Category Manager/Sr Category Manager, Procurement (Professional Services-Benefits)

Intro

Are you ready to explore a world of possibilities, both at work and during your time off? Join our American Airlines family, and you’ll travel the world, grow your expertise and become the best version of you. As you embark on a new journey, you’ll tackle challenges with flexibility and grace, learning new skills and advancing your career while having the time of your life. Feel free to enrich both your personal and work life and hop on board!

Why you'll love this job

The Professional Services Category is part of American’s Procurement organization and manages end-to-end sourcing for Contact Centers, Consulting Services, Benefits, Contingent Labor, Marketing, Legal, and Financial Services. The Category Manager/Sr Category Manager plays a pivotal role in developing and implementing sourcing strategies, leading contract negotiations, optimizing stakeholder engagement, and driving vendor value creation. The responsibilities range from building relationships with internal partners and vendors, leading sourcing events that deliver measurable savings & improvements, and navigating the complexities of contracting, financial analysis, risk, legal, and regulatory requirements.   

• Join a growing, high-performing team of Strategic Sourcing Professionals with a passion for continuous improvement 

• Work alongside highly driven, energetic, and collaborative team members 

• Develop strategies that achieve cost control, cost reduction, and cost containment targets  

• Expand your professional skill set by partnering with cross-functional teams on high-impact projects 

• Engage with senior leadership on key sourcing and transformation projects 

• Enhance your procurement expertise by utilizing a mix of critical skills - analytics, relationship building, collaboration, and project management 

• Build a strong professional network by engaging with vendors and internal stakeholders 

• Never have a boring day at work again! 

What you'll do

• Lead end-to-end strategic sourcing activities, including category strategy development, RFx execution, supplier evaluation, market research, negotiations, and vendor performance monitoring.
• Manage sourcing activity across the benefits vendor ecosystem, including medical carriers, PBMs, TPAs/ASO administrators, stop-loss carriers, brokers/consultants, benefits administration platforms, wellness vendors, voluntary benefits providers, and specialty point solutions.
• Run structured RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, renewals, benchmarks, and market checks that support fair supplier comparisons, documented decision-making, competitive leverage, and defensible sourcing outcomes.
• Negotiate commercial and contractual terms, including pricing, administrative fees, rebates, guarantees, SLAs, implementation obligations, audit rights, data-access rights, market-check language, termination terms, confidentiality, and renewal protections.
• Analyze supplier proposals, claims/utilization trends, renewal projections, administrative fees, PEPM/PMPM structures, PBM economics, rebate arrangements, stop-loss terms, service levels, and total cost of ownership to support data-driven levers for negotiation.
• Deliver hard savings, cost avoidance, value protection, and working-capital improvements through competitive sourcing, contract optimization, vendor consolidation, fee transparency, market checks, rebate and performance guarantee improvements, and process optimization.
• Partner with Legal, Finance, consultants, IT/security, and business stakeholders to align sourcing strategies, contract terms, implementation plans, financial impacts, and risk considerations.
• Support compliance-aware vendor management by recognizing when ERISA fiduciary concepts, DOL service-provider oversight, broker/consultant compensation disclosures, voluntary benefit safe harbor requirements, RxDC, gag clause attestation, Transparency in Coverage, HIPAA, ACA, COBRA, or plan-document considerations require review.
• Create and manage vendor governance tools, including scorecards, performance guarantee trackers, SLA dashboards, QBR/BR materials, corrective action plans, escalation paths, renewal dashboards, and contract compliance reviews.
• Monitor vendor performance against contractual, operational, financial, service, implementation,