Category Director

About the role

The Category Director holds responsibility for the line of business teams within the Partner Management organization. The role builds relevant commercial partner relationships with manufacturers and distributors partners with the aim of achieving a commercial competitive advantage. The Category Director’s responsibility is split between Partner Management and Margin Control and People Management (of Category Managers).  This role will influence and contribute to department strategy, have authority and responsibility for a significant area of work and be accountable for actions and decisions taken by self and subordinate

What you'll be doing

Leadership and Management (60%)

The Category Director will:

• Be responsible and accountable for P&L target achievement and attainment of growth goals
• Directly manage two or more full-time equivalent Category Managers
• Coach, mentor, and lead the line of business team in driving high business performance
• Develop staff, provide regular feedback and evaluate performance 
• Lead by example
• Implement the strategic vision and operational delivery of the category (in line with Company objectives and in alignment to Strategic Sales Alliances), creating a culture where every team member contributes to personal and business success

Personal Business contribution (40%)

• Senior relationship management with vendor partners / suppliers – Point of escalation for commercial and operational challenges and business improvement objectives
• Commercial subject matter expert on large / complex deal negotiation for the category
• High level engagement within Computacenter business units and sales teams for category area
• Partnering with other category directors to drive complementary business solutions for Computacenter
• Development of skills to be able to manage other categories as and when needed
• Ensure top 5 vendors for business area have clear understanding of Computacenter business value proposition and operational procedures

Management/Business Focus 

The Category Director will be accountable and responsible for team performance on:

• Working with vendors to understand their business objectives and develop strategies and plans to support attainment of those objectives
• Responsible for the development of plans that drive measurable improvement in vendor return (revenue, marketing rebates & soft rebates) that culminate in Category revenue and contribution growth.
• Manage supplier/vendor performance to meet contractual obligations, deliverables and day-to-day operations to maximize customer service experience
• Set and manage inventory stocking levels, whilst minimizing/eliminating risk
• Publication of product information, price lists and pricing guidelines to support business
• Manage product line analysis and market research to assist in identifying opportunities to gain market share and improve profitability.
• Drive smart buying, deal buying and rebate annuity income to contribute to sustainable profitable business.
• Communicate to all business areas strategic and tactical news updates utilizing relevant mediums (email, presentations, web etc)
• Work closely with Marketing functions to contribute to campaigns
• Work closely with e-commerce teams to contribute to exploiting web selling opportunities
• PVC/MDF and Soft Doller Reconciliation 
• Improve stock turns and reduce working capital impacts
• Manage and minimize risk with complex contract negotiations working in partnership with legal, Strategic sales Alliances                                                                     

What you have

• Ability to lead and manage a team, offering motivation, guidance & personal development.
• Able to clearly articulate and well justify strategies and/or business plans
• Ability to effectively present information and work cross functionally with groups of managers, customers, other employees, and Vendors/Suppliers
• Ability to understand strategic objectives and develop plans to facilitate obtainment of those objectives 
• Excellent written, oral communication, commercial, analytical and negotiation skills.
• Highly self-motivated & proactive approach to business development
• Good knowledge of the IT market
• Educated to degree level standard or has relevant experience
• Experience in Product Marketing, Product Management, Sales or Procurement environments                    
• Knows, applies and enforces rules, procedures, instructions, good practices and operating procedures
• Performance Indicators · Ensures Partner Management SLAs, OLAs and KPIs are met · Maintains & improve supplier satisfaction levels · Understands and adhere to policies and procedures · Demonstrates winning together values
• Experience of working at a strategic level to enable the Department to perform effectively. 
• Previous Leadership experience 
• Understanding and appreciation of competitors and their strategies 
• Comprehensive, long-term experience in leadership, coaching and motivation of teams 
• Excellent Relationship Management - ability to build and maintain a comprehensive network of internal and external stakeholders at employee, management and senior management levels 
• Strong ability and extensive experience to conduct very complex and significant negotiations 
• Sets the organizational vision and strategy, leads collaborative forums across the organization to create the foundation for achieving strategic goals. 
• Expert understanding of the relationship between key business drivers, and their application to business decisions
• Develops strategy to implement lessons learned to future deals · Drives innovation in deal constructs with the business. 
• Is viewed as a figure of authority when terms and conditions are reviewed to provide commercial perspective 
• Maintains long term perspective to ensure negotiations enhance working relationships and maximize value for all parties 
• Builds and develops cross-functional teams that are widely respected for their overall contribution to the organization 
• Demonstrates expert ability to influence the organization and all stakeholders 
• Makes a positive impact in high-risk and highly complex situations

What you can expect

There’s so much more to enjoy about being at Computacenter than just having a rewarding career. In addition to offering competitive compensation plans and long-term career opportunities, we provide an attractive mix of benefit plans to contribute to your good health, future financial security, and peace of mind.

About us

Computacenter is a leading independent technology partner, trusted by large corporate and public sector organizations. We help our world-renowned customers to source, transform, and manage their IT infrastructure to deliver digital transformation, enabling users and their business. We’re a public company quoted on the London FTSE 250 (CCC.L) and employ over 20,000 people worldwide. In the US, we support some of the country’s best-known businesses with regional hubs in San Francisco and Irvine, CA; Norcross, GA; Plano, TX; and New York City; and Integration Centers in Silicon Valley and Atlanta. www.computacenter.com/us