Sr. Manager, Category Manager, Labor & Professional Services

• Establishes governance frameworks and sourcing standards for major professional services firms, and in contingent labor engagements across the enterprise.
• Drives supplier rationalization and preferred supplier strategies for consulting firms, staffing agencies, and outsourced labor providers.
• Evaluates and creates fit‑for‑purpose workforce operating models, including direct supplier management, VMS-enabled programs, or scaled MSP partnerships based on organizational size and spend profile.
• Owns a complex, high‑spend category (or portfolio) with global scope and enterprise impact.
• Leads cross‑functional project teams and external partners to deliver multi‑year roadmaps and operating model changes.
• Primary procurement voice with senior/executive stakeholders; presents at executive committees.
• Shapes policy, standards, and governance; mentors and develops the category talent bench.
• Ensures category plans reflect stakeholder goals, market dynamics, and supplier capabilities
• Influences functional leaders; presents recommendations and status at leadership forums.
• Champions adoption of preferred suppliers, standards, and policies across the business.
• Leverages analysis to shape strategic insights and market intelligence frameworks that inform category strategy, RFx prioritization, supplier negotiations, and contract terms
• Scrutinizes variable and complex data to identify and prioritize sourcing and planning opportunities that drive competitive advantage and long‑term value
• Leads sourcing waves and supplier business reviews; accountable for savings and value realization.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Strategy & Value Creation

• Craft and socialize a bold, evidence‑based multi‑year category strategy tied to enterprise goals (growth, productivity, risk, ESG). Possible areas of opportunity:
• Management consulting
• Temporary staffing
• Statement‑of‑work (SOW) services
• Workforce solutions/MSP programs
• Develop labor rate benchmarking frameworks and market intelligence to improve rate competitiveness, geographic alignment, and workforce planning decisions.
• Identify opportunities to reduce unmanaged spend, rogue staffing engagements, mark‑up inconsistencies, and duplicate supplier utilization.
• Identify and deliver step‑change value levers (portfolio simplification, demand challenge, supplier ecosystem redesign, digital automation).
• Stand up structured value tracking with Finance; validate and publish results to executives.
• Build and maintain a living category strategy (demand, market, supplier, risk, and should‑cost).
• Translate strategy into an annual sourcing wave plan and prioritized contract pipeline with mitigation actions for expirations/renewals.
• Owns data quality across procurement systems (e.g., sourcing, CLM, P2P) and audit readiness records
• Reviews and performs analytics and market research that inform strategic planning decisions, RFx, negotiation prep, and category direction
• Manage intake queue; validate requirements; set expectations on timelines and next steps
• Maintain project trackers, savings logs, contract records, and supplier profiles for audit readiness
• Create, refresh, publish, and communicate preferred supplier lists and engagement playbooks

Critical Sourcing & Complex Negotiation

• Lead negotiations involving:
• SOW commercial structures
• Rate card & labor mix structures
• Delivery accountability
• Staffing markups & conversion fees
• Evaluate and negotiate VMS platform solutions and workforce operating models appropriate for organizational scale, complexity, and spend maturity in the labor space.
• Conduct in‑depth market analysis to inform RFx development, supplier negotiations, and contract terms
• Identify and prioritize sourcing opportunities that drive competitive advantage and long‑term value
• Own and drive marquee RFx/sole‑source events and renewals with enterprise‑wide implications; negotiate creative commercial constructs (risk‑share, outcome‑based, gainshare).
• Chair executive governance with strategic consultancy partnerships; sponsor joint innovation roadmaps and transformation programs.
• Collaborate with HR and other governance areas to manage labor supplier performance across metrics such as fill rates, cycle times, attrition, quality of talent, compliance adherence, and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Partner with HR Legal and Finance/Accounting to mitigate worker misclassification risks and ensure contingent workforce governance aligns with applicable labor regulations globally.
• Oversee risk management for the portfolio (cyber, supply continuity, financial, regulatory, ESG) with proactive mitigation and incident response.
• Segment suppliers (Tier 1/2) and implement governance (QBRs/ABRs, scorecards, corrective actions).
• Perform AQSCIR assessments for key suppliers
• Lead supplier steering committees to drive collaboration, performance improvement, and risk mitigation
• Drive adoption of preferred suppliers and manage change communication effectively

Operational Excellence & Governance

• Establish enterprise‑wide standards for services usage such as:
• Rate card management
• SOW approvals
• Headcount visibility
• Contractor tenure monitoring
• Partner cross‑functionally to design scalable contingent labor intake, approval, and tracking processes that balance governance with business agility.
• Elevate standards, templates, and systems; automate analytics and reporting; ensure data fidelity and audit readiness.
• Continuously improve ways of working across Legal, Security/Privacy, Finance/AP, and business units.
• Track cost savings and avoidance progress against targets and pipeline forecasts

Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner closely with HR, Talent Acquisition, Finance, Legal, and critical functional business leaders to assure governance and align workforce sourcing strategies with organizational priorities.
• Map stakeholder ecosystems and develop engagement strategies based on influence, impact, and business needs
• Act as a strategic advisor helping stakeholders determine the most appropriate engagement model for external advisory and/or labor needs.
• Engage stakeholders to understand business requirements, pain points, and future needs
• Maintain a cadence of meetings and communications with key stakeholders and their leadership teams
• Act as a trusted advisor and liaison between procurement and business units
• Communicate clearly and professionally across all channels (in‑person meetings, email, video calls), tailoring messages to diverse audiences
• Deliver measurable value through enterprise professional services governance/negotiation, labor rate and markup optimization, supplier consolidation, etc.
• Analyze labor spend trends, rate inflation, utilization patterns, and supplier concentration risks to support budgeting and workforce planning decisions.
• Engage consistently with Finance and stakeholders in the budgeting process, aligning procurement plans with financial goals.
• Coordinate with Finance for savings tracking and bottom‑line impact protection.
• Deliver measurable cost savings and avoidance, tracking progress against targets and pipeline forecasts
• Apply Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis to sourcing decisions and supplier evaluations
• Optimize contract value through improved terms, pricing structures, and performance incentives

Leadership & Change

• Mentor and support a matrixed and cross‑functional team of procurement professionals and governance partners to build skills and succession; promote a high‑performance, inclusive culture.
• Design and execute change management and communications for enterprise rollouts; craft executive narratives and decision memos.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree required in supply chain, finance, project management, or related field.
• 8-10+ years of experience , heavy in managing large/complex Professional Services and/or Contingent Labor categories in a strategic sourcing or category management environment.
• Strong understanding of “Big Four” service provider ecosystem and workforce operating models including supplier-direct programs, VMS tools, and MSP solutions.
• Demonstrated executive communication and storytelling skills; track record influencing VP/C‑suite decisions.
• Expert fluency in benchmarking, TCO, complex contracting, commercial strategy, and supplier performance governance at scale.
• Expert analytical skills with working knowledge of procure‑to‑pay, RFx processes, and contract basics/playbooks.

Sills and Competency

Core

• Composure in high‑visibility and executive environments.
• Strategic thinking and structured problem solving; ability think upstream and downstream to frame choices and drive decisions.
• Executive presence; concise narrative building; board‑quality materials.
• Proven ability to build strong stakeholder relationships and influence at all levels
• Influencing without authority; stakeholder alignment and change management.
• Financial acumen (budget alignment, forecasting, value realization).

Technical

• Deep understanding of contingent labor pricing models, staffing markups, blended rate structures, and consulting commercial models.
• Ability to discern workforce data such as fill rates, time‑to‑fill, geographic benchmarking, attrition, etc.
• Sophisticated financial modeling (TCO/NPV, scenario analysis, indexation, benchmarking).
• Design of KPIs, supplier incentives, and performance regimes; SRM maturity models.
• Category strategy toolkits; RFx design; commercial modeling (price ladders, indices, incentives).
• Deep fluency in complex contracting (MSAs, SOWs, data protection, service levels, audit/benchmarking clauses).

Hybrid role based in Mesa, Arizona with standard business hours. Occasional domestic or global travel (<10%)