Category Manager Cloud Infrastructure (m/f/d)

at  SAP

WE HELP THE WORLD RUN BETTER

At SAP, we enable you to bring out your best. Our company culture is focused on collaboration and a shared passion to help the world run better. How? We focus every day on building the foundation for tomorrow and creating a workplace that embraces differences, values flexibility, and is aligned to our purpose-driven and future-focused work. We offer a highly collaborative, caring team environment with a strong focus on learning and development, recognition for your individual contributions, and a variety of benefit options for you to choose from.

ABOUT THE GPO CATEGORY

The GPO - Cloud Infrastructure team, part of the GPO IT & Cloud Organization within the Global Procurement Organization, excels in business partnering with both internal and external stakeholders. This category is responsible for defining and executing global sourcing strategies in close collaboration with business owners, corporate legal, finance, and controlling, as well as managing sourcing and suppliers worldwide. The GPO - Cloud Infrastructure encompasses subcategories such as public and private cloud, network infrastructure & connectivity, data center & colocation businesses, and related platform technologies.
We are seeking an experienced and skilled individual to strategically manage SAP’s public cloud category with integrity, respect, and accountability. This individual will report to the Head of Procurement, Cloud Infrastructure and will manage the Hyperscalers/ Public Cloud category globally.

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS / SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

• University degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field preferred. An advanced degree is a plus.
• Strong background in Contracts Management, Supply Chain Management and Category Management, with ideally a focus on Cloud products and services.
• Follow and understand technology trends (e.g., hyperscalers, artificial intelligence, software).
• Proven track record of leading complex initiatives and negotiating multimillion dollar contracts.
• Excellent contractual and negotiation skills, with strong stakeholder management.
• Comprehensive understanding of end-to-end procurement procedures and sourcing strategies, including category management.
• Fluent in English (spoken and written); German proficiency is a plus.
• Experienced in working in global and virtual environments.
• Solid and proven stakeholder management and negotiation skills, organized, and a strategic thinker with a strong commitment to excellent customer service and exceptional quality.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Over 8 years of experience in strategic and tactical IT procurement, specializing in cloud infrastructure categories (public and private cloud, servers, network infrastructure & connectivity or data center & co-location businesses) within a multinational environment.
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational and problem-solving skills, capable of prioritizing and managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Self-starter with exceptional attention to detail and follow-up skills, able to operate with minimal supervision.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills
• Effective communicator with senior management and board members.

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

We are looking for an experienced, motivated, and enthusiastic Category Manager for Public Cloud Services or related cloud infrastructure categories experience to join our Global Procurement Organization (GPO). In this role, you will be responsible in managing, developing and leading hyperscaler category strategies and activities and provide strategic support to line of businesses, partner management and senior management. Responsibilities include category development and management, full contracts lifecycle management, market analysis, stakeholder management and project management. The Category Manager is also expected to take the lead in driving complex, enterprise-wide sourcing initiatives and contract negotiations for multimillion spend.
GPO is undergoing a significant transformation to enhance stakeholder engagement, adapt to the fast-changing environment, evolve into a digital organization, and support the Board’s ambitious growth plans and SAP’s strategy. This transformation is crucial for our continued success and growth.

WHAT WILL YOU DO

• Lead subcategory contracts negotiation of multi-million-dollar projects and initiatives, partnering with the partner management, line of businesses and several stakeholders.
• Identify, develop, and deliver subcategory strategies regularly and lead key initiatives with cross functional teams, drive the decision-making process of the category roadmap with senior leadership.
• Build relationships and partner closely with key business stakeholders to understand current and future business requirements, strategy, challenges, opportunities and proactively address them in the Strategy, deploy technological roadmap.
• Will act as subject matter expert for procurement and category management of the assigned subcategory and the face of negotiations.
• Provides strategic guidance which contract to use, redlines and negotiations contract based on playbook and engage other stakeholders to finalize contracts.
• You will further be responsible for supplier management and sourcing strategies as well as strategic sourcing events in close alignment with the stakeholders, the category buyer team and the head of Procurement for Cloud Infrastructure.
• You will look for opportunities for improvements, innovations, and savings and perform market analysis and benchmarking to gain market intelligence. Focus is cost savings and cost avoidance, whereas improving sustainability and social responsibility are topics of rising importance.
• Act as a market intelligence provider regarding categories; anticipate strategic opportunities and keep key stakeholders informed.