Senior Category Specialist, Category Management

About us

THESE POSITIONS CAN BE LOCATED IN MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW YORK STATE OR ANY NEIGHBORING STATES.

 

National Grid lies at the heart of a transforming energy system, spanning the US and the UK. Our businesses supply gas and electricity, safely, reliably, and efficiently to millions of customers and communities. But we also drive change through engineering innovation and by incubating new ideas with the power to revolutionize our industry.

 
As the world changes to embrace cleaner energy and businesses shift to operate in a more responsible way, we are leading that charge. We are focused on finding ways to decarbonize the energy system; from investing in renewable energy generation in the US, to building interconnectors to allow the UK to share clean energy with our neighbors in Europe.

 
At National Grid, we don’t just ask our people to deliver to the highest standards. We also support them to be the best they can be. We welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences and backgrounds. National Grid’s ambition is to drive, develop and operate our business in a way that results in a more inclusive culture. We are committed to building a workforce which represents the communities we serve and a working environment in which each individual feels respected, fairly treated, valued and able to reach their full potential.
 

National Grid is about to begin an ambitious capital projects and construction program designed to build the infrastructure to enable our renewable electric future. Projects include upgrades to transmission lines, substations and distribution network infrastructure that will support renewable energy and reliability initiatives and other programs.

 

Within National Grid’s US Procurement team, we are looking to expand our capacity and enhance our capabilities to contract for the materials and services required by this $30B program.

 

We are currently looking for highly motivated individuals with critical thinking skills who want to join a dynamic and fast paced organization going through a major transformation. If you are someone who’s looking to bring innovation, contribute ideas and play a part in renewing the global procurement organization we want to hear from you!

 

We are looking for people with skills & experience in the following areas:
•    Engineering & construction program management
•    Analytics & forecasting
•    Communication and change management
•    Strategic category management
•    Process optimization
•    Complex contract drafting and negotiation

We are looking for leaders and persuaders, for people comfortable with ambiguity, for people with the ability to analyze data and extract insights. STEM backgrounds & utility experience are a plus.

We will be hiring across a broad range of experience levels. National Grid has a hybrid working model. 

Job Purpose

 

Sr. Category Specialists at National Grid work with suppliers, stakeholders, and Procurement colleagues to run bids, negotiate agreements, and create purchase orders, with a focus on driving savings through effective sourcing strategies.

 

They develop and own key supplier and stakeholder relationships and are able to evaluate supplier risks and develop mitigation plans.

 

They are key members of our management teams, and deliver innovative thinking supported by detailed analytics, data science, market research, and subject matter expertise, to help our category teams and stakeholders make effective sourcing decisions.
 

US Procurement at National Grid is structured into five category teams: Electric, Gas, Corporate Indirects, Construction & Transformation. US Procurement is currently staffing for Senior Category Specialist Roles within the Electric, Gas, Construction, and Transformation teams.
 

Key Accountabilities

 

 

The following competencies are core to the Senior Category Specialist role:

 

Category Management

•    Develop Category Strategies - With support of the Category Manager, work with Stakeholders to establish clear business needs, apply forward thinking skills to establish flexible long-term category strategies with value options & clear supplier performance criteria 
•    Total Cost of Ownership - Evaluate and apply the concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) and supplier / contract switching costs to support decision making options 
•    Analytics - Utilize varied and complex data sets to identify new opportunities to drive benefits through the contracts E2E lifecycle 

 

Procurement

•    Sourcing Events - Able to execute operationally, complex sourcing activities; able to implement more than one option: RFX, e-sourcing and reverse auction