Assistant Category Manager

What we offer:

This is an exciting career opportunity in an international, challenging business setting known for diversity and being a high paced environment. You will get to focus on creating valuable relations with current and new customers and work with highly professional teams in an environment where you will be valued, recognized and well rewarded. You will work with amazing and diverse colleagues with a deep sense of commitment to live Our Values and together, go all the way for our customers, society and for each other.

This position maintains the global pipeline of requirements, analyze the spends and processes to deploy category strategies at the right time at the right cost with full visibility of portfolio/category. This will include end-to-end sourcing activities from scoping to contract documentation, post-award contract management including monitoring project progress until successful completion, contract lifecycle management and stakeholder management.

Key Responsibilities:

You will be responsible for driving Technology projects and categories and supporting workstreams for different Maersk business units in close cooperation with internal stakeholders. This includes:

• Working with cross functional Technology teams, stakeholders across different departments, business units and geographies to understand and define the requirements.
• Leading and executing end-to-end projects in line with procurement and category management activities.
• Support to develop meaningful procurement strategies for Technology categories. Manage multiple projects and stakeholders simultaneously with aggressive schedules and demands.
• Understand and communicate internal and external risk factors, schedule, budget, cost drivers, and should cost analysis.
• Define and lead supplier qualification, sourcing evaluation, and decision criteria with business stakeholders.
• Manage stakeholder engagement to establish alignment on procurement process and strategy. Improve the integration of procurement strategy, process discipline, and best practices into project lifecycle.
• Mapping and analyzing data on current spend patterns and identifying cost drivers and opportunities in complex marketplaces. Conduct in depth market and supplier research to support development of category strategy.
• Manage and execute RFI/RFPs and act as single point of contact for supplier during negotiations.
• Manage senior stakeholder (CXO) engagement via steering committees for driving sourcing projects and category management objectives.
• Facilitate technical scope discussions. Prepare and negotiate contracts in close collaboration with legal counsel and project team. Enable high level of engagement and collaboration with suppliers.
• Support the business functions and business units in resolving supplier delivery, quality measurement, commercial or contractual issues post sign-off, supplier relationship management.Finally, you will gather and analyze business and market intelligence to assist strategic decision making for the technology category, whilst having significant responsibility to manage end-to-end sourcing and contract lifecycle activities. Who we are looking for: Our employees represent a wide range of educational backgrounds, work experience and nationalities - most important to us is your personal skills. You must thrive in a fast paced, fast changing and dynamic environment and be a true team player with strong analytical abilities and interpersonal, and communication skills. The ideal candidate would look like the below:
• You have actively been involved in Technology procurement and category management activities for a minimum of 5-6 years where you have acquired experience in strategic sourcing, supplier negotiations, contract lifecycle management, demand to delivery management, project management & stakeholder management.
• Preferably you have strong knowledge of the Software and IT Services industry including Hardware, Software as a service (SaaS), IT managed services, Industrial Operational Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Either with industry experience from a vendor or from a similar position in other global company.
• Ideally, you come with a background as a Category Manager, Procurement Manager, Management Consultant or Technical Consultant in the IT/Technology-field, with a proven track record.
• Excellent strategic negotiation skills and contractual legal knowledge to deliver on procurement projects and category lifecycle management.
• Technical understanding of various IT Tech. concepts and industry trends.
• Proactive collaboration with suppliers, business partners and key stakeholders with a high level of urgency and delivery in a time critical environment.
• Ability to manage internal & external stakeholders efficiently.
• Business and commercial acumen