You’re not the person who will settle for just any role. Neither are we. Because we’re out to create Better Care for a Better World, and that takes a certain kind of person and teams who care about making a difference. Here, you’ll bring your professional expertise, talent, and drive to building and managing our portfolio of iconic, ground-breaking brands. In this role, you’ll help us deliver better care for billions of people around the world. It starts with YOU.

In this role the Regional Category Manager supports the development of the Global SAM (Super Absorbent Material) & Non Wovens Category strategies and provides regional expertise to define, develop, influence and deploy the global category strategy for the regional businesses. The Regional Category Manager will work closely with SAM and Non Wovens, Global Procurement Category Directors, which means reporting full to the Global SAM Procurement Director and dotted line to the Global Procurement Non Wovens, Films & Resins Director. Besides building trust and influence with regional stakeholders and suppliers to execute consistently and deliver clear business benefits that impact quality, service and total cost of supply.

In this role, you will:

Provide subject expertise and insight into the region category requirements:

• Build a broad understanding of category with detailed understanding of purchase spend, purchase portfolio and supplier performance.

• Create and maintain category management knowledge and processes to ensure the category strategies are informed, relevant and up to date

• Monitor supplier performance indicators and initiate supplier reviews as required or in accordance with agreed programs to drive improvement and reduce risk across the regional enterprise.

Connect and influence regional stakeholder network:

• Identify, build and maintain an effective cross functional stakeholder network

• Understand regional business and functional requirements

• Proactively influence internal stakeholders

• Lead regional interactions with Regional Procurement organization, R&E, Quality, Planning and other stakeholders

• Gain necessary input and cross functional expertise whilst influencing acceptance, agreement, and support from key stakeholders to ensure ultimate compliance and support.

Manage Regional Supplier Contracts, develop relationship management strategies driving collaboration, Supplier relationship management and / or other engagement programs:

• In conjunction with the Global Category Directors recommend, agree and lead regional relationship programs.

• Build trust and credibility with suppliers by demonstrating integrity, commitment and results orientation to drive and deliver results.

• Maintain an effective business relationship with all suppliers and stakeholders based on clear, concise group and personal communication.

• Plan and execute Global RFPs including lead of regional supplier selection in line with SCM (Strategic Category Management) and NGS (Negotiation Gold Standard)

• Implement formal contracts utilizing standard global templates, the contract management system and legal resources to meet business needs for regional suppliers

Drive improvement programs and transformations to support category management strategy:

• Through the regional and global stakeholder network, become the regional point of contact, focal point and connector for strategic category management projects and initiatives in all purchase categories

• Support escalation and discussion with suppliers for Quality, Regulatory and service issues

• Create, maintain, and drive regional WAVE programs of quantified NMP and VFE savings

• Identify hurdles and barriers to change, resolve where possible or escalate as appropriate to Global directors and / or senior management

• Monitor and manage actions to complete delivery of project milestones in line with agreed delivery expectations , reporting progress and / or escalating to global category management and other K-C leadership as appropriate.

• Align with suppliers on pricing as per cadence (quarterly, biannual etc) identified as per price mechanisms or internal/ external price index data for benchmarking and share price lists/update requests with GBS team

• Work with cross functional stakeholders and suppliers to drive improvements in OTIF

The successful candidate will join the Global Procurement, Direct Sourcing team and report to Global Procurement Director – Direct Materials.

About Us

At Kimberly-Clark, you’ll be part of the best teams committed to driving innovation and growth. We’re founded on 150 years of market leadership, and we’re always looking for new and better ways to perform—so what can you do with that? There’s no time like the present to make an impact at Kimberly-Clark.

It’s all here for you at Kimberly-Clark.

Led by Purpose. Driven by You.

About You

You’re driven to perform at the highest level possible, and you appreciate a performance culture fueled by authentic caring. You want to be part of a company actively dedicated to sustainability, inclusion, wellbeing, and career development.

To succeed in this role, you will need the following qualifications:

• Bachelor degree in Science, Engineering or business related professional service.

• Typically at least 5 years of experience in procurement or closely related field with multiple function / business exposure. Preferably with direct materials.

• Business acumen, with excellent communication skills both written and oral.

• Proven ability to communicate and influence up and across the organization, as well as with external suppliers.

• Excellent cross functional collaboration, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

• Proficiency using SAP, Excel, pivot tables, Tableau, power BI and ability to create inspiring PowerPoint presentations

• Fluent in English

Hybrid Work Arrangements: You’re looking to make a difference. When and where it works best for you. And at Kimberly Clark, we’re constantly exploring new ideas on how, when, and where we can best achieve results. When you join our team, you’ll experience Flex That Works, flexible work (hybrid) arrangements that empower you to have purposeful time in the office and partner with your leader to make flexibility work for both you and the business.

For Kimberly-Clark to grow and prosper, we must be an inclusive organization that applies the diverse experiences and passions of its team members to brands that make life better for people all around the world. We actively seek to build a workforce that reflects the experiences of our consumers. When you bring your original thinking to Kimberly-Clark, you fuel the continued success of our enterprise. We are a committed equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, genetic information, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

The statements above are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this classification. Statements are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and skills required for this position.

This role is available for local candidates already authorized to work in the role’s country only. K-C will not provide relocation support for this role.

#LI-Hybrid