The Director develops category strategies and enables the execution of long-term strategic vision, performance, and impact of one or more major spend categories, aligning with business priorities to enhance growth, cost efficiency, innovation, and supply security. The director reports to the Commodity / Non-Commodity (Senior) Vice President who provide objectives, targets for long term and shorter-term category performance. This role operates with a high degree of autonomy, leveraging deep market expertise and proactive engagement to generate opportunities that create sustainable competitive advantages for BFS. They oversee sourcing execution and ensure optimal contract coverage and sustainable value creation for the business.

 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 

Category Strategy & Business Alignment

Manages and drives the performance of one or several major categories in term of spend and impact for BFS business. Aligns category objectives with S&P senior leadership. Defines and executes category strategies that align with BFS’s fiscal year business objectives, ensuring contributions to revenue growth, cost efficiency, innovation, and supply security. Acts as a thought leader, proactively engaging with senior business and procurement leadership to translate market insights into financial impact. Develops long-term, mid-term, and short-term category strategies based on market intelligence, business needs, and supplier capabilities. Develop advanced strategies to better leverage market dynamics and BFS size like preferred supplier program, market share, supplier development…

Market & Vendor Expertise for Opportunity Generation

Maintains deep knowledge of market trends, supplier landscapes, and disruptive innovations to identify cost reduction, productivity, and value creation opportunities. Manages a team of Category analysts to support insights generation and analytics for the category(ies). Translates insights into actionable strategies that drive financial benefits, including productivity gains, cost savings, working capital optimization, and cash flow improvement. Engages proactively with business leaders to secure buy-in for innovative category strategies and project opportunities.

Execution & Performance Optimization

Owns the identification, prioritization, and execution of sourcing initiatives that drive category strategy forward. Manage a team sourcing managers responsible of the opportunities execution and secures project are completed within the expected timeline and generate value (Productivity, savings, cash flow…) according to the category strategy. Can lead negotiations and strategic supplier discussions in support of the sourcing managers, ensuring optimal supplier selection, market share allocation, and contract positioning. Secures sourcing manager prepares plans for proper contract implementation and ensure coordination between his team and Buyers / Replenishers to maximize compliance with preferred suppliers, negotiated prices or market shares to optimize category performance. Oversees supplier qualification and strategic alignment to ensure BFS maintains a high-quality, reliable, and competitive supply base. Develops and manages an annual operating plan with clear KPIs, covering key topics like Growth, Value, Cash flow generation (including KPIs like inventory turns, productivity, beat the market, sourcing efficiency, and sales impact).

Business Engagement & Cross-Functional Collaboration

Coordinate senior business leadership engagement with the Commodity / Non-Commodity (S)VP Partners with business stakeholders, regional procurement leads, and sourcing teams to enhance category performance and execution. Coordinate with Integrated Business Planning (IBP) team, filed and buyers on forecast review and defining the right level of replenishment for the category(ies). Ensures clear, concise, and timely communication with internal and external stakeholders regarding category initiatives, sourcing decisions, and market trends. Collaborates with field leadership to drive adoption of category strategies, ensuring alignment on product assortment, supplier programs, and sales initiatives. Participates in periodic business reviews with regional and market leadership to address challenges, priorities, and sourcing impact.

Supplier & Risk Management

Establishes and nurtures long-term supplier relationships to drive innovation, improve return on invested capital (ROIC), and create a competitive advantage vs. market competition. Oversees a preferred supplier program with qualification requirements, tiering, and performance monitoring to optimize cost savings and supply reliability. Defines and oversees sales commitments with strategic suppliers, ensuring alignment with BFS’s long-term objectives. Mitigates category risks by proactively assessing vulnerabilities and implementing risk management strategies to ensures long-term supply security and price stability.

Leadership & Performance Management

Leads, mentors, and develops a high-performing category team (Category analyst and sourcing managers), ensuring they are equipped to drive strategic sourcing initiatives and produce advanced analytics. Monitors team performance and engagement, addressing development needs in collaboration with Commodity / Non-Commodity (S)VP.

Commodity specific activities

Defines the right level of contract coverage vs. spot market positions based on market condition (Demand and supply), spot prices, price trends, and inventory capacities. Defines the spot market position by division / market and aligns with Business leadership. Drives Commodity Sourcing Managers activities and ensure they are aligned with the plan reviewed with Business leadership. Measure spot buys results and performance vs. market index and report performance to S&P and Business leadership.

 

 

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

Supervises assigned employees (Category managers and sourcing and or Procurement Commodity Managers) including staff selection and training; planning, assigning and directing work; conducting performance reviews; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems. Provide leadership and guidance to coach, motivate, and lead team members to their optimum performance levels and career development. 

 

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. 

Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management or related field; Preferred advanced degrees in a relevant field; 15+ years related experience or equivalent combination of education and experience;

Or equivalent combination of education and experience

 

COMPETENCIES: Competencies listed are non-exhaustive but meant to be illustrative of the fundamental skillsets required to perform the duties and responsibilities listed above. Skills are indicated with a corresponding level of expertise ranging from Aware, Knowledgeable, Practicing, Mature, and Expert.

 

SUCCESS MEASURES / KPIs

 

Main KPIs:

Growth: # Cat. Plans in Place for Growth Categories (Domain & by Major) Price Index vs. Market for Growth Categories (Domain & by Major) Product Availability % by Major Stock Outage Revenue Lost by Major

Supplier Lead Time Compliance by Major

Value: Category Opportunity Pipeline ($) Domain and by Major Productivity & Savings Realized ($ and %) for Category Domain & Major Supplier Compliance with Negotiated T&Cs % Spend with Preferred Suppliers Beat the Market (Savings Perf vs Inflation in $ and %) ROI from Value Projects Cash Optimization: DPO (Days Payable Outstanding) Inventory Days On Hand Inventory Turnover Rate Talent Management: Organization Cost as % Spend # New Positions Filled Team Resources Skills & Competency Improvements

 

Additional/Optional KPIs:

Spend Under Management Quality of Suppl   WORK ENVIRONMENT / PHYSICAL ACTIVITY The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Combination of indoor and outdoor environments and physical activity requirements.    Work is in an office setting and generally sedentary with physical effort associated with using a computer but may involve walking or standing for brief periods of time.  Occasional oversight activities may take place out of doors, subject to temperature and weather variations.   Willingness and ability to travel to facility locations up to 50% of the time.  Business engagement up to 40-50% of the time.