Senior Manager - Category Strategy

About Pierce, an Oshkosh company

At Pierce Manufacturing, we build trucks that protect people and communities around the world. To our team, there is no room for anything less than providing the absolute best. Since 1913, building truck bodies on Model T Ford chassis in an old converted church has evolved to creating highly customized, carefully designed and engineering pumpers, aerials, tankers and rescue units that have no equal. Today, you'll find more than 30,000 Pierce apparatuses on the road that are making a difference in people's lives, every day. To us, every step in the process of building our trucks is personal. From innovation and expertise, to the customization and service. Our trucks are designed to perform under the toughest conditions.

The Senior Category Strategy Manager will lead a team of category strategy professionals and will have a deep understanding of categories of spend or program/product development globally. This role will make strategic decisions on category strategies and understand how to influence business outcomes; maximize the value the company receives from supply through category planning, strategic sourcing and supplier engagement. The Senior Category Strategy Manager will provide expert guidance to the business on external market forces and internal value chain performance affecting the businesses. Present and gain consensus on category strategies. Establishing meaningful relationships with supplier and internal stakeholders to ensure value optimization and to drive improved supply chain performance will be a main focus.

YOUR IMPACT
These duties are not meant to be all-inclusive and other duties may be assigned.

• Mentor and coach multiple category managers across the segment.

• Sense opportunity to engage in business leading strategic initiatives that benefit the enterprise, segment, or globe.

• Manage multiple spend categories and category managers at the global, segment level and/or enterprise level.

• Deep understanding of multiple categories of spend.

• Develop critical thinking skills of category lead; ability to connect supply chain impact to the business to drive peak performance.

• Subject matter expert on spend category/commodity, market trends and predicting future trends and impacts.

• Frequent use of data analytics tools to conduct spend and category data analytics; responsible for category spend and performance dashboards and spend synergy visibility.

• Advanced, independent critical thinking skills to formulate business cost/value opportunities.

• Build meaningful relationships with the supply base in order to regularly impact the value proposition.

• Proficient with engineering/technical drawings and an understanding of the technical grammar and language of the business and category.

• Oversight for the effective use of supplier preferencing strategy, supplier engagement model and part taxonomy.

• Deep connection between category management, business goals, and value proposition.

• Identify, communicate, and manage supply chain risk and business continuity plans.

• Lead the validation and governance of category/commodity prices including total cost of ownership models.

• Lead strategic sourcing initiatives that capture value for the business, may lad or support a council.

• Build open and trusting relationships with team members through Frequent Meaningful Conversation, ensuring individual development plans are in place.

• Consistently present sourcing strategy and value proposition at the executive level. Lead product development team cross functionally across supply chain to drive a long-term category strategy and supplier performance through new machines, from concept through launch.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  

• Bachelor’s degree with eight (8) or more years of experience within in Supply Chain, Strategic Sourcing, or a related field.

• Ability to travel 25-30%.

STANDOUT QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Relevant industry related certifications.

• Category strategy experience within the manufacturing industry.

• Experience mentoring and leading team members through direct reporting relationships or project work.

• Ability to effectively communicate.

• Strong organizational skills with exceptional follow through and attention to detail.

• Strong time-management and prioritization skills, able to multi-task and prioritize competing requirements and meet deadlines.

• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment where requirements are constantly changing.