Team Manager, IT and Professional Services Sourcing

 

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company’s innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive company, Eastman employs approximately 14,000 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2024 revenue of approximately $9.4 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. For more information, visit www.eastman.com.

 

The Role

 

 This is a full-time position that will report to Director, Indirect Sourcing and COE. The Sourcing Manager, Corporate Services and IT has primary sourcing responsibilities for Tier 1 Vendors, with leadership responsibilities for their team supporting Corporate Services and IT Sourcing.  Deliverables include Tier 1 supplier engagement, leading sourcing events and conducting category management activities of spend, while maintaining/improving product quality and supplier service levels. The successful candidate will continuously apply the 4-step procurement framework to categories and identify efficiency and cost reduction opportunities in alignment with key stakeholder priorities in functional member organizations and in corporate functions. 

 

Responsibilities

 

• Oversee Information Technology and Professional Services category strategy development with a cross-functional, category team to:
  • Create the situation assessment for the category including internal and external assessments, analysis of the business requirements, value chain and capability assessments (SWOT, 5-Forces, SCP, cost curves, etc.)
  • Lead option generation that includes commercial, specification and demand levers and choices of what we will do and what we will not do
  • Prioritize  category strategy option execution in alignment with business, technology and manufacturing requirements

 

• Conduct IT/Professional Services category management activities
  • Lead initiatives that deliver the value (cost savings or value to functional area) utilizing project management skills and change management techniques
  • Track the performance of spend to understand price and volume variances; make adjustments to approaches based on results.
  • Develop and lead supplier relationship teams, where applicable, to drive continuous performance improvement (annual target development, quarterly progress, etc)
  • Develop supplier engagement plans for major suppliers.
  • Conduct supplier development activities to identify additional potential suppliers. 
  • Lead sourcing events for the IT and Professional Services category
  • Lead and conduct RFI’s and RFP’s utilizing an eRFx tool as the preferred method of engagement. 
  • Negotiate contracts and amendments as necessary to deliver the category strategy and deliver initial and ongoing cost advantage.
  • Ensure pricing is managed per the contract and approve all price increase requests by suppliers.  

 

Qualifications

 

• Bachelors Degree required (business, engineering, science, or supply chain) with Masters Degree preferred.
• A minimum of 5 years commercial experience is required. 
• Previous exposure to purchasing, sourcing or commercial experience such as contract negotiations, market assessments, strategy frameworks (e.g. Porter analysis, SWOT analysis, etc) is strongly preferred.
• Five years project and/or program management background.

 

Required Skills and Capabilities

 

• Strong ability to communicate verbally and in writing to build consensus with individuals and stakeholder groups in