Category Manager- CSM

Company Description

Veolia is a global leader in environmental services, operating across all five continents with nearly 218,000 employees. Specializing in water, energy, and waste management, Veolia designs and implements innovative solutions for decarbonization, depollution, and resource regeneration, supporting communities and industries in their ecological transformation.

Within this framework, Water Tech assembles a dedicated team of experienced professionals committed to addressing the world's most complex challenges related to water scarcity, quality, productivity, and energy. Together, we pursue a shared mission to create a more sustainable future.

Job Description

North American Regional Category Manager - Chemicals
The Regional Category Manager will be responsible for developing and implementing sourcing and procurement strategies in their region in alignment with the Global Category teams and the Regional Business Lines. This role drives supplier performance, negotiates cost efficiencies, ensures supply continuity, and supports the company's cost, quality, and sustainability objectives. The ideal candidate possesses strong technical and business acumen, as well as deep knowledge in chemical raw material sourcing, water treatment, and relevant chemical markets, with experience in the relevant industry.

Key Characteristics:

• Develop, lead, and implement end-to-end sourcing strategies for chemical raw material categories for both specialty and commodity chemicals.
• Deep industry knowledge in chemical markets, strong business acumen, and demonstrated cross-functional leadership.
• Strategic thinker and able to work in a collaborative, double matrix, and multicultural environment.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Category Management & Strategic Sourcing

• Develop and lead end-to-end regional sourcing strategies for key commodity and chemical categories in conjunction with global strategy and market trends.
• Perform total cost of ownership (TCO) analyses and market intelligence reviews to inform procurement decisions.
• Identify and qualify suppliers aligned with Veolia's needs and environmental compliance standards.
• Owns the category business goals for the region and reports out to the Global Category Manager and regional team on progress.

Supplier Relationship Management

• Manage strategic supplier relationships, including quarterly business reviews, supplier innovation partnerships, and risk management activities.
• Negotiate long-term agreements and mitigate supply risk through multi-sourcing or buffer strategies.
• Collaborate with Quality, Technical, and EHS teams to ensure supplier compliance with Veolia's specifications, Quality Management Systems, and safety protocols.

Cost Savings & Process Improvements

• Drive year-over-year savings targets through competitive bidding, value engineering, or alternate formulations.
• Lead or support cross-functional initiatives to improve procurement operations, sustainability, or product performance.
• Stay ahead of market trends in the water treatment and chemical supply chains, including regulatory impacts (e.g., REACH, TSCA, EPA rules).

Operational Support

• Partner with operations, production planning, and logistics to ensure seamless inbound supply of chemicals and raw materials.
• Monitor usage trends, coordinate with inventory teams, and proactively address supply-demand imbalances.
• Work closely with business lines and finance to ensure accurate price tracking and budget forecasting.

Qualifications

Hard Skills:

• Expert: Demonstrate subject matter expertise in the field of chemical sourcing.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, and project management skills.
• Proficient in ERP/MRP systems (SAP preferred) and Google and Excel-based modeling.

Soft Skills:

• Strategic: Gets the big game. Understands long-term. Respects short term but doesn't get hung up in the noise.
• Inspirational: Ability to inspire/ motivate others.
• Curious: Ability to pose high-impact questions, seeing opportunities in areas where others see problems.
• Courageous: Champions ideas and helps transform them into actions.
• Humble: Respectful towards peers, team members, leadership, and stakeholders.
• Holistic: Think customer and company first.
• Accountable: Demonstrates responsibility, ownership, and commitment. Taking responsibility for making tough calls when necessary.
• Ambitious: Identifies underlying truths and comes up with ideas that change the way we conceptualize issues, depicting a vision of the future that rallies teams to compete in new ways.

Education & Experience Required:

• Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering or a directly related field.
• Minimum 10+ years of experience in Procurement, Supply Chain function, or an equivalent function with knowledge of business strategy, procurement strategy & processes, category management, and overall execution of procurement KPIs.
• Minimum 10+ years of experience drafting, negotiating, and implementing complex contracts for raw materials within the chemical industry.
• Demonstrated chemical raw material sourcing, water treatment, and relevant chemical markets, with experience in the relevant industry. Proven experience in the chemical raw material sourcing, water treatment, and related chemical markets within the industry.

Preferred:

• MBA, Master's Degree, and/or certification like CPSM, CPM, CPSCM
• Experience in negotiating and managing suppliers within the Chemical industry, preferably within the water treatment industry
• Experience working in a matrixed organization

Working Conditions:

• Annual travel required: 15%

Additional Information

At Veolia, we realize diverse teams make smarter decisions, deliver better results, and build stronger communities. We're an organization that champions diversity and inclusion at every rung of the ladder and are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

• 10% Annual Incentive Bonus Plan
• Medical, Dental, & Vision Insurance Starting Day 1!
• Life Insurance
• Paid Time Off
• Paid Holidays
• Parental Leave
• 401(k) Plan - 3% default contribution plus matching!
• Flexible Spending & Health Saving Accounts
• AD&D Insurance
• Disability Insurance
• Tuition Reimbursement

Compensation - The salary range is tied to the market for similarly benchmarked roles. The range is not an absolute, but a guide, and offers will be based on the individual candidate's knowledge, skills,
experience, and market conditions, as well as internal peer equity. Depending upon all the preceding considerations for the final selected individual candidate, the offer may be lower or higher than the stated range: $113,000.00- $125,000.00

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. The Company reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.
****Applicants are required to be eligible to lawfully work in the U.S. immediately; the employer will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work authorization (e.g. H-1B visa) for this opportunity****

VWT does not accept unsolicited resumes from external recruiting firms. All vendors must have a current and fully executed MSA on file before submitting candidates. Any unsolicited resumes and candidate profiles will be deemed the property of VWT, and no fee will be due.

As an inclusive company, Veolia is committed to diversity and gives equal consideration to all applications, without discrimination.