Global ETO Category Manager, Sheet Metal

Global ETO Category Manager: Sheet Metal Procurement – Global Supply Chain - Global Engineering to Order (ETO) Organization

Your Mission

The Category Manager – K3 Sheet Metal is a key strategic leadership role within Schneider Electric's Global Engineering-To-Order (ETO) Procurement organization, covering both Europe and the International Region and reporting to the Europe Procurement Director. You will lead the procurement strategy for one of the most critical and fastest-growing categories within the Global ETO business. The category scope includes traditional sheet metal fabrication, tank Manufacturing, and skid solutions, representing a procurement portfolio of €200M annual business and directly supporting SE growth ambitions across 10 European plants and 9 International plants.

Your mission is to:

• Build and deploy a future-ready category strategy tailored to G ETO business needs and market dynamics.

• Coordinate plant and regional buyers, aligning local needs with regional and global priorities.

• Develop a competitive and resilient supplier base through robust supplier mapping, long-term agreements, and capacity planning.

• Ensure supply security, cost competitiveness, and operational excellence across the full value chain.

• Act as Strategic Supplier Leader for selected global suppliers, driving performance, partnership, and long-term capability development.

In this role, you will connect with internal /external stakeholders, realizing a strategic procurement vision of our Global ETO organization level. Building the right suppliers, the right capacity, and the right competitiveness to grow today and ready for tomorrow.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Category Strategy & Planning

  • Build and deploy 3 – 5 years category strategy and the APOP (Annual Productivity Operation Plan)
  • Define category strategies that reflect plant level, product level, local, and global requirements, ensuring alignment with COE (center of excellence), Category management and G ETO priorities.
  • Conduct comprehensive demand and risk assessments to anticipate capacity needs and supplier readiness.
  • Guide & orient strategic suppliers to customer project buyer for project-based business development

• Deployment & Execution

  • Deploy category strategy through buyers management and to ensure consistent execution of category strategy across G ETO plants
  • Partner with cross functional teams (Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Tendering, industrialization, product owner) for strategy execution.
  • Lead critical supplier-related escalations (supplier capacity, pricing, lead time improvement) and secure resolution on supply, quality, or service issues.

• Strategic Supplier Management

  • Lead negotiations for MSAs, capacity agreements, long-term commitments, innovations and performance roadmaps.
  • Drive supplier engagement through SRM and executive business reviews.

• Cost, Productivity & Competitiveness

  • Drive YoY productivity through: Negotiation, COS (Change of supplier), QVE (Quality Value Engineering), continue to improve payment term with +3 days / year.
  • Support resiliency actions such as PO2 (power of two) programs and effective regionalization
  • Set up multi-year agreements secure competitiveness and future supply stability.

• Supply Base Optimization & Growth Enablement

  • Lead SBO (supply base optimization) projects to ensure the right balance of strategic partners, challengers, and local players.
  • Refresh category strategy to confirm end game players for business growth.
  • Develop suppliers to meet future technology, capacity, and sustainability requirements.
  • Build a 3 year SBO ambitions on supplier concentration & execution

• Sustainability & Compliance

  • Coordinate sustainability initiatives within the category (carbon reduction, circularity, decent work program etc.).
  • Ensure supplier compliance with Schneider Electric procurement policies, quality standards, and operational requirements.

• Support upskilling category buyer competency & knowledge

  • Enhance category buyers’ technical understanding and strategic thinking to improve sourcing decisions and cost optimization.
  • Introducing digital procurement tools and AI based should-cost methods to increase efficiency and data driven decisions
  • Coach buyers to work more independently, optimize processes, and deliver higher quality, faster output.

#LI-Hybrid #LI-VM6

What qualifications will make you successful?

About You:

• Master’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Procurement, Business, or related field.

• 10+ years of strategic procurement and category management experience in a complex industrial or ETO environment.

• Strong capability to define and execute short & long-term categories and supplier strategies.

• Proven business acumen with the ability to drive growth, competitiveness, and profitability.

• Strong analytical mindset with expertise in market intelligence, cost analysis, risk management, and data-driven decision making.

• Ability to translate complex data into clear business insights and actions.

• Excellent negotiation and influencing skills across all organizational levels.

• Exceptional communication and executive presentation skills.

• Proven leadership in matrix organizations and cross-functional environments.

• Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building capabilities.

• Advanced digital and AI proficiency, including GenAI, analytics, automation, and AI-enabled procurement solutions.

• Passion for innovation and adoption of new technologies to improve business performance.

• Strong customer focus with an end-to-end supply chain perspective.

• High adaptability, learning agility, and resilience.

• Structured, results-oriented, and execution-focused attitude.

What's in it for me?

Schneider Electric believes in rewarding and recognizing employees who contribute to the success of the Company. We seek out and reward people for putting the customer first, being disruptive to the status quo, embracing different perspectives, continuously learning, and acting like owners.

• Competitive compensation package, according to industry standards including annual bonus, company car, cafeteria, life insurance, health care & pension fund contribution, Medicover package and a lot more.

• WESOP (World Employee Share Option Program), our unique program with the opportunity to become a shareholder in the company.

• Inclusive Environment: We build a culture of respect where everyone feels safe to be their authentic selves. We are fully committed to inclusion, and our policies and culture reflect this commitment.

• Global Family Leave Package to support a healthy work-life balance.

• Exceptional career opportunities not only locally, but on an international scope as well.

• Continuous development and learning possibilities, personally and professionally.

• We work in a hybrid set-up to fit with your lifestyle.

Ready to take your procurement career to the next level? Let's connect!

At Schneider, we believe that every employee is a talent who deserves equal opportunities. This means you matter. Every individual needs to feel valued, supported, and treated fairly to do their best work. Our Total Rewards is our way of saying: “We see you. We value you”. It’s more than just pay and benefits- it’s a meaningful investment in you. It is designed for you to perform, grow, feel safe, and elevate your potential to shine as an impact maker.

Schneider Electric is there when it matters most to you

Our Total Rewards package outlines all the benefits and support you’ll enjoy as part of the Schneider Electric team:

• Care for Yourself and Your Family. We ensure you feel secure with benefits that help you and your family thrive: health and life insurance, paid time off, parental and care leave, flexible work options, support for chronic conditions, and confidential counseling for life’s challenges.

• Invest and Plan Your Future. We help you plan and invest for the future with competitive pay and programs: your base salary, short-term incentives or sales incentives, opportunities to own company shares, and pension saving matching contribution.

• Grow Your Skills and Career. We commit to helping you grow with ongoing performance and development conversations, Senior Talent Program, global career opportunities, access to our Schneider Career Hub for new positions, projects, and mentors, and learning platforms like Coursera to equip you with the skills for today and tomorrow.

• Team Up in the Workplace. We encourage teaming up through project opportunities on the Schneider Career Hub, smart ways to collaborate, celebrating contributions via a recognition program, sharing your voice in our engagement survey, and fostering an inclusive, caring workplace.

• Support Your Community. We make a difference in your community with volunteer leave, programs through the Schneider Electric Foundation, and initiatives that support youth education.

Looking to make an IMPACT with your career? When you are thinking about joining a new team, culture matters. At Schneider Electric, our values and behaviors are the foundation for creating a great culture to support business success. We believe that our IMPACT values – Inclusion, Mastery, Purpose, Action, Curiosity, Teamwork – starts with us. IMPACT is also your invitation to join Schneider Electric where you can contribute to turning sustainability ambition into actions, no matter what role you play. It is a call to connect your career with the ambition of achieving a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable world. We are looking for IMPACT Makers; exceptional people who turn sustainability ambitions into actions at the intersection of automation, electrification, and digitization. We celebrate IMPACT Makers and believe everyone has the potential to be one. Become an IMPACT Maker with Schneider Electric – apply today!

• €40 billion global revenue

• +9% organic growth

• 150 000+ employees in 100+ countries

You must submit an online application to be considered for any position with us. This position will be posted until filled.

Schneider Electric aspires to be the most inclusive and caring company in the world, by providing equitable opportunities to everyone, everywhere, and ensuring all employees feel uniquely valued and safe to contribute their best. We mirror the diversity of the communities in which we operate, and ‘inclusion’ is one of our core values. We believe our differences make us stronger as a company and as individuals and we are committed to championing inclusivity in everything we do. At Schneider Electric, we uphold the highest standards of ethics and compliance, and we believe that trust is a foundational value. Our Trust Charter is our Code of Conduct and demonstrates our commitment to ethics, safety, sustainability, quality and cybersecurity, underpinning every aspect of our business and our willingness to behave and respond respectfully and in good faith to all our stakeholders. You can find out more about our Trust Charter here

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