The Procurement Category Lead (Sr Group Manager Procurement) – Insights & Analytics is responsible for developing and executing global category strategies across Commercial procurement spend, with primary accountability for categories including Data & Analytics, Data Purchases, Business Analytics Services, Forecasting & Commercial Analytics, Competitive Intelligence, Market Research, and Market Access.
This role serves as the global procurement subject matter expert (SME) and strategic advisor to senior business stakeholders across Commercial and Market Access functions. The Category Lead will manage a complex spend portfolio exceeding $250M and will be responsible for delivering sustainable value through strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, innovation, risk mitigation, and commercial excellence. Success in this role requires a deep understanding of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or life sciences industry, including commercialization processes, market access dynamics, data and analytics ecosystems, and the supplier landscape supporting commercial operations. The individual will proactively partner with senior stakeholders to shape demand, challenge requirements, identify value creation opportunities, and align procurement strategies with client long-term business objectives. The role will build strong relationships with business leaders and suppliers to ensure client remains positioned to leverage best-in-class commercial capabilities, market insights, and data-driven decision making.
Category strategy development
• Develop and implement effective category strategies aligned with organizational priorities and objectives.
• Analyze spend, market trends and supply risks to effectively manage procurement activities to ensure cost efficiency and optimal supplier performance.
• Provide strategic direction and operational support to Sourcing Managers to execute procurement activities.
• Define category roadmaps, sourcing pipelines, and performance metrics.
Supplier relationship management
• Build and maintain strong relationships with suppliers to foster collaboration and drive innovation.
• Facilitate supplier business performance reviews and ensure alignment with contractual and client needs and priorities and establish supplier performance management (KPIs, scorecards, reviews) to improve performance Lead supplier risk management and continuity planning.
• Lead Cross Functional Category Councils to ensure client and the Supply base are aligned both in the immediate term but also across a 5 year pipeline.
Execute sourcing and procurement activities
• Engage with internal stakeholders of the client to align procurement initiatives and saving opportunities.
• Ensure compliance with procurement policies and governance frameworks and ethical sourcing standards.
• Maintain accurate documentation and reporting of procurement activities and supplier engagements.
• Identify and manage procurement-related risks within assigned categories.
• Lead the Tendering process, negotiations, and contract awards for activities over $500K.
• Drive total cost of ownership (TCO) improvements, cost reduction, and value creation.
Monitor performance
• Monitor category performance using key performance indicators (KPIs) and provide insights to the Category Director and key stakeholders across Commercial and Finance.
Cost analysis and budget management
• Conduct detailed cost analysis and benchmarking to identify savings opportunities and ensure procurement activities align with financial objectives.
• Monitor and report category performance against budget using KPIs and data-driven insights to support cost optimization and compliance.
Stakeholder Collaboration
• Develop trusted advisor relationships with Commercial, Medical, Market Access, Finance, Legal, and Strategy stakeholders.
• Influence senior leaders by translating business objectives into procurement and supplier strategies that drive measurable outcomes.
• Challenge business requirements constructively and identify opportunities to optimize external spend while maintaining business objectives.
• Act as the primary procurement partner and strategic consultant for assigned categories across the enterprise.
• Build credibility through strong understanding of commercial pharmaceutical operations, market dynamics, and evolving business needs
• Minimum 5-7 years of procurement, strategic sourcing, category management, or commercial operations experience.
• Experience within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, healthcare required
• Demonstrated category expertise across one or more of the following areas:
o Data & Analytics
o Commercial Data Purchases
o Business Analytics Services
o Forecasting & Demand Planning
o Competitive Intelligence
o Market Research
o Market Access
• Proven experience developing and implementing global category strategies for complex commercial service and data providers.
• Deep understanding of the supplier landscape, commercial data ecosystem, and leading industry providers supporting commercial pharmaceutical organizations.
• Experience partnering with senior leaders across Commercial, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Finance, and Strategy functions.
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale negotiations, strategic supplier partnerships, and multi-million-dollar sourcing initiatives.
• Experience operating in complex global organizations with multiple business units and geographic regions.
• Strong understanding of category economics, supplier cost drivers, benchmarking methodologies, and value creation opportunities.
• Commercial & Industry Expertise: Strong understanding of pharmaceutical and life sciences commercialization models, market access considerations, competitive intelligence methodologies, forecasting processes, and the commercial data ecosystem.
• Category Expertise: Demonstrated expertise in Data & Analytics, Market Research, Competitive Intelligence, Market Access, and related commercial services categories. Ability to identify market trends, supplier innovations, and value optimization opportunities.
Other responsibilities
• Risk management.
• Training and development.
• Market intelligence sharing.
• Support change initiatives.
• Stakeholder engagement.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, or related discipline; professional certification (e.g., CIPS) preferred.