Global Sourcing IT Category Manager

Global Sourcing IT Category Manager

Position Overview

This role ensures effective operation, strategic alignment, and integration of global sourcing and IT supply chain activities across all NTT Operating Companies. It carries accountability for the overall performance of the IT supply chain within NTT Global Sourcing, including ownership of key functional, operational, and strategic objectives. The position is responsible for executing business plans, delivering savings targets, and driving sourcing initiatives that support NTT’s global IT supply chain. The role also supports and helps implement the overarching sourcing strategy across NTT’s multi‑billion‑dollar annual spend in hardware, software, and related IT services. This includes ensuring that all sourcing activities align with NTT Global Sourcing priorities and broader corporate goals, while contributing to consistent, optimized, and strategically guided procurement practices across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Responsible for supporting and helping manage all elements of the strategy, which include reduce cost, improve operational performance, mitigate risk and improve the overall financial performance of NTT through its acquisition and management of IT assets. Further, it is the NTT Global Sourcing Manager’s responsibility to manage the strategy on an on‑going basis, ensuring it is communicated and adhered‑to across all regions and Operating Companies – which includes assembling and leading cross‑functional teams to drive the IT Supply Chain and Sourcing strategy. They will partner with stakeholders in the Operating Companies, Accounts, Delivery, Alliances and Global Procurement (GP) on IT cost savings and performance improvement initiatives. She/he will be a hands‑on employee, working alongside other Procurement leaders and teams, as well as leadership across the NTT Operating Companies to analyze spend, assess current and changing market forces across the IT industry, and assess current commercial arrangements across NTT to identify/drive improvement opportunities for the business.
• The NTT Global Sourcing Manager is responsible to develop working relationships with key internal stakeholders to ensure IT requirements are defined and demand is accurately reflected. Also, she/he will partner with NTT Operating Companies to drive improved operational performance – such as supply/demand planning, cycle times, forecasting, maintenance practices and contractual compliance.

Education and Experience

Technical Experience

• Minimum 8 years of experience in progressively challenging roles in supply chain management, strategic sourcing and/or category management with most experience within the broad Information Technology space.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in IT cloud sourcing & contracting. Experience in sourcing MSFT or AWS or GCP products and services at global level. Should have a fair understanding of MSFT or AWS or GCP contracting, product and services / support services terminologies.
• Must have hands‑on experience managing a category of IT spend and delivery on a global or regional basis and be able to demonstrate a track record of effectively driving cost savings and performance improvement while in such a role.
• Hands‑on team member able to drive major, complex IT supply chain and/or cost reduction projects. Experience in supplier relationship / vendor management and conducting business reviews with suppliers.
• Manage contract life cycle and operation activities such amendment, target tracking, maintain records & hygiene in relevant project management system.
• Strong understanding of IT vendor sales and pricing models, as well as support and maintenance services – as practiced by the major IT vendors across the globe.
• Must have demonstrated ability to effectively manage commercial and strategic relationships on a global basis with Tier‑1 IT suppliers.
• Further, experience should include in‑depth knowledge and experience managing (supply chain, sourcing and/or procurement) additional knowledge of below sub‑categories of IT is added advantage, which includes product acquisition, maintenance and life cycle management:
  • Software
  • SaaS
  • IT Hardware (EUC and Servers)
  • Security Software
• Experience in defining and driving key aspects of supply chain operational excellence in a global, multi‑business unit environment – including demand planning, forecasting, maintenance optimization, performance measurement and optimization.

Educational Requirements

Bachelor degree is required, preferably in Engineering, Science, Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Technology or an equivalent technical discipline. An advanced degree in one of these disciplines and/or an MBA is preferred. Fluent written and verbal English required.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong analytical skills, Self‑Starting, Proactive, Self Learning, must have attention to detail, maintain data & project hygiene. Must be able to assess historical spend and asset usage data from multiple disparate sources, analyze the data and layout coherent, data‑driven roadmaps to achieve cost reductions and/or operational improvements.
• Able to analyze the current state of practices within NTT Global Sourcing and NTT Operating Companies across all IT sub‑categories of spend involving multiple IT vendors and collaborate with stakeholders to forge comprehensive supply chain strategies that increase leverage and drive commercial improvements with IT vendors.
• Across the major IT sub‑categories, must be able to assess ‘best practices’ and ‘pricing benchmarks’ in the industry and compare these across Operating Companies, accounts, BUs and regions. Develop gap analysis relative to these practices/benchmarks to help identify savings and improvement opportunities. Develop strategies that create leverage to close gaps while delivering improved economics and/or operational performance to NTT.
• Able to document IT technical requirements and service level requirements where none exist and obtain alignment from stakeholders around these key parameters.
• Able to analyze current IT Agreements and assess alignment with end‑customer Agreements. Where misalignments exist, develop and implement strategies that improve alignment. Collaborate with internal stakeholders to garner support for such improvement initiatives.
• Strong ability to work across multiple accounts and delivery organizations globally to build aggregated demand forecasts for common hardware components and incorporate aggregated demand into negotiation strategies to increase buying power.
• Strong ability to analyze various asset acquisition practices and identify opportunities to reduce cost and/or risk by improving these practices where such opportunities exist. Further, partner with NTT account leadership and regional delivery leads to drive such cost reduction initiatives into the accounts.
• Must have strong verbal, presentation and written communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with Leadership within NTT and be able to influence business stakeholders on key strategic initiatives that involve challenging ‘Change Management’ elements.
• Solid knowledge in financial analysis, and able to communicate effectively with Finance organizations. This includes investment ROI analysis, lease vs. buy modeling, capital planning and justification, asset valuation analysis, make vs. buy modeling and ‘should cost’ analysis.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications.

Impact / Scope

• Regularly interacts and engages with senior executives internally and externally.

Complexity

• Work across multiple businesses, cross cultures and regions to meet business needs in a cost‑effective manner.