Job Title: Category Lead
Location: Vadodara/ Bangalore/ Chennai/ Hyderabad/ Pune
Shift: Split shift (1pm 10 pm or 2pm - 11pm IST)
About The Role
We are looking for an experienced Category Lead to lead end-to-end procurement across a wide range of corporate and business support service categories. This role will own global category strategy, vendor management, contract governance, and cost optimization, ensuring high-quality service delivery across all regions.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and execute global sourcing and category strategies.
- Lead supplier selection, RFP processes, commercial negotiations, and contract finalization.
- Build strong partnerships with internal stakeholders such as Finance, Legal, HR, Compliance, Administration, Leadership, and other business teams.
- Ensure compliance with procurement policies, risk controls, audit requirements, and corporate governance standards.
- Identify opportunities for vendor consolidation, performance improvement, and cost reduction across global service categories.
- Monitor market trends, pricing benchmarks, regulatory changes, and emerging service delivery models.
- Oversee supplier performance management, including SLAs, KPIs, and quarterly business reviews.
- Drive continuous improvement, innovation, and value creation within the professional services portfolio.
- Support global transformation, outsourcing, and spend management initiatives where required.
Required Skills & Experience
- Must have 10-15 years of experience in end to end procurement.
- Global exposure: Working with global vendors and stakeholders
- Strategic Procurement & Sourcing experience in respective categories
- E2E knowledge of Source to Pay Cycle, with key skills around understanding stakeholder needs, defining & understanding statement of work/scope of work, sourcing vendors, conducting RFx, reviewing proposals, reviewing contract T&Cs, preparing recommendations for stakeholders, savings costs, sourcing best quality services and ensuring ethical procurement
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Analytical mindset & skills
- Stakeholder management
- Knowledge of procurement tools like Ariba, SAP, Oracle (Coupe preferred)
