Senior Strategic Sourcing Manager/Category Manager – Healthcare/Healthcare Strategic Procurement Lea

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Strategic Sourcing Manager with 7+ years of sourcing, procurement, category management, and contract negotiation experience, preferably within the Healthcare Insurance industry.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience managing healthcare services and/or pharmacy-related spend categories, leading complex sourcing initiatives, negotiating strategic contracts, developing category strategies, and managing relationships with internal stakeholders and suppliers.

This role will be responsible for delivering best-in-class strategic sourcing, contract management, negotiation, cost savings, supplier performance, and risk mitigation across complex indirect spend categories.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute strategic sourcing and category management strategies for assigned spend categories.
• Lead complex sourcing initiatives from strategy development through contract execution.
• Manage the complete 7-step strategic sourcing process, including category strategy, RFx events, supplier evaluation, negotiations, and contract management.
• Lead sourcing events involving professional services, healthcare services, pharmacy, and other indirect categories.
• Analyze spend, market conditions, supplier capabilities, geographic considerations, and business requirements.
• Negotiate complex contracts, pricing, terms, conditions, and Statements of Work (SOWs).
• Drive cost savings and optimize total cost of ownership while maintaining quality and service levels.
• Prepare contract summaries and business cases for executive review and approval.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with strategic suppliers and internal business stakeholders.
• Partner with Supplier Relationship Management teams to resolve supplier issues and improve supplier performance.
• Identify, qualify, and onboard strategic suppliers for critical business services.
• Manage supplier sourcing, onboarding, offboarding, performance, and development activities.
• Ensure contracts and sourcing activities comply with applicable laws, regulations, governance requirements, and industry standards.
• Identify opportunities for contract optimization, savings, process improvement, and risk mitigation.
• Lead cross-functional teams and influence decisions across multiple departments.
• Develop and maintain category-specific market and supplier expertise.
• Drive continuous improvement across procurement, sourcing, and contracting processes.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 7+ years of strategic sourcing, procurement, category management, or contract management experience.
• Strong Healthcare Insurance domain experience.
• Experience with Healthcare Services and/or Pharmacy categories strongly preferred.
• Strong understanding of indirect sourcing and procurement.
• Experience with professional services and/or business process outsourcing categories.
• Hands-on experience with the 7-step strategic sourcing process.
• Strong experience managing RFx/RFP/RFQ sourcing events.
• Proven contract negotiation and supplier management experience.
• Strong knowledge of sourcing and contracting principles, regulations, and industry standards.
• Experience developing category strategies and sourcing roadmaps.
• Strong spend analysis, financial modeling, and business case development skills.
• Ability to translate complex data and analysis into actionable business recommendations.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, multi-departmental sourcing initiatives.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills.
• Advanced negotiation, problem-solving, conflict-resolution, and risk-management skills.
• Ability to influence senior leadership and drive cross-functional decisions.
• Strong leadership and change-management capabilities.