Senior Manager, Technology Category Management

The Senior Manager, Technology Category Management owns assigned technology spend sourcing activity within one of three categories: Hardware/Telecom/Cloud, Software, or Technology Services. The role develops and executes category strategy, partners with business and IT stakeholders to capture value, and leads and coaches the team supporting the category. This is a critical role in delivering savings, risk reduction and supplier performance for the enterprise.

Responsibilities

• Category strategy and pipeline: Define and manage category strategies, sourcing plans and pipeline priorities for assigned technology spend, aligned with business demand, service, quality and cost objectives; develop the annual category plan and contribute to the five-year strategy and long-range plan.

• Productivity identification: Own category productivity (cost savings and cost avoidance); analyze spend, demand and market data to identify opportunities such as consolidation, demand management, renegotiation, rate and license optimization and process improvement; build and maintain a prioritized opportunity pipeline.

• Sourcing and negotiation: Lead sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations and award recommendations, including select enterprise contracts end-to-end with support from Sourcing Managers, to secure commercial value and category continuity within policy and control requirements; guide the team on complex commercial and contractual issues.

• Productivity delivery: Drive delivery of negotiated productivity through realization, validating savings against baseline spend with Finance, ensuring negotiated terms are implemented and adopted by the business, and tracking benefits to completion.

• Supplier management: Manage supplier performance, contract compliance and issue resolution across the category portfolio, addressing service, quality, risk and supply concerns; run business reviews, track SLAs and KPIs, monitor financial and cyber risk, and drive innovation and sustainability commitments. Lead QBR with strategic technology suppliers to evaluate performance and drive supplier accountability.

• Stakeholder coordination: Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders (business, IT, Legal, Finance, Security, Sourcing and Corporate Program Managers, Regional Sourcing/Country Leads) to align requirements, specifications, timelines and handoffs; serve as primary contact with business, IT and vendor leadership and provide timely status updates with risks and recommendations to senior leadership.

• Financial and performance management: Manage category budgets, savings tracking, resource utilization and short-term delivery plans using financial, capacity and quality metrics; guide team analysis of category performance to improve results.

• Market and technology insight: Maintain current knowledge of market trends, emerging technologies (e.g., cloud, AI, cybersecurity) and vendor capabilities to inform strategy and negotiation positions.

• MA&D and corporate initiatives: Support MA&D and corporate initiatives, including due diligence, synergy identification, Day-1 readiness, vendor rationalization and post-transaction integration or separation.

• Process improvement and standardization: Lead process improvements, onboarding, cross-training and local standardization efforts to stabilize throughput, strengthen quality and support adoption of approved tools and practices; review and update category policies, procedures and playbooks.

• Team leadership: Oversee team performance across onshore and offshore locations; assign and review work, set goals, coach development, and support talent decisions to maintain clear routines, accountability and escalation paths; hold regular team meetings to review progress and remove obstacles.

• AI Adoption: Bridge traditional procurement domain knowledge (strategic sourcing, category management, and procure-to-pay) with scalable AI deployment, driving operational efficiency, cost-out strategies, and automated workflows.

• Director support: Support the Director in stakeholder engagement and relationship management, fostering innovation, collaboration and alignment across functions.

Category Focus

• Hardware / Telecom / Cloud: end-user and data center hardware, networking, telecom and carrier services, public cloud and hosting (IaaS/PaaS), consumption and commitment models (e.g., EDP/MACC, reserved capacity).

• Software: enterprise, SaaS and infrastructure software; licensing models, renewals, true-ups and audits; platform and ecosystem vendors (ERP, security, data, collaboration, AI).

• Technology Services: IT consulting, systems integration, application development and managed services, staff augmentation, outsourcing and offshore delivery models.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Information Technology or related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

• 7+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, category management or procurement, with at least 5 years focused on technology categories; experience in the assigned category (hardware/telecom/cloud, software or technology services) required.

• 3+ years of experience leading or coaching team members; experience managing teams across multiple geographies is preferred.

• Demonstrated success negotiating complex, high-value technology contracts and delivering measurable savings.

• Strong understanding of technology commercial models (licensing, subscription, consumption, SOW/T&M/fixed-price, SLAs) and related risk, data privacy and security considerations.

• Advanced analytical skills; proficiency with spend analytics and sourcing tools (e.g., Ariba, Power BI, Excel).

• Excellent communication and executive presence; proven ability to influence senior business and IT stakeholders.

• Experience with MA&D sourcing support, and healthcare, pharma or other regulated industry, is a plus.

• Professional certification (CPSM, CPP, ISM or similar) a plus.

What Cencora offers

We provide compensation, benefits, and resources that enable a highly inclusive culture and support our team members’ ability to live with purpose every day. In addition to traditional offerings like medical, dental, and vision care, we also provide a comprehensive suite of benefits that focus on the physical, emotional, financial, and social aspects of wellness. This encompasses support for working families, which may include backup dependent care, adoption assistance, infertility coverage, family building support, behavioral health solutions, paid parental leave, and paid caregiver leave. To encourage your personal growth, we also offer a variety of training programs, professional development resources, and opportunities to participate in mentorship programs, employee resource groups, volunteer activities, and much more. For details, visit https://www.virtualfairhub.com/cencora

*This Salary Range reflects a National Average for this job. The actual range may vary based on your locale. Ranges in Colorado/California/Washington/New York/Hawaii/Vermont/Minnesota/Massachusetts/Illinois State-specific locations may be up to 10% lower than the minimum salary range, and 12% higher than the maximum salary range.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Cencora is committed to providing equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or membership in any other class protected by federal, state or local law.

The company’s continued success depends on the full and effective utilization of qualified individuals. Therefore, harassment is prohibited and all matters related to recruiting, training, compensation, benefits, promotions and transfers comply with equal opportunity principles and are non-discriminatory.

Cencora is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the employment process which are consistent with legal requirements. If you wish to request an accommodation while seeking employment, please call 888.692.2272 or email hrsc@cencora.com. We will make accommodation determinations on a request-by-request basis. Messages and emails regarding anything other than accommodations requests will not be returned

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About Us

Cencora is a leading global pharmaceutical solutions company that is committed to improving the lives of people and animals everywhere. We connect manufacturers, providers, and patients to ensure that anyone can get the therapies they need, where and when they need them.

We’re a purpose-driven organization, where all of our team members around the world are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures. We work together every day to help our partners bring their innovations to patients worldwide, creating unparalleled access and impact at the center of health.

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