor.
• Improve processes for:
• Supplier onboarding
• Rate card management
• SOW approvals
• Contractor tracking
• Supplier selection
• Contract renewals
• Preferred supplier usage
• Improve procurement data quality and reporting.
• Maintain accurate supplier, contract, project, and savings records.
• Identify opportunities to automate reporting and improve procurement systems.
• Partner with Legal, Finance, IT, Security, and other functions to resolve issues and improve processes.

Leadership

• Lead cross-functional teams on strategic sourcing and transformation projects.
• Mentor and develop procurement professionals and other team members.
• Help build procurement capabilities and best practices.
• Lead change management when new policies, systems, suppliers, or operating models are introduced.
• Manage multiple high-priority projects while maintaining strong attention to detail and deadlines.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Business, Project Management, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, or category management.
• Significant experience managing Professional Services and/or Contingent Labor categories.
• Experience leading complex sourcing projects and negotiations.
• Strong understanding of professional services and staffing supplier models.
• Experience with contingent workforce programs, including VMS and/or MSP models.
• Strong understanding of pricing, rate cards, markups, benchmarking, and commercial structures.
• Strong financial and analytical skills, including TCO and savings analysis.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior and executive stakeholders.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree or MBA.
• 10+ years of strategic sourcing or category management experience.
• Experience building or improving contingent workforce programs.
• Experience with VMS platforms such as SAP Fieldglass, Beeline, or similar systems.
• Experience working with MSP providers.
• Experience with large-scale enterprise transformation projects.
• CPSM, CIPS, PMP, Prosci, or Lean Six Sigma certification.
• Experience working in a large or global organization.
• Experience working across multiple regions and time zones.