Global Category Lead - External Manufacturing

Job Description
About the Role:

The Global Category Lead, External Manufacturing is a Senior Director-level role reporting to the Head of Direct Procurement
. This position is responsible for defining and executing the global category strategy for external manufacturing, ensuring enterprise value through cost optimization, supplier innovation, risk management, sustainability, and business growth. The role serves as a strategic partner to senior leaders across Global Supply & Quality, Plasma Derived Therapies, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and R&D, leading make-versus-buy decisions and shaping Takeda’s global contract manufacturing network.

The Global Category Lead oversees a broad portfolio spanning large molecule, small molecule, plasma, sterile fill-finish, and contract packaging suppliers, while driving supplier performance, supply continuity, commercial strategy, and enterprise-wide value delivery. In addition, the role leads and develops category management teams, governs key supplier relationships and contracts, influences critical business and investment decisions, and ensures a resilient, compliant, and high-performing external manufacturing ecosystem that supports Takeda’s long‑term strategic objectives.

• Develop and execute category strategies that align external spend with enterprise objectives, business priorities, and long‑term value creation goals

• Shape demand and business requirements by challenging specifications, operating models, supplier strategies, and sourcing approaches to optimize total value and return on investment

• Lead complex strategic programs and category value plans, ensuring delivery of cost, productivity, innovation, sustainability, quality, and risk management objectives

• Drive cross-functional collaboration across business, operations, finance, legal, and procurement teams to deliver End-2-End category strategies and strategic initiatives

• Build and maintain a high-performing supplier ecosystem that balances innovation, competitiveness, resilience, and long‑term business needs, while including Quality and Sustainability requirements.

• Own strategic supplier relationships, governance, and performance management to drive continuous improvement, innovation, and value delivery

• Ensure supplier strategies, commercial models, and contractual frameworks support business objectives, regulatory requirements, quality standards, and supply continuity

• Synthesize market intelligence, supplier insights, and business data into compelling narratives that influence strategic decisions and stakeholder alignment

• Act as a strategic business partner to senior stakeholders, influencing spend decisions, investment priorities, operating models, and external resource deployment

• Lead, develop, and enable high-performing teams by building critical capabilities, fostering collaboration, and driving a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and business partnership

• Coach category managers and associates toward excellent, business‑aligned category strategies, embedding adherence to best‑practice category‑management methodology and raising the quality and consistency of strategy development and execution across the team

• Attract, develop, and retain category talent in a competitive market, actively building succession strength and career pathways across the team

• Allocate people and priority across the category portfolio, making cross‑category trade‑offs to maximize aggregate enterprise value.

• Accountable for the value‑delivery agenda across the category portfolio, setting and governing the targets and KPIs — spanning the enterprise value framework of P&L impact, P&L protection, and cash improvement, plus value beyond savings (risk, business performance, innovation,…