Senior Category Buyer
Caterpillar

Career Area:
Procurement
Job Description:

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do - but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here - we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Your Work Shapes the World

Whether it be groundbreaking products, best in class solutions or creating a lifelong career, you can do the work that matters at Caterpillar. With a 95-year legacy of quality and innovation and 150 locations in countries around the world, your impact spans the globe.

When you join Caterpillar, you are joining a team of makers, innovators, and doers. We are the people who roll up our sleeves and do the work to build a better world. We don't just talk about progress and innovation. We make it happen. And we are proud of that, because it helps our customers build and power the world we live in - the roads, hospitals, homes, and infrastructure. Without a dedicated workforce Caterpillar could not effectively meet our customer's needs. Join us.

Job Summary:

Lead Category Management responsibilities within the RISM Global Electronics & Electrical Category Procurement Team focused on executing and incrementally developing the strategic direction of critical electronics supply enabling Caterpillar's current and future success. Acute focus on Category Strategies and delivering year-over-year Quality-Cost-Logistics-Development-Relationship Management performance improvement.

What You Will Do :

• Accountable for the development, communication, and implementation of a worldwide category strategy
• Responsible to coordinate and drive direction with a matrixed internal organization
• Develop and deliver category and supplier strategies aligned with diverse and dynamic business needs
• Identifying performance gaps within the supply base and developing improvement plans for the identified gaps
• Lead supplier resiliency-related initiatives
• Manage supplier and internal customer relationship management
• Improve contract coverage as a key part of category and supplier strategy development and execution
• Demonstrate leadership attributes by developing a high-performing cross-functional internal team
• Work with regional category managers to ensure alignment on category and supplier strategies.
• Work closely with engineering process partners to enable flawless New Product Introduction (NPI) and New Source Introduction (NSI)

Education Requirement:

• Bachelor's degree - or equivalent experience required (5 years)

What Skills You Will Have:

Category Management:

• Demonstrate best practices and lead category management activities internally and externally

• Develop and publish category strategies that directly align with prioritized business activities
• Analyzes recent trends and developments related to category management and procurement and discusses future implications.
• Establishes best practices in category management across functional responsibilities
• Leads in the development, evaluation, and selection of suppliers for NPI, NTI, and NSI programs
• Promotes the use of emerging tools and technologies for implementing the category management process

Supplier Management:

• Establishes best practices for monitoring supplier health, reliability, and performance

• Leads the evaluation of product plans/directions for impact on supply chain requirements
• Mentors others in the resolution of complex supplier issues; consults on the trends of supplier management
• Oversees large supplier networks at the enterprise or global level
• Develops supplier strategies; monitors the marketplace for competitive suppliers

Strategic Sourcing:

• Plays a leadership role in establishing and directing strategic sourcing standards, policies, and best practices.

• Leads discussions and drives for internal consensus on all aspects of strategic sourcing
• Seamlessly connects category and supplier strategies to strategic sourcing decisions
• Develops a key interesting in understanding both historical perspectives and future opportunities when guiding decision making.
• Influences and directly engages in organization-wide or high-impact decisions

Effective Communications:

• Adapts documents and presentations for the intended audience

• Demonstrates both empathy and assertiveness when communicating a need or defending a position
• Communicates well downward, upward, and outward
• Employs appropriate methods of persuasion when soliciting agreement
• Maintains focus with acute focus on progress over perfection

Negotiating:

• Leads complex, high-impact or volatile negotiations involving high business risks

• Advocates a win-win approach to negotiating
• Explains appropriateness of using adversarial negotiating versus joint problem-solving techniques
• Overcomes resistance to the negotiation process
• Guides internal consensus on negotiating strategies and objectives
• Negotiates complex matters involving multiple parties

Planning:

• Develops, refines, and communicates plans to meet organizational objectives

• Provides the right level of detail as input for strategic plan development
• Demonstrates the value and necessity of linking tactical plans to overall strategic plan
• Understands the budget planning and prioritization process for seamless alignment into objectives and category strategies

Additional Information

The location for this position is Mossville, IL.

Relocation assistance is not available for this position. Any relocation costs incurred would be the responsibility of the selected candidate.

This position may require up to 25% travel.

What You Will Get:

Our goal at Caterpillar is for you to have a rewarding career. Our teams are critical to the success of our customers who build a better world. Here you earn more than just wage, because we value your performance, we offer a total rewards package that provides:

• Competitive Base Salary
• Annual incentive bonus plan*
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Paid time off plan (Vacation, Holiday, Volunteer, Etc.)
• 401k savings plan
• Health savings account (HSA)
• Flexible spending accounts (FSAs)
• Short and long-term disability coverage
• Life Insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Healthy Lifestyle Programs
• Employee Assistance Programs
• Voluntary Benefits (Ex. Accident, Identity Theft Protection)

*Subject to annual eligibility and incentive plan guidelines.

Final details

Please frequently check the email associated with your application, including the junk/spam folder, as this is the primary correspondence method. If you wish to know the status of your application - please use the candidate log-in on our career website as it will reflect any updates to your status.

This employer is not currently hiring foreign national applicants that require or will require sponsorship tied to a specific employer, such as H, L, TN, F, J, E, O. As a global company, Caterpillar offers many job opportunities outside of the U.S. which can be found through our employment website at www.Caterpillar.com/Careers .

For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media

#LI
Visa Sponsorship is not available for this position. This employer is not currently hiring foreign national applicants that require or will require sponsorship tied to a specific employer, such as, H, L, TN, F, J, E, O. As a global company, Caterpillar offers many job opportunities outside of the U.S which can be found through our employment website at www.caterpillar.com/careers.
Posting Dates:
September 27, 2024 - October 1, 2024
Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen.

EEO/AA Employer. All qualified individuals - Including minorities, females, veterans and individuals with disabilities - are encouraged to apply.

Not ready to apply? Join our Talent Community .

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