Procurement Sourcing, Category Specialist

Position: Procurement Sourcing, Category Specialist-EN
Location: Montreal

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…