Category Manager

Job Description

This is where your greatest challenge awaits:

Reporting to the Group Procurement Organization (GPO), within the Indirect Procurement department, you join a team of 12 category managers dedicated to IT and non-IT procurement.

With close to €800 million in annual spend across IT, digital, marketing and professional services, our department supports every function across the Group, from sourcing strategy through to payment (Source to Contract to Procure to Pay), delivering over 10% savings every year in close collaboration with the Finance department.

Your mission:

As Category Manager – IT T&M Professional Services, fully integrated into the Global Category Management teams, you own and drive the category strategy for IT staff augmentation (Time & Material) services, acting as a genuine business partner to teams across the Group.

Your key responsibilities:

Category expertise

• Own & propose the category strategy for IT T&M Professional Services
• Shape and deliver the category strategy, understanding market drivers, forces and SWOT
• Build category knowledge to grow procurement offers and drive category expertise

Supplier Management & Procurement Process

• Manage T&M Professional Services contracts
• Secure supplier selection processes through RFI/RFQ procedures
• Lead negotiation campaigns for daily labor rates
• Define supplier categorization based on internal stakeholders' needs in the vendor management system (SmartConsult)
• Oversee category supplier management, including governance and business reviews
• Review & approve purchase orders through Coupa

Spend & Budget

• Control spend of the T&M Professional Services category
• Own budget achievement and cost optimization (cost out & savings)
• Manage remuneration processes (declaration, budget, forecasts, payments, etc.)
• Crunch procurement data

Category Visibility

• Actively promote the Group's indirect procurement functions
• Communicate, cooperate with and involve relevant stakeholders to drive the overall strategy
• Engage and secure an open, direct dialogue with stakeholders
• Sell solutions internally

Cross-functional project coordination

• Take part in sustainability initiatives supporting the Group's targets
• Support marketing initiatives to accelerate the procurement department's communication strategy (internal newsletter, webinars, etc.)
• Track KPI implementation to monitor category performance & adoption
• Report on and follow up remuneration processes
• Drive initiatives that reinforce category expertise

Qualifications

And you?

Your profile

• At least 3 years' experience in indirect procurement, with an international background
• Relevant work experience in negotiation
• Proven track record as a category manager
• Awareness of distribution, B2B or B2C, e-commerce
• Contract management expertise
• Experience in the relevant Professional Services
• Hospitality experience is a plus

Your soft skills

• Agility and resilience to change
• Ability to listen to and understand customers' needs (stakeholders & hotels)
• Comfortable working in an international environment
• Strong communication and negotiation skills
• Influencing skills and flexibility of approach across different stakeholders
• Personal integrity and strong work ethic

Your hard skills

• Maintain and improve global category performance (contracts, data, savings)
• Develop relationships with brands and internal customers to increase compliance
• Develop leadership with internal/external customers to grow business opportunities worldwide
• Manage market uncertainty

Languages

• Fluent English required (daily working language)
• French will be a plus, any other language is appreciated

Additional Information

💡 Why join us?

And what are our commitments?

To the world

• Accor is committed to the world around us, with a strong employer culture focused on the development of our 300,000 talents.
• We adopt a continuous improvement approach to reduce the environmental impact of digital across all our projects.

To your career

• We enable all our employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance and give them the means to shape their working environment in their own image.
• Dedicated Talent Management, continuous improvement, and training and development paths are defined both individually and collectively so that we can grow together, every day.

Concretely, at Accor:

• Remote work possible several days per week from France and flexible working options: work from home, our offices, or even our hotels and coworking spaces thanks to Worklib.

And also,

• ALL - Heartist® program: preferential rates and flash offers for unforgettable stays and experiences across all our Accor locations and with our partners worldwide.
• Heartist® for Good volunteering program: 1 day offered during your working time to get involved with a non-profit organization.
• A Social and Economic Committee (CSE) that supports you in financing your cultural and sports activities.
• Sustainable Mobility Package for using an eco-friendly means of transportation or a "company bike" program in partnership with Zenride.
• Coverage of urban public transport subscriptions between home and workplace, up to 75%.
• Meal vouchers with a face value of €11.
• A mandatory health insurance plan funded at 50% by Accor, at no additional cost in case of enrollment of your dependents.
• Not to mention attractive working conditions with collaborative workspaces, restaurants, game areas, as well as well-being and sports spaces on site or through Gymlib.

Your talent and motivation are our only selection criteria.

We value the richness of diverse nationalities, personalities, and professional backgrounds.

We know how to adapt to the specific needs of our employees, particularly those with disabilities.

We encourage all applications, without distinction of gender, so dare to apply!

For us, recruitment is above all a story of encounters.

Does this role appeal to you? Apply, and we will offer you:

• An initial discussion with our recruitment team to present the key elements of the role or guide you toward a position that may better suit you,
• One or more interviews with managers and team members,
• For certain roles, you may also be asked to complete a test or case study, as well as a questionnaire about your personality and motivations.
• A final interview with our Human Resources team to discuss our Group culture, working environment, training program, and career prospects, as well as the different Group benefits.
• Personalized feedback.