WNS - Senior Manager - Category Lead - Procurement - East Coast

WNS Denali is a procurement-focused, technology-agnostic managed services provider that enables organizations to win at procurement: influence more spends through category management and transition to anew procurement operating model. We support Global 1000 companies by offering an array of best-in-class procurement solutions, including Category Management, Strategic Sourcing and Category Management, Contract and Supplier Management, Tactical and Transactional Procurement, and Accounts Payable. We bring deep Category expertise extending across various direct and indirect spend categories.

Our efforts to integrate human capital strategy into the overall growth strategy have been acknowledged on several leading platforms. We were recently recognized in the AON Best Employer 2017 rankings, a feat that we have achieved for the second consecutive year. The WNS-Denali office in Pittsburgh was named a - Best Place to Work- in Pittsburgh in both 2016 2017 and 2020.

WNS Denali, provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Job Purpose / Summary

WNS-Denali is seeking to expand our Global Enablement capabilities, through the addition of Global Category Leads in selected categories such as HR, Professional Services, IT, Construction, Facilities, MRO, and Logistics.

The Category Lead role is a member of the WNS-Denali Global Enablement Team, which is a critical part of WNS-Denali's Global Client Delivery Services organization. Category Leads will support WNS-Denali's Client Delivery Services, as well as supporting Sales/Solutions, Marketing, and Advisory services, with deep category knowledge and category management activities.

- The WNS-Denali Category Lead will work side-by-side with the Client Services team members and/or directly with Client Category Managers, focusing on activities including, but not limited to:

- Supporting category plan development and improvement

- Creating category-aligned tools, templates, and deliverables

- Category Management coaching

- Development of an actionable, category-focused project pipeline

- Assisting Client Category Managers to engage business stakeholders

- Reviewing procurement activities and recommending strategies

- Providing category-based insights and guidance

- WNS-Denali Category Leads are also responsible to work closely with Sales & Solutions leaders, to develop assets and themes related to category knowledge and management. This includes, but is not limited to:

- Leveraging project and market analytics to derive category insights and trends

- Communicating category observations to the market and to potential clients

- Developing a set of category-related core assets sales opportunities and scoping

- Participate in due diligence, opportunity assessment, and mobilization activities, to drive category understanding

Key Responsibilities / Job Duties

- Act as an active team member and coach of the WNS-Denali Category leadership community, and support category management projects, plan development, governance, communication, and change management on behalf of, and/or in cooperation with Client Category Managers.

- Document and maintain WNS-Denali category-related assets to be used across clients, client teams, and sales opportunities

- Provide improvements and refinements to Category Management tools and templates

- Work with Client Category Managers to develop and document standard templates and category job aids to be used for ongoing execution activities

- Provide coordination and support as requested for category collateral, category workshops, supplier presentations, governance meetings across clients

- Assist Client Category Managers with category plan development and improvement including but not limited to overall spend data analysis and summary, category plan discussions with business stakeholders, aiding with requirements gathering, overall category plan documentation

- Research market knowledge and intelligence and share findings with execution and client resources

Required Education and Experience :

- Bachelors Degree or equivalent work experience is required, MBA preferred

- Minimum of 8 years of related work experience within procurement, category management, sourcing, procurement consulting or financial/business analyst capacity

- Expertise in an Indirect procurement category is required, such as HR, Professional Services, IT, Construction, Facilities, MRO, and Logistics

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities :

- Ability to assess appropriate procurement strategies for given categories and procurement business requirements

- Strong negotiation and strategic sourcing skills

- Ability to work with web-based tools

- Advanced/- Expert- Excel skills, including working knowledge of filters, sorting, pivot tables, basic formulas, advanced formatting techniques, and advanced data manipulation skills

- Deep understanding of Category Management methods and approaches, and an ability to apply various concepts to category-level activities at the Client

- High proficiency in one or more procurement categories, including understanding external market dynamics, top suppliers, market trends and highlights, procurement strategies

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