Senior Specialist, Category Management
Job purpose
Undertake day to day category management tasks for strategic, high value and business critical categories across relevant ADNOC group companies reinforcing a culture of end-to-end category management including strategic sourcing and procurement excellence.
Create and coordinate cross-functional teams (10 - 30 members per category) resourced from ADNOC group companies. Apply ADNOC’s category management procedures to support the development and implementation of category management strategies that are consistent with ADNOC’s values and business objectives.
Collaborate and utilize internal ADNOC group analysis and market intelligence to increase the value delivered through ADNOC third party spend by coordinating procurement processes and managing supplier relationships. Contribute toward the improvement of inventory levels and service levels across the group and assist with various operations and initiatives.
Key accountabilities
Job specific:
Category management
Implement category management approach for nominated categories.
Establish cross-functional integrated category management teams (teams involving technical and procurement resources across the group companies) for the designated categories, to develop and implement category strategies which generate value and achieve financial savings. Agree the strategy with all relevant stakeholders prior to implementation.
Create and execute strategies for categories which align business plans, including:
Support prioritization of group (common) categories for the ADNOC group.
Gather historical spend, analyze pricing approach, develop demand-forecasted spend and perform inventory analysis.
Support refresh of an ADNOC category spend map and development of 12-month and 5-year sector strategy aligned with business plan objectives, in coordination with planning teams of ADNOC.
Lead the efforts of product segmentation, simplification and standardization for the technical specifications among ADNOC group.
Consult with market intelligence team and perform market and suppliers analysis (e.g., cost drivers, market trends, competition, supplier profiles).
Identify and select relevant sourcing levers (e.g., specification rationalization, standardization, substitution, volume bundling, efficiency).
Use leading-practice procurement tools to develop and implement the category strategy such as Kraljic, Porter’s five forces and purchasing chessboard.
Support development of team members in category management techniques.
Develop savings opportunities and benchmark industry standards and practices to identify and drive opportunities.
Develop category strategy options, analyze feasibility and drive value potential including ESG and sustainability objectives.
Identify contracting strategies (call for tenders, frame agreements, long-term contracts, strategic partnership etc.).
Support procurement team in defining potential bidders.
Agree on clear technical and procurement evaluation criteria, considering total cost of ownership and ICV.
Review terms and conditions and include category-specific KPIs to drive supplier performance.
Utilize cost models, demand and market conditions to identify supplier negotiation levers.
Drive the schedule to complete technical and commercial evaluation against the agreed plan. Work with technical stakeholders to ensure timely close out of clarifications; support the updating of documentation resulting from technical evaluation process.
Work with the procurement and contracts team to complete the commercial evaluation, to include closeout of commercial clarifications, analysis of commercial bids, benchmarking, and relative competitiveness. Co-develop negotiation strategy for each bidder, and jointly lead commercial negotiations with bidders.
Support relevant procurement team in developing award recommendation. Align key stakeholders to support award recommendation and presentations needed for final approval with relevant steering committees and tender boards.
Assure issuance of framework agreement and work orders by group companies within agreed timeframes.
Monitor supplier performance during the execution phase and coordinate improvements as necessary at framework level.
Peer review on category management best practices.
Drive process consistency and leverage best practices and scale to deliver required quality, meet on-time delivery and cost optimization.
Drive positive cultural changes, infusing value-addition and knowledge, and positively influencing decisions at all levels of the organization.
Provide support and guidance to integrated category management team to ensure relentless focus on delivering exceptional results and advance a culture of operational excellence.
Cultivate a strong project management focus, set goals, monitor progress, and implement corrective actions as needed.
Adapt to changing market conditions, new business opportunities, and cost reduction strategies while always maintaining the required quality.
Tendering process and board submissions
Ensure that the tender documents including technical, evaluation criteria, commercial, contractual and legal aspects are aligned with the category strategy.
Support the strategic sourcing team in the tendering process to ensure that it is carried out effectively and economically and in compliance with tender board recommendations, and company policy.
Lead the commercial evaluation of offers in consultation with the end users in accordance with the approved ADNOC guidelines. Review and recommend on bidders lists, awards, amendments, variations etc. for endorsement and to management for approval.
Contract management
Support procurement team in the development of framework agreements in line with the company procedures and policy and advise on the formulation and applicability of the contractual terms and conditions.
Develop and roll out framework agreement implementation plan with group companies.
Support the respective stakeholders in review and evaluation of change orders and claims and ensure the submission of the appropriate recommendations.
Support the mutual trust and cooperation with local business community and suppliers to ensure a fair distribution of business opportunity by exhibiting transparency and sound business ethics.
Advise and support end users on the various development stages of the respective contracts.
Ensure execution and implementation of work orders by the group and build effective relationship management.
Supplier management
Manage the relationship with the key suppliers within their categories.
Effectively deploy supplier management across their categories and framework agreements to deliver identified value from the sourcing process and incremental value through the contract lifecycle management.
Develop the supplier management plan and secure senior management sign off.
Prepare for supplier performance review meetings across their categories.
Work with integrated category team members in group companies and ADNOC functions to develop reporting structures that provide timely data against KPIs to support the measurement of supplier performance relative to their categories by the supplier performance team.
ICV
Work with the ICV team to deliver ICV opportunities within their categories.
Generic:
Supervision
Plan, supervise and coordinate all activities in the assigned area to meet functional objectives.
Train and develop the assigned staff on relevant skills to enable them to become proficient on the job and deliver the respective business objectives.
Budgets
Provide input for preparation of the function, division, department, section budgets, assist in the implementation of the approved budget, and work plans to deliver business objectives.
Investigate and highlight any significant variances to support effective performance and cost control.
Policies, systems, processes and procedures
Implement approved function, division, department, section policies, processes, systems, standards and procedures in order to support execution of the work programs in line with company and international standards.
Performance management
Contribute to the achievement of the approved performance objectives for the function, division, department, section in line with the company performance framework.
Innovation and continuous improvement
Design and implement new tools and techniques to improve the quality and efficiency of operational processes.
Identify improvements in internal processes against best practices in pursuit of greater efficiency in line with best industry standards in order to define intelligent solutions for issues confronting the function.
Health, safety, environment (HSE) and sustainability
Comply with relevant HSE policies, procedures, controls, applicable legislation, and sustainability guidelines in line with international standards, best practices and ADNOC code of practices.
Reports
Provide inputs to prepare MIS and progress reports for company management.
Communication and working relationship
Internal:
Regular contacts with head category management and department manager.
Regular contacts with user directorates, all functions within procurement, category management teams.
External:
Occasional contact with government organizations and entities to establish and maintain relationships or to obtain necessary clearances.
Regular contact with contractors, consultants, suppliers on matters related to acquisition of services and with service companies.
Qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills
Minimum qualification
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, finance, supply chain, business administration or equivalent.
Minimum experience, knowledge and skills
10 years of relevant experience in procurement, of which 7 years in category management, preferably in oil and gas.
Excellent analytical, commercial analysis and problem-solving skills.
Ability to collaborate across functions and group companies.
Project management skills.
Excellent communication and persuasion abilities.
Ability to work autonomously.
Ability to lead integrated category management teams within a multicultural environment.
Commercial acumen and negotiation skills.
Professional certifications
CIPS is desirable.