Sr. Category Manager (Hybrid - 3 Days in Office)

At Freddie Mac, you will do important work to build a better housing finance system and you'll be part of a team helping to make homeownership and rental housing more accessible and affordable across the nation.

Position Overview:

Reporting to the Director - Category Management, the Sr. Category Manager is responsible for the development, implementation, and ongoing management of the category strategy that is aligned to the business strategies and needs.

Our Impact:

Every day, ESC is making home possible- we are committed to sourcing and purchasing, the products and services that help the organization achieve our corporate mission. We create, enable, and sustain value by serving and supporting the core business functions that service Americas homebuyers. Our mission is to effectively fulfill the needs of the business while minimizing risk and cost.

• Responsible and accountable for end to end development and management of assigned category, including the category profile, category strategy, category sourcing plan, projects, contracts, supplier relationships and supplier performance, setting savings targets, developing and managing category process and policies and managing to the spend and savings targets identified for the category
• In-depth and current understanding of supply/commodity markets and leverage Sourcing methodologies to drive category(s)
• Align with business leaders on their needs and develop category strategy to drive and support functional and business goals and objectives
• Develop enterprise savings targets for identified categories
• Provide guidance and direction to respective process, resources and customers
• Responsible for managing and talent development of a team of sourcing and contracting professionals
• Responsible for working with the business units to identify category strategies by building and managing the relationship with both the business and the respective category suppliers
• Responsible for conducting category review meetings with team and with business partners on a recurring basis to ensure alignment with the businesses strategic wave plan and ensure alignment across all procurement functions on category strategy and initiatives
• Responsible and accountable for conducting external market analysis, benchmarking, and gathering market intelligence to support the category strategy
• Responsible for the supplier relationship management and coordination for key category suppliers
• Responsible for continuous quality and service from suppliers to support efficient business operations
• Accountable for achieving category spend savings targets and objectives utilizing spend analytics, sourcing events (RFx's), and market data and trends to drive TCO value and a positive ROI
• Execute strategy and work toward developing a sourcing pipeline and cohesive cost-saving agreements
• Accountable for internal stakeholder KPIs for category(s) and support supplier performance scorecard for external stakeholder KPIs
• Responsible and accountable for monitoring category compliance
• Share SME knowledge across other business units and support cross BU activities

• BA/BS degree or equivalent combination of training and experience required
• 10+ years broad-based experience across supply chain, with particular focus in category management, purchasing, strategic sourcing, contract negotiation, competitive price analysis, supplier relationship management and performance management
• Financial Services Procurement experiences desired
• Deep expertise in the category, understanding of current market conditions demonstrated ability to drive savings using different category strategies
• Experience managing and leading a team of category or sourcing specialist
• Demonstrated ability to effectively interact in a cross-functional environment with all levels of executive management
• Effective written and oral communications
• Ability to translate big picture into implementation
• High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, including Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• Certified Professional Purchaser (CPP) designation / Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) is a plus

• A strong background and experience in Technology Category Management.
• Setting category strategies and working with business partners to define procurement and supplier relationship management.
• A strong working knowledge of the technology sector of procurement. Specifically, technology infrastructure, telecommunications, cloud services, and network hardware.
• Ability to manage a diverse team focused on managing sourcing events, negotiating contracts, and managing supplier base specific to technology products and services.
• Having an in-depth and current understanding of supply/commodity markets and leverage Sourcing methodologies to drive technology categories.