Consultant, Procurement Category Management | Technology

If you're passionate about being part of a dynamic organization that enables a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales to drive innovation and adopt new technologies that deliver business results, then Nationwide's Technology team could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, "on your side" goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we're looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

As a Category Manager, you'll be responsible for managing complex, primarily indirect categories of spend, leading the category/supplier segmentation and strategy development efforts, supporting the development of the procurement strategy by facilitating and influencing alignment between Technology, Business and Financial, and driving the category strategies through the Procurement team to ensure contracts execute in alignment to a strategy.

This role will support the Property and Casualty Technology Organization, through development of strategies related to software and other technology, while maintaining lowest total cost and highest quality and service.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

• Development of category strategies which maximize customer value leveraging a continuous improvement structure
• Create, and implement strong communication plans to achieve positive outcomes for individual contracting events and the categories as a whole
• Develop and execute leverage management strategies for individual negations
• Develop and implement cost-based reduction strategies capable of delivering annual target savings
• Execute annual cost savings, cash improvement and action plans to deliver the corporate and business objectives for year over year improvement
• Monitor the use of appropriate KPI's to measure and improve the effectiveness of the key elements of the category strategies and supplier performance
• Responsible for supporting supplier partnerships through activities such as, identifying alternative suppliers, marketing analysis, risk mitigation, performance management and category innovation
• Idea generation for new innovations (end to end) in their category to make sure it meets the timeline, includes critical terms and conditions, minimizes risks, leverages marketplace shifts and maximizes value
• Benchmark historical performance and forecast future price movements, communicating necessary adjustments to plan
• Identify and execute Procurement strategies such as payment term improvements, consolidation of supply base, channel optimization, etc.
• Create and present executive summaries to the most senior leaders in Technology and Business organizations, highlighting trends, issues and opportunities
• Develop pipeline reporting and PowerPoint decks for and facilitate internal Contract governance meetings

• Partners and collaborates with Business Partners, Finance, Technology and other Procurement team members to manage new sourcing requests, current contract pipelines for multimillion dollar categories and vendor agreements. Works with reporting teams to develop data analytics and suggests revisions to Procurement policy and procedures to ensure a predictable, easy-to-follow and efficient procurement process.
• Conducts advanced, continuous industry research and benchmark analysis within a defined spend category. Establishes a category strategy for a highly technical domain, monitors purchasing trends and identifies top suppliers and innovations within the category.
• Works with Business Partners to manage Business Unit and Procurement relationship by building forecasts of demand, service levels requirements, Total Cost of Ownership models, contractual and other risk requirements (by category domain, actual and forecasted spend), identifying cost reduction opportunities, and developing recommendations. Acts as a Project Manager with business partners, Finance, Technology as needed.
• Facilitates moderately complex to complex competitive bid activity, including requests for proposal (RFP), quote (RFQ) or information (RFI), where applicable. Negotiates the terms of the contract, including conditions, clauses, and service level agreements. Documents achieved savings for Finance approval.
• Assesses supplier risk prior to contract and collaborates with applicable risk partners, including Information Risk Management, Technology Review Boards, Privacy etc., for additional specialized assessments or necessary contract provisions.
• Analyzes and aligns Category goals and objectives to maximize usage of Diverse Suppliers and best practices in Sustainability.
• Mentors and trains new associates on Procurement policy, processes and helps them develop Sourcing Skills.