IT Category Manager

Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA; remote. Occasional travel of less than 10% for conferences, supplier meetings, or internal meetings.

Salary: $97,750–$115,000.

Company

Cushman & Wakefield provides commercial real estate services and operates a global, matrixed business.

What you will do

• Build and execute category strategies for software, hardware, cloud, telecom, data, professional services, managed services, and other technology spend.
• Own demand planning, market research, sourcing pipelines, savings targets, and supplier strategies.
• Lead supplier selection, onboarding, relationship management, performance reviews, and improvement plans.
• Run RFPs, RFQs, renewals, negotiations, contract reviews, statements of work, amendments, and supplier evaluations with Legal and cross-functional partners.
• Analyze spend, pricing, usage, licensing, and total cost of ownership to deliver savings and reduce costs.
• Advise Technology & Data Solutions, Finance, Legal, Risk, Security, business leaders, and suppliers; improve procurement processes, reporting, automation, and preferred-supplier adoption.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Information Technology, Finance, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in IT category management, strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier management, or a similar role, including complex sourcing and negotiations tied to financial targets.
• Knowledge of IT buying categories, including software and SaaS, hardware, cloud, telecom, data, professional and managed services, and emerging technology.
• Working knowledge of IT contracting and licensing, data privacy, information security, intellectual property, compliance, and supplier risk.
• Strong analytical, financial, presentation, relationship-building, communication, and influencing skills; able to build business cases and present recommendations to senior leaders.
• Proficiency with Smartsheet, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work with IT, Legal, Finance, Risk, business leaders, and suppliers in a global, matrixed company.
• Organized, self-driven, business-minded, and able to manage multiple priorities, make decisions through ambiguity, and work with limited supervision.
• Experience driving change, improving processes, and following procurement policy; comfortable working remotely with a global team.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree or CPSM/CIPS certification.
• Experience with source-to-pay or contract management tools.

Culture & Benefits

• Remote work with a global team and occasional travel below 10%.
• Eligible employees may enroll in health, vision, dental, flexible spending, health savings, retirement savings, life, and disability insurance programs.
• Paid and unpaid time away from work and competitive pay subject to eligibility, location, job type, business line, collective bargaining applicability, experience, and qualifications.
• Equal opportunity employment and reasonable accommodation support for applicants with disabilities.