Associate Marketing Category Manager

The Job:

An Associate Marketing Category Manager supports strategic management activities including developing/executing/managing sourcing initiatives for indirect and capital categories, conducting data analysis to identify cost optimization activities, recommending negotiation strategies and provide ongoing management of communication to stakeholders. This position provides the opportunity to work collaboratively with internal stakeholders to facilitate, optimize, and execute the purchase and corporate governance of spend categories within the organization.

What you’ll do:

• Engage primarily in Marketing-based projects, many of which are expected to be driven by digital marketing initiatives but will likely continue to include traditional creative and print projects as well, with business stakeholders that may include Marketing, IT, .com/eCommerce and other interested parties. This role may also be required to engage in projects related to other indirect spend categories as departmental workload requires. 
• Work with external stakeholders to gain and maintain knowledge of the competition, vendor research, industry trends, and technical aspects of specific categories to support overall category management strategy. 
• Gain agreement and communicate the benefits of recommendation across stakeholders to address any uncertainty and concern. 
• Produce written documentation including project summaries, reports, presentations and knowledgebase documentation. 
• Support the Indirect Procurement Department in achieving departmental goals, specifically percentage savings from sourced projects, applied rigor and spend under management/contract.

What you need to succeed:

• Demonstrated working knowledge of marketing categories including but not limited to Creative Agencies, PR agencies, Advertising/Digital Production, Print/ Media Buying, Market Research, etc. 
• Lead and/or work with Indirect Procurement Associates, other Associate Category Managers, and Category Managers to conduct sourcing events in area of oversight 
• Ability to influence and motivate decision making with peer and key stakeholder groups 
• Must possess 3-5 years of relevant marketing experience (e.g. – sourcing, marketing sales, buying or procurement). 
• An undergraduate degree in relevant areas such as Marketing, IT, Supply Chain, Business management, Operations, or Finance 
• Build relationships with stakeholders in order to gather requirements and specifications from departments and category experts. 
• Must have strong analytical, problem solving, organization and project management skills 
• Strong interpersonal communication skills with the ability to effectively multitask and priorities work 
• Experience with Ariba e-sourcing/contracts management tool or similar system helpful 
• Experience in negotiating preferred, with general knowledge related to the development and execution of related contract documents 
• A working knowledge of digital marketing business needs and current industry developments within that space is preferred 
• A strong interest in procurement and procurement development 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills 
• Excellent in PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook 
• Ability to travel two times a year for the Ace Convention.