Global Category Manager

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Cloud Operations + Innovation (CO+I) is the engine that powers Microsoft’s core cloud platforms and services that millions of people use every day. With more than 95% of Fortune 500 business on Azure, 180 million using Office 365, and millions using other services - all running on Microsoft's cloud infrastructure - CO+I builds and operates the foundation upon which Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and organization comes to life.

The CO+I Core Datacenter Procurement team help ensure data center availability through a flexible, efficient and reliable supply chain; delivering critical environment equipment maintenance, services and lifecycle management for operational data centers. We are looking to fill a critical role of Category Manager for data center operations Supply Chain.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

**Responsibilities**:

- You’ll create multi-year sourcing strategies for several purchasing opportunities, optimizing costs, ensuring sufficient supplies, and driving benchmarking. You’ll also leverage end-to-end sourcing expertise to resolve escalations and execute sourcing strategies.
- While integrating business specifications for several complex purchasing areas into RFP processes, you’ll model efficient supplier management practices, improve evaluation frameworks, and drive corrective actions. You’ll also lead contract and pricing negotiation for one or more purchasing categories.
- You’ll identify procurement request issues and collaborate with partners to proactively drive improvements. You’ll also create and deliver on contract execution plans, defining control processes that drive consistent alignment with business requirements and support improvements.
- You’ll lead pricing and negotiation strategies for several complex purchasing categories, gaining C-suite support, mitigating contract disagreements, and coaching others. You’ll also drive early business engagements for highly complex business areas and manage supplier activity across multiple accounts.

**Qualifications**:
**Required/Minimum Qualifications**
- Master's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Supply Chain, Data Analytics, Business, Finance or related field AND 5+ years experience in Data Science/Analytics, Finance, Project Management, Supply Chain, and/or Operations
- OR Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Supply Chain, Data Analytics, Business, Finance or related field AND 6+ years experience in Data Science/Analytics, Finance, Project Management, Supply Chain, and/or Operations
- OR equivalent experience.
- Category Management experience in one or more key categories including General Contractors, Mechanical & Electrical Equipment, Construction Services, Operations Services.
- Skilled project management experience plus exceptional communication and influencing skills
- Experience with Global and regional planning and development

**Additional or Preferred Qualifications**
- Master's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Supply Chain, Data Analytics, Business, Finance
- OR related field AND 7+ years experience in Data Science/Analytics, Finance, Project Management, Supply Chain, and/or Operations
- OR Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Supply Chain, Data Analytics, Business, Finance
- OR related field AND 8+ years experience in Data Science/Analytics, Finance, Project Management, Supply Chain, and/or Operations
- OR equivalent experience.
- Strong commercial understanding and experience driving developing contractual on key categories (General Contractors, Mechanical & Electrical Equipment, Construction Services, Operations Services).
- Knowledge of data center industry and experience managing a variety of project delivery methods - ability to lead a project team in defining risk and developing the appropriate contracting and compensation approach.
- Technical ability to write contracts, ability to set up sourcing plans and negotiation strategies and execute them.
- Excellent communicator that can interact with diverse groups across organizational levels.
- Familiarity with common process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six-Sigma, etc.) and ability to facilitate change management.
- Ability to implement new processes and get buy in from a cross functional team.

**Travel**:
Able to travel up to 25%, globally

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include,