{"id":3529629,"url":"https://alion.io/job/vanderlande-global-category-manager","title":"Global Category Manager","company":{"id":54548,"name":"Vanderlande","domain":"vanderlande.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/vanderlande","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":87,"open_postings":33,"ghost_share":0.03,"stale_share":0.424,"repost_share":0.03,"time_to_fill_p50_days":31,"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"}},"role":"Operations","role_family":"Operations","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Pune, India"],"countries":["IN"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":19000,"max_usd":43000,"period":"year","method":"global_role_cell_scaled_by_country","sample_n":763},"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-30T15:38:33Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-30","last_verified_at":"2026-11-01T09:56:24Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":2,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":2},"description":"Job Title\nGlobal Category ManagerJob Description\nShape the future of logistics automation through a strategic partnership ecosystem development\nAre you a strategic procurement professional who knows how to turn Indian market insights and business needs into impactful category strategies? Do you enjoy working in an international environment where you can influence supplier partnerships, sourcing decisions, and business performance on a global scale?\nVanderlande is looking for a Global Category Manager to develop and execute category strategies and lead strategic sourcing initiatives to unlock new business opportunities. As part of the global Procurement organization, you will work closely with business stakeholders to understand requirements, identify sourcing opportunities, and implement sustainable procurement solutions that support Vanderlande's business goals. You will ensure alignment of Category strategies across regions and projects while driving cost, quality, innovation, and supplier performance.\nOur global procurement organization enables our projects and business functions by maximizing value and minimizing risks via the procurement of goods and services in the smartest, cost-effective, and sustainable way. We ensure a resilient and competitive supplier ecosystem and aim to advance towards best-in-class practices, and ensure the organization is efficient, effective, and future-proof.\nWhat will you be doing?\nAs a Global Category Manager, you will be responsible for all kinds of new business opportunities and making them mature on a global scale, translating business requirements into sourcing strategies, and leading end-to-end strategic sourcing initiatives. Specifically in this role you will be be at the forefront of Vanderlande's growth in India. Your mission is to build and develop a strong network of strategic suppliers, unlock access to innovation and emerging technologies and create long-term partnerships that strengthen our global supply chain in India.\nIn this highly visible role, you will serve as the go-to expert for procurement opportunities. Next to this, you will define and drive category strategies, ensuring their effective implementation across regions and projects. You will collaborate closely with stakeholders to deliver value, mitigate risk, and support business objectives and make the new opportunities mature for scaling-up. Additionally, you will serve as the Supplier Relationship Manager for a designated portfolio of strategic suppliers, fostering long-term partnerships and driving continuous performance improvement.\nResponsibilities\nDevelop and build the India supplier ecosystem\nDevelop and execute innovative sourcing strategies contributing to the overall ecosystem strategy\nIdentify, assess, and develop new suppliers capable of supporting both local and global business\nBuild a sustainable pipeline of qualified suppliers across strategic commodity areas.\nSupport the expansion of local-for-local and local-for-global sourcing initiatives.\nDrive supplier scouting and market intelligence\nContinuously monitor the Indian supplier market for new capabilities, technologies, capacity developments, and investment opportunities.\nConduct supplier scouting activities and market assessments to identify new sourcing opportunities.\nMaintain a deep understanding of market dynamics, industry trends, and competitive developments.\nTranslate market insights into actionable sourcing recommendations.\nUnlock innovation opportunities\nIdentify innovative suppliers, technologies, and manufacturing capabilities that can strengthen Vanderlande's competitive position.\nConnect with business stakeholders with suppliers capable of supporting new products, technology, and supply chain developments.\nFacilitate collaboration between suppliers and internal stakeholders to accelerate innovation adoption.\nDrive supplier involvement in early-stage development and value engineering activities.\nLead supplier development and selection activities\nCoordinate supplier qualification and onboarding activities in collaboration with Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Category Management.\nLead sourcing projects where new supplier development is required.\nEnsure suppliers meet Vanderlande standards regarding quality, compliance, sustainability, and operational excellence.\nLead and/or support in strategic and complex sourcing events, with tasks such as the creation of the sourcing projects within the S2P Suite, creation of RfX documents, evaluation of proposal based on pre-defined criteria, support the negotiation process, etc.\nOrganize supplier engagement and innovation events\nPlan and execute supplier innovation days, market visits, supplier conferences, and technology workshops.\nCreate platforms that strengthen collaboration between suppliers and Vanderlande stakeholders.\nPromote supplier innovation capabilities across the global procurement community.\nEnsure best practices and market insights are shared effectively across category teams.\nLead cross-functional collaboration\nWork closely with Category Managers, Supplier Quality Engineers, Technology, Engineering, Solutions Operations, Supply Chain teams, etc.\nAct as the primary procurement contact for new business development opportunities in India.\nSupport strategic procurement projects aimed at expanding supply chain capabilities and resilience.\nFacilitate alignment between global procurement strategies and local market opportunities.\nGovernance, Compliance & Ethical Procurement\nEnsure full compliance with Vanderlande procurement principles, ESG policies, safety regulations, and quality system requirements.\nSupport responsible sourcing and supplier sustainability objectives.\nMaintain accurate supplier intelligence, qualification documentation, and sourcing records.\nUphold ethical procurement standards in all supplier interactions and selection activities.\nWhat do we ask from you?\nTo be successful in this role, you should have:\nUniversity degree in a technical or economics degree with business background\nFluent in English, spoken and written (mandatory)\nMinimum 10-12 years of experience in procurement Category management, supplier development, business development, sourcing with a strong focus on identifying, qualifying, and developing new suppliers.\nStrong knowledge of the Indian manufacturing and supplier landscape, ideally in the area of logistics automation or alike\nStrong commercial mindset combined with technical curiosity and market awareness.\nStrong stakeholder management and influencing skills across multiple organizational levels in an international environment.\nExperience organizing supplier events, workshops, innovation programs, or business networking activities.\nExcellent communication and presentation skills in an international business environment.\nExperience within manufacturing, industrial automation, logistics automation, electronics, or complex supply chain environments is preferred.\nExperience with Source-to-Pay systems and supplier management tools is considered a plus.\nAbility to travel internationally up to 30% of the time\nAbout the team\nOur Procurement team is a dynamic and collaborative group of procurement professionals dedicated to optimizing both direct and indirect spend across the organization. Our team comprises category experts and supplier relationship managers who develop and implement tailored procurement strategies that align with local market dynamics while supporting global objectives. We cultivate robust supplier partnerships, negotiate competitive contracts, and identify opportunities for cost savings, always enhancing efficiency and value. By working closely with procurement engineering, project procurement management, procurement centers of excellence, and external suppliers, we ensure all procurement activities comply with regulations and support overall business goals. Through strong relationships and effective communication across regional and global teams, we drive sustainable procurement performance and support the organization in achieving its strategic objectives.\nAbout Vanderlande\nVanderlande is the global market leader for future-proof logistic process automation at airports and in the distribution market. Furthermore, we are also a leading supplier of process automation solutions for warehouses, which seamlessly integrate innovative systems, intelligent software, and life-cycle services.\nAt Vanderlande, you can develop your career, satisfy your ambitions, and aspire to new heights, while enjoying personal growth and thriving achievement.\nWhat we offer\nIn the challenging and responsible position of Global Category Manager, you will have the chance to make a significant contribution to industry-leading projects and be connected to our dedicated people and customers. We offer a position in an informal, international and professional working environment with a lot of scope for personal development. By joining our profitable and growing company you will be able to reach your goals and focus on your future.\nDiversity & Inclusion\nVanderlande is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Qualified applicants will be considered without regards to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status.","description_format":"text","description_chars":9319,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"Advanced (C1)","optional":false}]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Warehousing","Logistics & Warehouse Robotics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-30T15:38:33Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":1,"expected_fill_days":31,"reasons":["conf:7","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/vanderlande-global-category-manager","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/vanderlande-global-category-manager.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-01T17:51:58Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":27361,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-02T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":54548},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=54548"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fvanderlande-global-category-manager"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fvanderlande-global-category-manager"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fvanderlande-global-category-manager"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/vanderlande-global-category-manager\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fvanderlande-global-category-manager"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3529629}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"vanderlande.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3529629},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}