Category Manager Plastics and Composites

At Lely, we develop high-tech, innovative solutions that make the lives of dairy farmers more enjoyable, sustainable, and efficient. As a Category Manager, you play a pivotal role in our mission by enabling supplier innovation, selecting and connecting the right suppliers to our innovations. Suppliers who deliver on time, within budget, and with the highest quality standards to ensure our business continuity.

You will act as the crucial link between suppliers and internal stakeholders such as R&D, Engineering, and Operations, ensuring that sourcing efforts support product performance, lifecycle cost, and sustainability. Within your category team, you are end-to-end responsible for sourcing and contracting complex high-tech components and systems, aligned with the category strategy. You’ll work closely with Engineering and Integrated Supply Chain colleagues to integrate procurement early in the product development cycle and drive joint innovation with suppliers.

A key aspect of this role is to broaden and deepen the team’s knowledge of different materials and manufacturing techniques. You will focus especially on plastics—such as injection molding, machining, and vacuum forming—as well as silicones and rubbers, including injection molding and extrusion. By enhancing the team’s technical expertise, you help ensure that sourcing decisions contribute to product performance, innovation, and sustainability.

Your main responsibilities:

• Contribute to and execute the category sourcing strategy and policy;
• Monitor market and technology trends to proactively adjust sourcing strategy and supplier selection;
• Execute sourcing and contracting projects in line with category and business needs, including supply risk mitigation and sustainability;
• Lead negotiations and establish supplier contracts;
• Foster long-term relationships with suppliers, monitoring and improving their performance;
• Manage supplier risks, compliance, and contracts to maximize value.

With your calm and structured approach, you bring balance to the team while thriving on collaboration with suppliers and enjoying being frequently on the move.

You are a driven and proactive procurement professional with a passion for technology and supplier collaboration. You excel at connecting innovation with business value and enjoy working across disciplines.

We are looking for someone who brings the following:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Business, or a technical field;
• At least 5 years of experience in strategic or tactical procurement;
• Knowledge of materials and production methods, preferably vacuum forming or rotational molding;
• Proven ability in sourcing, negotiation, lifecycle management, and contract management;
• Strong relationship management, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills;
• Analytical mindset with a structured and thorough approach;
• Willingness to travel internationally (approximately 10–20%).

What we offer you:

• An international working environment with opportunities for own initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Excellent working conditions, including up to 8 weeks of vacation per year and a good pension scheme.
• A salary within the scale of €4.900,- - €6.700,- gross per month, in which we like to see opportunities for growth from your starting salary towards the future.
• Good growth opportunities: you are in control of your development and can choose from various training courses through our Lely Academy - from personal development to job-specific training.
• Our modern Lely Campus offers daily access to extensive sports facilities: an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, an outdoor basketball and volleyball court, table tennis and table soccer. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training - and challenge your colleagues during an active break.
• Enjoy fresh coffee and tea from our own barista, with milk straight from our farm, as well as a healthy and affordable company restaurant.
• A healthy work-life balance thanks to our hybrid work policy: you work at least three days a week on Campus, with flexible working hours and plenty of room to spend extra time on site (between 06:00 and 20:00).
• A free shuttle bus will take you to and from the metro in Maassluis, so your workday starts and ends smoothly.
• Successes need to be celebrated: from anniversaries to Christmas parties - at Lely we know how to do it!

Over Lely

Lely, founded in 1948, is committed to creating a sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable future in agriculture. Driven by the challenges farmers face and the needs of cows, we develop high-quality robots and data systems that enhance animal welfare, flexibility, and productivity on dairy farms. Our mission is to support sustainable food production.

For over 30 years, we have been a global leader in the sales and service of automated systems for successive generations of dairy farmers. Every day, we inspire our colleagues to provide customers with innovative solutions and to be a reliable partner for long-term advice and support. With our state-of-the-art Lely Campus in Maassluis and a global network of dedicated Lely Centers offering tailored sales and service, Lely operates in more than fifty countries.