Category Manager (Procurement)

About Filtrona

Filtrona is the only global, independent market leader in the design, testing and manufacturing of specialist filter solutions, tear tapes and related scientific services. With a head office in Singapore, Filtrona has 9 manufacturing facilities across Europe, America, and Asia, together with 2 innovation centres, an accredited laboratory and a centre of excellence focused on sustainability. The company has over 2000 employees serving customers across 120 countries. Our purpose is to support partners to transform and benefit from business growth; we succeed when they succeed. Our mission is to be a responsible, customer-focused innovation leader creating excellence in sustainable solutions for today and tomorrow. For more information, please visit www.filtrona.com.

About the Role

This is a key role within the Global Procurement team, reporting to the Global Procurement Director. The Category Manager is responsible for overall management of relevant procurement categories assigned to them (direct and indirect). The role will also support any strategic business initiatives to maximize revenue and profit.

Responsibilities

• Manage a spend of US$100M to UD$200M
• Maintain and strengthen supplier relationships
• Develop and implement specific category planning and management
• Develop and maintain category-specific knowledge, market intelligence that capture best practices
• Leverage market insights and trends to drive strategic decisions/sourcing initiatives in line with business goals and objectives
• Keep up to date with trends and innovations, regulations and new technology that can impact on the business
• Leverage category expertise to support new sales and businesses
• Establish, grow, and leverage network of suppliers
• Work collaboratively with suppliers and internal stakeholders to identify continuous improvement plans
• Assess suitable alternative vendors to de-risk existing supplier base
• Forecast price trends and their impact on future activities, by studying relevant indices
• Compare and evaluate offers from suppliers and be key contact point in category negotiations
• Negotiate contract terms of agreement and pricing
• Collate reports on purchases within each category, including cost analyses
• Lead Procurement Continuous Improvement Projects

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent work experience
• Minimum 10 years of procurement or category-related / supplier working experience of which majority is focused on strategic sourcing or category management experience for direct spend
• Experience with strategy development, budgeting and financial management
• Good understanding of the supplier landscape and interpretation of market trends
• Ability to develop and frequently refresh category market intelligence
• Strong desire to drive the category forwards to deliver incremental value for the business
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence