Category Manager
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 19, 2026. First seen by Alion on Sep 22, 2026. HARMAN International scores B on the Alion truth index.
A Career at HARMAN
As a technology leader that is rapidly on the move, HARMAN is filled with people who are focused on making life better. Innovation, inclusivity and teamwork are a part of our DNA. When you add that to the challenges we take on and solve together, you’ll discover that at HARMAN you can grow, make a difference and be proud of the work you do every day.
What You Will Do
- Develop, drive and own the global strategy for complex categories and align with business objectives and support growth and profitability
- Build and own appropriate supplier relationships with category supply base and present a single unified HARMAN International interface to the supply base.
- Works with Best Cost Analytics & HW & Component Engineering on technology roadmap plans and ensure long-term competitive cost of components.
- Manage difficult supplier negotiations and event driven cost reductions to meet annual cost reduction goals and Should Cost targets,
- Conduct consistent cornmercial terms/ conditions including a long-term capacity outlook commitment for high priority suppliers.
- Drive supply base optimization and new supplier development to maximize category leverage.
- Lead the source board preparation and create sourcing proposal for management declsion
- Oversee the execution of RFx efforts into the supply base, prepare the response evaluation and proposal for sourcing decisions,
- Coordinate the suppler performance management, including quarterly business reviews and escalation support High Potential as successor for category directors.
- Acting as backup for category directors.
- Support category directors to coordinate cross-category initiative/strategies.
- Coaching and providing guidance to category managers.
- Coordinate quarterly and annual pricing roll activities at EMS providers
- Track and report on performance metrics and related KPI's
- Manage communications and ongoing negotiations related to engineering change notifications, significant fluctuations in demand, E&O material, reconciliation and inventory revaluations
What You Need
- Minimum 10 years of procurement experience.
- Prior experience in Acoustics including commodity sourcing and negotiating direct materials using strategic category management techniques to achieve results
- Proven ability to lead and achieve cost. quality, and time-to-market commitments.
- Strong negotiation and relationship-building skills
- Success in collaborating with key work partners and able to maintain relationships at the working level
- An effective team player committed to organizational goals; fostering collaboration among team members
- Fluency in English
What is Nice to Have
- Chinese skills highly preferred
- Semiconductors or Electronics product sourcing background
- Global mindset
What Makes You Eligible
- Willingness to travel internationally 10-20%
What We Offer
- Be part of an international team working with the world's largest automotive manufacturers
- Attractive salary package
- Employer contribution to company pension plan
- Extensive technical trainings
- Career development opportunities
- A great package of additional benefits
HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard torace, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.