Category Manager - Engineering Services

The Thales Nederland Procurement team is part of the Thales Group global Procurement organization. The procurement of products and services within Thales Nederland and the Thales Group represents nearly 50% of the total turnover. The competitiveness and the supplier’s operational performance, and the quality of the interface between Thales and its suppliers, are key factors of competitiveness.

About your future job

The Category Manager is based in the Netherlands and responsible for Procurement Engineering & Customer Support Services (Segment E).

As a Category Manager you are accountable for:

• Structuring, driving and implementing the engineering transformation, i.e. to transform contingent engineering labor to outsourcing of work packages to strategic suppliers. This requires close collaboration and alignment with the Thales Engineering team, the Global Category team and other relevant stakeholders.
• End to end performance of the acquisition process (Time, Quality, Supplier Agreements, Contract Management, ..).
• Supplier selection and supplier relationship management.
• Strategic supplier performance management including quality, cost, delivery, contractual performance and innovation for all business activities.
• Up-to-date knowledge of your supplier market, including innovations and key new emerging technologies relevant for your scope.
• Ensuring collective and individual efficiency, working within cross functional teams to meet the challenges of the business.

The job is regionally based but you may represent relevant categories as part of the Global Category Team and as such requires an excellent view of the organization as well as a strong ability to interact with many stakeholders while ensuring the implementation of agreed global category strategies.

Reporting to the Category Team Lead Segments A, E and F of Regional (Netherlands) Procurement.

This role is a challenging one, in a time where Thales Nederland has been awarded several complex, large projects that lead to increasing procurement needs, both in volume as well as in complexity. In this respect the suppliers need to be involved in the preparation for this and the strategies need further focus to create a smooth execution of the Thales NL projects. You have several key products and services to buy and key suppliers to manage in this respect.

The main tasks are:

• Ensure the collaborative implementation of agreed global and local category strategies in the Netherlands with a focus on continuous improvement of relevant category strategies. With a strong focus on the engineering transformation as mentioned above.
• Selection, negotiation, contracting and contract management of suppliers;
• Manage, control and develop supplier performance together with a multidisciplinary team;
• Identify and achieve cost reductions and improvements in cooperation with the suppliers and stakeholders;
• Contribute to continuous improvement of Procurement (Chorus) particularly in your perimeter.

Why you'd be a good match

We are in search for a colleague who has:

• A degree in International Business, Procurement or Engineering with professional and intellectual capacities at academic level.
• Multiple years of relevant experience in Procurement, preferably in the Engineering Services field.
• Experience in working in cross functional international teams.
• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to influence stakeholders and deliver business results.
• An open mind (listen, share ideas etc.) and able to bring added value and innovation.
• Strong contractual skills and experience in complex negotiations.

What's in it for you

• A challenging job in a great team within our high-tech, innovative work environment. Includes the freedom for initiative and good ideas.
• Room for personal and professional growth within our organisation, for example in regards to technical, commercial or international skills.
• Valuable international collaboration with coworkers from 68 different countries around the globe.
• A comfortable work space in a modern environment, with a focus on flexibility and the right work life balance.
• You can usually work where and when you want to be able to do your work as well and efficiently as possible. Within Thales we implement hybrid working, where you can, for example, work from home two days a week if your role allows it.
• A good salary, fitting travel allowance, and the ability to personalise your employment conditions: for instance, you can trade days off for internet costs, our bicycle plan, company fitness and relocation costs.
• 40 days off per year (PTO). Yes, really.