Category Manager

Job Summary

Drive strategic sourcing, category governance, and cost optimization across business services (non-admin) categories by enabling value delivery, supplier innovation, and process excellence aligned to HCLTech procurement objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy & Value Creation:

• Support Category Head in developing and executing category strategies for Business Services (e.g., talent platforms, assessments, consulting, marketing, events, digital tools).

• Identify cost optimization opportunities (cost-out, demand rationalization, TCO reduction) through benchmarking and analytics.

• Drive year-on-year savings, working capital improvement, and value creation initiatives.

Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Delivery:

• Lead end-to-end sourcing lifecycle – RFx, commercial negotiations, contracting, and award.

• Ensure competitive bidding, supplier evaluation, and fact-based decision-making.

• Enable e Sourcing and digital procurement adoption (Ariba / ERP platforms).

• Support contract structuring with milestone-based payments and risk mitigation.

Supplier Management & Market Intelligence:

• Drive supplier onboarding, development, and performance management.

• Conduct market research, benchmarking, and supplier landscape analysis.

• Identify opportunities for supplier consolidation, innovation, and alternate sourcing.

• Track vendor performance (SLAs, KPIs, delivery quality) and drive continuous improvement.

Stakeholder Management & Business Partnering:

• Act as a procurement business partner to internal stakeholders (HR, L&D, Marketing, IT, etc.).

• Translate business requirements into commercially viable sourcing strategies.

• Manage escalations, align expectations, and ensure high stakeholder satisfaction (IPSAT improvement).

• Drive demand governance and compliance to procurement policies.

1. Governance, Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure adherence to procurement policies, audit requirements, and compliance frameworks.

• Work closely with Legal for contract governance and risk mitigation.

• Monitor commercial risks, payment terms, and contractual obligations.

• Support audit readiness and documentation standards.

Data Analytics & Reporting:

• Perform spend analysis and actionable insights generation.

• Prepare management MIS reports covering savings, compliance, sourcing pipeline, and category performance.

• Track procurement KPIs – savings %, SLA adherence, cycle time, adoption metrics.

• Use Excel, PPT, and analytics tools to support decision-making.

Process Excellence & Digital Enablement:

• Drive process improvements (cycle time reduction, automation, standardization).

• Promote eRFX adoption and procurement digitization initiatives.

• Identify opportunities for workflow optimization and stakeholder self-service models.

• Ensure adherence to defined SLAs and continuous process enhancement.

Skill Requirements

Strong understanding of Business Services / Non-Admin procurement categories.Expertise in strategic sourcing, negotiations, and contract management.Proficiency in spend analytics, Excel (advanced), and PowerPoint.Experience with Ariba / SAP / Oracle or similar procurement platforms.Strong commercial acumen and stakeholder management skills.Ability to manage multiple sourcing projects in a dynamic environment.

Other Requirements

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