Category Manager

The Category Manager is a high-impact role within Global Procurement, responsible for owning category strategy and delivering commercial value across direct and indirect spend. The Category Manager manages a US$100M–US$200M portfolio and plays a critical role in driving cost, continuity, and supply resilience.

This role goes beyond a traditional Category Manager. It combines strategic sourcing leadership with hands-on, self-service analytics. The successful candidate is both a commercial negotiator and a data-driven decision maker—able to independently analyze spend, pricing, supplier performance, demand, and inventory to proactively identify risks and opportunities.

What You'll Do

• Own global category strategy, sourcing plans, and supplier portfolios across direct and indirect spend
• Lead supplier negotiations on pricing, contracts, and commercial terms
• Build and maintain deep, strategic supplier relationships, including diversification and risk mitigation
• Proactively identify supply risks, cost leakage, and market-driven opportunities using data and analytics
• Develop and maintain dashboards and analytical models to support fact-based decision making
• Translate complex data into clear, actionable insights for senior stakeholders
• Forecast pricing trends and support negotiations with market intelligence and index analysis
• Partner closely with internal stakeholders and suppliers on continuous improvement initiatives
• Support new business, product launches, and growth initiatives through early supplier engagement

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Senior procurement professional with 10+ years experience in strategic sourcing or category management, primarily focused on direct materials
• Strong track record of delivering cost savings, risk reduction, and supplier performance improvements
• Experience in high-volume, cost-sensitive industries such as FMCG, manufacturing, or packaging
• Deep understanding of global supplier landscapes; strong experience with Chinese suppliers is essential
• Highly analytical, commercially minded, and comfortable working autonomously
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (financial modeling, scenario analysis, pivoting, complex datasets) with hands-on experience with Power BI, Tableau, or similar tools
• Ability to independently extract, analyze, and interpret data—turning insights into concrete commercial actions

About Filtrona

Filtrona is the only global, independent market leader in the design, testing and manufacturing of specialist filter solutions, tear tapes and related scientific services. With a head office in Singapore, Filtrona has 9 manufacturing facilities across Europe, America, and Asia, together with 2 innovation centres, an accredited laboratory and a centre of excellence focused on sustainability. The company has over 2000 employees serving customers across 120 countries.

Our purpose is to support partners to transform and benefit from business growth; we succeed when they succeed. Our mission is to be a responsible, customer-focused innovation leader creating excellence in sustainable solutions for today and tomorrow.

For more information, please visit www.filtrona.com.