Associate Category Manager

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The Position

About Our Team

We at Global Diagnostics Procurement (DOP) are a team of about 200 enthusiastic professionals, committed to driving value with our suppliers worldwide. From locations around the world and with a diverse and multicultural team, we source, manage our supplier base, develop & execute category strategies and constantly develop & digitize processes that enable us to best support our business to grow sustainably. If you aspire to make an impact and want to be part of a high performing and world-class Procurement team, this is for you.

We are DOP. At Roche, we do now what patients need next.

The Opportunity

Are you ready to shape the long-term supplier strategies and project pipelines that deliver medical innovation to patients worldwide? As our Associate Category Manager (ACM) in Sant Cugat, Spain, you will support the development, validation, and execution of global category strategies and annual strategic initiatives. In this role, you will leverage rigorous procurement analytics to transform market intelligence into actionable category guidance, ensuring global supply resilience and portfolio value.

We are looking to fulfill one Associate Category Manager position per team. Successful candidates will be aligned to support one of the following dedicated procurement categories: Biologicals & Chemicals, Plastics & Packaging, Electronics & Systems, Mechanicals, Logistics.

• Reporting Line: Directly reports to the respective Category Lead within the Category organization.

• Wider Team and Stakeholders: Collaborates closely with Category Managers, Sourcing Managers, Delivery Managers, Finance, Legal, and external market intelligence providers. Participates in a global ACM Community of Practice (CoP) coordinated by the Category Integration & Excellence Lead to ensure consistency of methodologies, reporting standards, strategic planning processes, and cross-category collaboration.

• Role Type: An Individual Contributor role in support of the allocated Category, focused on strategic enablement, market data intelligence, and stakeholder management.

• Impact: You drive category compliance, data integrity, and strategic execution across the global operations network. Specifically, you are accountable for:

  • Strategy & Pipeline Support: Collation of supplier, market, and internal business data to help formulate the long-term Category Strategy and build a proactive pipeline of future initiatives.
  • Strategic Initiative Deployment: Supporting Category Managers, Project Delivery, Delivery, and Sourcing Managers in executing and deploying complex projects in strict compliance with global standards and procedures.
  • Negotiation & Contracting Preparation: Supporting contract drafting and vendor negotiations for strategic, key, or bottleneck suppliers by delivering comprehensive analytics, fact-bases, and market benchmarks.
  • Strategic Sourcing: Support selected high-value strategic sourcing initiatives and complex RFx activities to convert pipeline targets into realized business value.
  • Reporting & Analytics: Collaborating with data analytics experts to generate Category-specific insights, generating monthly spend/savings metrics, and conducting data validation to safeguard governance.
  • Implementation Support: Converting strategic outcomes into clear category guidance documents and support materials to ensure category strategies can be effectively implemented across the organization.

Who you are

We look for analytical problem-solvers with excellent interpersonal competencies who can seamlessly guide stakeholders through complex procurement processes.

• Education: University degree (Business or Life Sciences focus preferred). Professional purchasing (e.g., CIPS), project management (e.g., PMP, Prince 2), or Finance-related licenses are highly advantageous.

• Experience: 2+ years of procurement or supply chain experience focused on strategic sourcing, enterprise cost reduction, or operational efficiency initiatives.

• Market Knowledge: Demonstrated understanding of major direct spend categories, spend levers, and supply market fundamentals.

• Systems & Analytics: Strong experience driving insights from large data sets, utilizing data visualization applications (specifically Tableau and ThoughtSpot ), enterprise systems (SAP/Oracle), and eSourcing/eAuction platforms.

• AI & Digitalization: Advanced knowledge in AI application and a strong affinity to explore AI-driven solutions broadly, particularly regarding the digital transformation of operations (Digital 2.0 / Industry 4.0).

• Mindset & Soft Skills: A strong communicator capable of effective upwards management and conflict resolution. You possess the ability to translate messy data into clear procurement specifications with a proactive, customer-centric focus.

• Operating Principles: Driven to live the Roche Operating Principles daily - simplifying radically, acting as one team, thinking long-term, and prioritizing patient outcomes above all else.

• Travel: Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 10% of the time for supplier and internal network meetings.

Ready for the next step? We look forward to hearing from you.

Apply now to discover this exciting opportunity!

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.

Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.