Senior Category Manager

About this role

At Sunrun, we’re on a mission to change the way the world interacts with energy, and we’re building a company and brand that puts power at the center of life. To do it, we’re designing a dynamic culture where employee development, well-being, and safety come first. It’s why we’ve become the #1 home solar and battery company in America. We’re unlike any other residential energy company. Our vertically integrated model gives us total control over every part of the energy lifecycle – from sale through installation and beyond – so you can find endless opportunities for growth. Come join a career you can grow in and a culture you can run with.

Who We Are We’re on a mission to make energy more reliable and affordable for more people. We provide an opportunity with storage and solar to help people access greater energy independence without the big upfront costs. Sunrun is the largest dedicated residential solar and storage company in the country and has a mission to bring stably priced resilient power to the masses.

Overview

The Senior Category Manager executes effective procurement strategies, from initial identification of procurement needs for goods and services. Responsible for negotiating, coordinating, and assuring that assigned spend categories and services are purchased at the lowest possible cost. Assesses near-term and long term plans to establish that supplier priorities are balanced with business needs; consults with Sr. Management, and other subject matter experts to develop alternative solutions; advises on options, risks, total cost of ownership, and business impacts.   Responsibilities  • Execute strategic sourcing strategies, best practices, and initiatives that support aggressive improvements in supplier quality, total cost effectiveness, enhanced service levels, improved coordination, delivery, pricing, lead-times, payment, risk compliance and other areas as identified.

• Executes assigned category sourcing strategies including development and execution of RFI’s and RFP’s

• Documents bid events through correspondence to suppliers utilizing advanced sourcing tools (e.g. reverse auctions)Develops selection criteria and drives the selection of suppliers in collaboration with cross-functional teams 

• Conducts supplier negotiations and ongoing supplier management

• Actively seeks ways to streamline business processes

• Researches and provides information on industry category trends and best practices 

• Provide procurement input to maximize procurement leverage, optimize project design and minimize project duration and cost.

• Develop negotiation strategies, gain alignment from stakeholders, lead cross-functional, category-based negotiation teams, and implement appropriate supplier risk analysis

• Directly negotiate with suppliers that require a detailed strategic plan and have a direct correlation with companies’ operational needs and goals.

• Deep dive current spend information/data to identify sourcing projects for individual subcategories, and develop an overall cost reduction plan

• Demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of business requirements and category ownership by creating and defending category strategies and decisions with sound analytics. Leads analytic tasks and synthesizes results

• Monitor supplier performance to ensure that delivery dates and technical and contractual requirements are met

• Participate in strategic meetings with suppliers and business leaders to ensure execution of defined strategies

• Manages day-to-day on-going category supplier relations and seeks out growth or revision opportunities within the supply base

• Act as the internal point of contact for supplier management and complaint resolution

• Conduct regular supplier meetings and implement improvement strategies with suppliers. Creates, nurtures, and enhances supplier relationships

• Aggressively manages category performance by adhering to internal Savings goals and reviewing financial models for commodity type items 

• Ensure spend portfolio for recurring managed spend is balanced through coordinated sourcing waves and leveraged with project sourcing activities

• Drive consolidation of spend and seek out synergies across Business Units where applicable, by forming and leading cross-functional strategic sourcing teams to develop and implement category/commodity strategies and to drive cost from individual spend sub-categories

• Develops total cost of ownership models for each assigned commodity; measuring and communicating performance of each supplier and commodity and driving continual improvement efforts 

• Champions weekly assigned category review meetings with cross-functional teams to manage category performance.

• Self-motivated and directed within an individual contributor role.

• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment while prioritizing and managing multiple stakeholders, responsibilities, and delivering multiple first-of-their-kind programs.

Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Industrial or Operations Engineering, Supply Chain Management, or a related field required; Master’s degree in Business Administration or Supply Chain Management preferred

• Minimum of 10+ years of procurement experience required

• At least 3 years of experience in data analytics of spend preferred

• Highly effective oral and written communication skills.

• Ability to perform deep dive analytics and disseminate in a discernible fashion.

• Highly effective at supplier negotiation and sourcing strategy development.

• Advanced experience collaborating with internal and external resources.

• Advanced Experience in managing projects and/or cross functional teams.

• Advanced level skill in google sheets and office suite of products.

• Advanced  level skill in PowerPoint for crisp presentations.

• Willing to travel up to 10% of the time for business purposes (within state and out of state).

Recruiter: Danielle Levitan (

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