Category Manager

Department: Finance

Location: Lausanne, Switzerland

Contract Type: Temporary 2-year contract

Activity Level: 100%

The International Olympic Committee is the guardian of the Olympic Games and the leader of the Olympic Movement.

A truly global organisation, it acts as a catalyst for collaboration between all Olympic stakeholders, including the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, the International Federations, Organising Committees for the Olympic Games, the Worldwide Olympic Partners and Olympic broadcast partners. It also collaborates with public and private authorities including the United Nations and other international organisations.

About the role

As Category Manager, you will manage procurement activities for assigned deals and categories, providing business support and guidance throughout the sourcing process. You will act as a procurement partner to internal stakeholders and contribute to sourcing strategies, category management and strategic supplier management.

In this role, you will ensure appropriate governance, process adherence and procurement insight across in-scope engagements. You will also support the delivery of existing category plans and contribute to the continuous improvement of the IOC Finance Department’s procurement approach.

Your responsibilities

Strategic Sourcing, Category Management, Operations, Projects

• Own the procurement engagement model for assigned indirect categories, from intake and sourcing approach through to award and supplier onboarding, as assigned by the Senior Category Manager.

• Act as a procurement partner to assigned stakeholders, providing advice on sourcing approaches, supporting decision-making and helping to deliver value through procurement activities.

• Proactively manage visibility of the procurement pipeline for in-scope categories: build and maintain stakeholder relationships, identify upcoming needs early, and align on the procurement route, milestones and timelines.

• Define the sourcing strategy per engagement (e.g. competitive tender, benchmarking, direct award with justification) and run the end-to-end process for high-value, high-risk or business-critical engagements.

• Support the development and execution of category strategies for assigned spend areas, including supplier segmentation, risk management, savings opportunities and innovation initiatives.

• Support and lead commercial negotiations involving strategic suppliers to secure optimal commercial, contractual and risk outcomes, while ensuring alignment with governance and stakeholder objectives.

• Provide advisory support for lower-complexity engagements: recommend the right route to market and quality-check key steps and documentation so stakeholders can execute confidently.

• Contribute to the delivery of agreed commercial value, including savings, cost avoidance, supplier performance improvements and risk reduction across assigned categories.

• Perform spend and supplier analysis for in-scope categories and departments; build clear insights (e.g. rate cards and supplier consolidation opportunities) to support category development and optimisation, and produce recurring dashboards and management reporting (e.g. Power BI).

• Support business teams to translate needs into clear scopes of work and briefing documents.

• Support the review of contractual documentation and work closely with IOC Legal to ensure contracts are clear and in line with IOC standard terms; provide redlines, suggested wording and commercial mark-ups as needed.

• Review in-scope requisitions, supplier setup requests and agreements to ensure compliance with IOC policies and procedures; escalate to IOC Legal or IOC Internal Control any concerns regarding non-compliance with laws or regulations.

• Take on projects or business improvement activities as assigned by the Senior Category Manager.

Responsible Procurement

• Support the continuous development of the IOC’s Responsible Procurement programme by contributing content, feedback from sourcing activity and supplier market insight.

• Embed responsible procurement criteria in sourcing and supplier selection, and advise stakeholders on the right due diligence and risk reviews as required.

Procurement Excellence & Administration

• Maintain accurate procurement information for in-scope engagements (e.g. pipeline, sourcing outcomes, and supplier and contract metadata where applicable) and produce recurring and ad-hoc reporting.

• Support the review and continuous improvement of procurement procedures, templates and guidance so the operating model remains consistent, relevant and fit for purpose.

• Ensure appropriate P2P oversight for in-scope spend and contribute to SAP P2P enhancements as needed.

• Coordinate and quality-check reviews and approvals for contracts, purchase requisitions and supplier setup requests, ensuring the right stakeholders are engaged at the right time.

Our requirements

• Relevant Experience in sourcing and category management within a multinational or similarly complex organisation.

• Bachelor’s degree in the field of Procurement, Business, Finance or similar. Additional professional procurement qualification, such as CIPS, would be an advantage.

• Fluent English and a good command of French, with the ability to communicate effectively in a professional environment.

• Demonstrated experience leading complex sourcing initiatives, from strategy development through to contract signature and supplier implementation.

• Experience across multiple indirect spend categories; expertise in corporate services or events would be a strong advantage.

• Strong stakeholder management and partnering capabilities, with a collaborative and diplomatic approach and the ability to find practical common ground.

• Strong commercial judgement and proven negotiation skills, with the ability to balance commercial, contractual, governance and risk considerations.

• A proactive, agile and solution-oriented mindset, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver effectively in an evolving environment.

• Strong analytical skills and experience with procurement modules and e-tools, data analysis and visualisation tools such as Power BI.