Global Category Leader - Chemicals H/F - Veolia Water Technologies

Veolia is a global leader in environmental services, operating across all five continents with nearly 218,000 employees. Specializing in water, energy, and waste management, Veolia designs and implements innovative solutions for decarbonization, depollution, and resource regeneration, supporting communities and industries in their ecological transformation. Within this framework, Water Tech brings together a dedicated team of experienced professionals committed to tackling the world's most complex challenges related to water scarcity, quality, productivity, and energy. Together, we pursue a shared mission to create a more sustainable future.Location: Spain/Hungary/Belgium/Italy/France

Veolia Water Tech is a worldwide leader in water recovery, treatment and reuse. We design and supply a range of water systems, from food and beverage applications, to municipal water, to microelectronics ultrapure water and heavy industrial wastewater treatment.

At Water Tech, we realise diverse teams make smarter decisions, deliver better results, and build stronger communities. We're an organisation that champions diversity and inclusion at every rung of the ladder and are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We offer challenging and meaningful careers, with competitive benefits and flexible work arrangements.

The Global Category leader- Chemicals will report into Director Global Category Management Chemicals, Chemicals Category ~$100M spend portfolio and will be responsible for developing, validating and implementing the global Procurement strategy for sub-categories within the portfolio. In this role, the Global Category leader will work with Product Managers, Regional Category Leader, Technology, and Supply Chain Leaders.

Key Characteristics/ Specific responsibilities:

- Defines a Global Category Strategy for assigned Categories that drives continuous improvement within the Category and benefits to the business
- Develop and implement a comprehensive global sourcing strategy for chemical products, including raw materials, intermediates, and specialty chemicals. - Identify market trends, supply chain risks, and opportunities for innovation and optimization within the category.
- Develops/Manages Preferred Supplier Network, Strategic Suppliers
- Defines Contracting Strategy and lead Supplier Negotiations
- Drives Cash Improvements across assigned Categories
- Mitigate Risks to the business by driving a comprehensive Sole/Single/Dual Source strategy that builds a flexible supply chain and ensures continuity of supply
- Develop Best Cost Country strategy that drives the purchases to the location with optimal Total Landed Cost
- Drive supplier relationship management processes including leading period business reviews to monitor and manage supplier performance and value proposition KPI's (cost quality service etc.)

- Influence & Change Management:

- Obtains agreement of the strategy from all business stakeholders and publishes it for all users to access
- Facilitative Leadership:

- Reports to Leadership on Market Trends and Category Performance
- Responsible for maintaining ongoing dialog with the regional procurement teams, regional category managers, Global Product Managers & Technology dept. on key supplier issues

Hard Skills (List out 3-5 required and preferred skills as applicable)

- Negotiation skills and ability to influence with competencies in general expense contract requirements/nuances.
- Familiarity with market trends and key suppliers in the relevant Categories.
- Strategy development and implementation.
- Conduct market research and analysis to stay updated on industry trends, emerging technologies, and competitor activities.
- Share insights and recommendations with senior leadership to inform strategic decision-making.
- Ensure compliance with relevant regulations, safety standards, and sustainability practices in procurement activities.
- Lead contract negotiations with suppliers to achieve favorable terms and conditions, ensuring compliance with corporate policies.
- Develop and manage contract lifecycle processes, including renewals and compliance tracking.

Soft Skills

- Excellent verbal/written communication and interpersonal skills, capable of developing presentations and comfortable interacting with internal/external stakeholders and Veolia Water Tech senior management.
- Creative, organized and self-motivated for success.
- Experience in working in different cultures and environments, in a matrixed organization.
- Possesses unquestioned integrity and strong business ethics and leads by example.
- Demonstrates a firm commitment to the company's values (Solidarity, Performance, Simplicity, Empowerment and Inclusion) and culture.
- Advanced interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills. Open, objective and transparent communication, listening, proactive.
- Demonstrated experience in building and leading high-performing teams, with effective talent management, pipelining and building of partnership across sub-teams.
- Team player with peers to share and implement the best practices.

Education & Experience

Required:

- Bachelor's degree from an accredited university or college
- Experience in procurement, category management, or supply chain management, with a focus on chemicals.
- Proven track record of strategic sourcing and supplier management in a global context.

Preferred (if applicable):

- Experience in working in different cultures and environments, in a matrixed organization.