Procurement Sourcing, Category Specialist

⠀

The Global Procurement and Supply Management “GPSM” team is composed of around 100 employees, based in diverse locations globally. Our team is part of the Indirect Product Technology Procurement team of GPSM. This position will be reporting into the Manager, Infrastructure Technology & Related Services. The team is currently composed of a Strategic Sourcing Manager, Specialist, Procurement Analyst, and procurement coordinator.

This team works closely with the Software SAAS, and Associated Services team, and with the extended Indirect Procurement team. The team members are from different backgrounds and all walks of life, all aiming to achieve the department’s vision, and playing a vital role in CAE’s digital transformation.

Description

This is an individual contributor role where you will drive high complexity strategic sourcing projects, initiatives, process optimization, team coaching/support and collaboration. The role will dedicate approximately 60% of its scope to Category Specialist responsibilities, including full ownership of assigned global category strategies, category spend, vendor and stakeholder relationship management, strategic market and technology trend analysis, category rationalization, and savings target delivery.

The role will also dedicate approximately 40% to the ownership of delivery and co-execution of Strategic Sourcing Projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a GPSM Advisor to the business
• Demonstrate a strategic business mindset, establish an executive-level presence, and balance multiple stakeholder interests simultaneously
• Own and maintain the full global strategy for assigned categories, including category vision, spend and demand baselines, supplier landscape, stakeholder map, market intelligence, technology trends, risk profile, rationalization roadmap, savings pipeline, cross-category synergies, and a multi-year opportunity pipeline
• Act as the category owner for vendor and stakeholder relationship management, ensuring category decisions are aligned with business priorities, technology roadmaps, supplier performance, and long-term strategic plans
• Own end-to-end delivery and co-execute category-aligned sourcing projects with the sourcing team, which will lead the primary execution activities. Ensure projects remain aligned with business priorities, market and technology trends, the current and future technology stack, savings targets, and governance requirements - from opportunity identification and pipeline planning through negotiation, award, implementation, savings capture, and post-award governance
• Build and maintain complex analysis models to enable data-driven decisions on complex sourcing projects
• Keep abreast of industry trends that impact the technology sourcing strategy through external advisory services, internal resources, and good working relationships with existing and emerging strategic vendors. Translate market and technology trends into category insights, roadmap adjustments, rationalization opportunities, and sourcing priorities
• Participate and enforce improvement initiatives and coach junior team members

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, law, or any other relevant discipline
• At least 7 years of relevant experience in Product Technology Procurement
• Experience in Global IT Infrastructure, Cloud, and associated services procurement
• Experience in negotiation and in leading vendor selection processes
• Excellent proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, with the ability analysis, market insights, industry updates, and internal analysis to support and own assigned Category Strategies, including spend visibility, vendor performance, stakeholder priorities, category rationalization opportunities, and savings targets

Preferred Qualifications

• Passionate about process improvement and able to act as a change agent
• Excellent Customer service skills, when dealing with the company team members at all levels of the organization. Will also work with the company’s suppliers and will be required to negotiate while working in a spirit of partnership by utilizing the skills of persuasion and influence
• St…