Global Director

Director Category Management (Global Procurement Services)

Location

India (Noida) with multiregion responsibility (Global Role)

Role Purpose

The Director Category Management will provide strategic, commercial, and operational leadership for highvalue indirect spend categories including Facilities Management Services (FMS), Real estate / leasing, Infrastructure build, Physical Security, Employee services, and Global Travel & lodging

The role owns endtoend category strategy for a global annual spend of ~USD 400 million, driving cost optimization, risk management, Contract negotiations & governance, ESG compliance, supplier relations across geographies, lead complex global RFPs, renegotiations, and contract restructurings,

This position requires a seasoned leader with ~25 years of experience, capable of operating at leadership levels, managing complex supplier ecosystems, and leading senior category leads at GM / DGM levels with overall team size of 40+ across different region

Responsible for managing internal customer / stake holders & act as senior escalation point for businesscritical supplier performance or continuity issues

Key Responsibilities

1. Category Strategy & Spend Ownership

• Own and govern global category strategies for FMS, Security, Employee Transport, and Global Travel with full P&L and value realization accountability
• Manage and optimize an aggregate indirect spend of ~USD 400M annually, ensuring measurable outcomes across cost, quality, resilience, and sustainability
• Establish 35 year category roadmaps covering demand management, sourcing models, technology enablement, and supplier consolidation
• Lead makebuy, regionalization, nearshoring, and bundling decisions based on cost and risk tradeoffs

2. Commercial Excellence & Value Creation

• Drive structured savings programs (hard savings, cost avoidance, productivity gains) with clear governance and Finance signoff
• Lead complex global RFPs, renegotiations, and contract restructurings, including gainshare and risklinked commercial models
• Ensure robust TCObased decisioning, benchmarking, and shouldcost modeling across all categories
• Own commercial risk management including price volatility, demand shocks, SLA leakage, and supplier concentration risks

3. Supplier & Ecosystem Management

• Build and govern a global strategic supplier ecosystem, including Tier1 integrators and regional specialists
• Establish supplier segmentation frameworks (Strategic / Preferred / Tactical) with formal QBRs and scorecards
• Drive supplier innovation, digitization, and ESG commitments (carbon reduction, social compliance, safety)
• Act as senior escalation point for businesscritical supplier performance or continuity issues

4. Leadership & Organization Management

• Lead and mentor senior category leaders at GM / DGM levels, ensuring clarity of ownership and high performance
• Set talent standards for commercial depth, category specialization, and global stakeholder management
• Build succession pipelines and develop future leaders .
• Foster a highaccountability, datadriven, and outcomeoriented team.

5. Stakeholder & Governance Leadership

• Partner with Business Heads, Function heads and Regional Presidents to align sourcing strategies with business priorities
• Present category strategies, savings outcomes, and risk positions to procurement & finance leadership
• Ensure governance across policy compliance, audit readiness, risk frameworks, and regulatory adherence

6. Transformation & Digital Enablement

• Lead procurement transformation initiatives including:
• Spend analytics & dashboards
• Contract lifecycle management (CLM)
• Service performance digitization
• Automation of transactional procurement
• Sponsor adoption of AIled analytics for data based decision making, process improvement & simplification ,supplier assessment etc

Key Qualifications & Experience

Experience

• ~25 years of progressive experience in Category Management / Strategic Sourcing / Commercial Leadership
• Demonstrated ownership of USD 300500M+ indirect spend at enterprise or global scale
• Deep expertise in FMS, Security Services, Employee Mobility / Transport, and Global Travel
• Proven experience managing senior leadership teams (GM level) across regions
• Prior experience in large multinational organizations (IT/ITES, BFSI, manufacturing, or conglomerates) strongly preferred

Skills & Competencies

• Enterpriselevel commercial acumen & negotiation mastery
• Strong financial modeling, benchmarking, and ROI orientation
• Ability to operate in complex, matrixed, multicountry environments
• Leadership / CXO level communication and executive presence
• Strong understanding of ESG, compliance, and risk management
• Track record of largescale savings, supplier transformation, and crisis management

Education

• MBA / PGDM in Supply Chain, Finance, Operations (preferred)
• Engineering or equivalent undergraduate qualification
• Professional certifications (CIPS, CPSM, PMP) desirable

Success Metrics

• Net savings (PnL Impact) & cost avoidance realized vs targets
• Supplier performance, Operational SLA & process compliance
• Risk reduction & business continuity KPIs
• Process simplification & automation
• Leadership bench strength & succession readiness
• Cash flow improvement