Job Summary

The Category Manager role is responsible for building and leading Goosehead's Professional Services procurement category strategy. This role will establish foundational category management capabilities, including rate card governance, supplier segmentation, spend visibility, sourcing strategies, and performance management across consulting, staffing, legal, audit, tax, marketing, and other professional services spend.

Reporting to the Director of Procurement, this position will partner closely with business leaders to transform a largely decentralized spend environment into a structured, data-driven category with standardized commercial practices and measurable value creation. The ideal candidate combines strategic sourcing expertise with a builder mentality and has experience developing category programs, supplier governance frameworks, and pricing benchmarks from the ground up.

Required Skills and Abilities

Category Strategy & Development

• Build and maintain a comprehensive Professional Services category strategy.
• Create category roadmaps that align supplier strategies with organizational priorities.
• Establish sourcing and governance frameworks for professional services procurement.
• Develop category intelligence, benchmarking capabilities, and spend visibility reporting.
• Rate Card & Commercial Management
• Develop, implement, and maintain enterprise rate card standards and benchmarks.
• Standardize labor categories, role definitions, and pricing structures across suppliers.
• Evaluate supplier pricing against market benchmarks and internal utilization data.
• Negotiate enterprise rate cards, volume discounts, and commercial protections.
• Drive consistency across Statements of Work (SOWs), consulting agreements, and staffing engagements.

Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Management

• Lead complex sourcing events and competitive bid processes.
• Identify opportunities for supplier consolidation and strategic partnerships.
• Manage supplier relationships and facilitate executive business reviews.
• Develop supplier scorecards and performance measurement frameworks.
• Resolve supplier performance issues and drive continuous improvement initiatives.

Financial & Operational Management

• Analyze spend, utilization, and market data to identify savings and value creation opportunities.
• Track procurement savings, cost avoidance, and supplier performance metrics.
• Support budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning activities.
• Provide category insights and recommendations to executive leadership.

Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance, or a related field.
• +5 years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, category management, or vendor management.
• Demonstrated success building or transforming Professional Services procurement programs, including establishing rate card governance, supplier rationalization strategies, preferred supplier programs, and sourcing frameworks.
• Experience negotiating complex Statements of Work (SOWs), consulting agreements, staffing contracts, enterprise service agreements, and rate card structures.
• Proven track record delivering measurable savings, cost avoidance, and supplier performance improvements.
• Experience leveraging market intelligence and benchmarking data to establish pricing standards and negotiation strategies.
• Strong knowledge of contract management, supplier governance, and procurement best practices.
• Experience with procurement technologies such as Coupa, Oracle, Workday, or similar platforms.
• Professional certifications such as CPSM, CPM, CSCP, or equivalent are preferred.
• Experience within insurance, financial services, technology, or other highly regulated industries preferred.

Essential Job Functions

• Review and analyze supplier proposals, contracts, statements of work, and pricing models.
• Conduct negotiations with suppliers and service providers.
• Analyze spend, supplier performance, and market data.
• Present recommendations and business cases to executive leadership.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across departments and organizational levels.
• Lead supplier meetings, sourcing events, and business reviews.
• Manage multiple strategic initiatives simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.

Skills Required

• Deep expertise in strategic sourcing and category management for Professional Services.
• Strong understanding of consulting, staffing, legal, marketing, and advisory services procurement.
• Advanced negotiation skills with demonstrated success establishing rate cards and commercial frameworks.
• Experience building category management programs, governance models, and supplier management processes.
• Strong financial, analytical, and commercial acumen.
• Ability to assess complex pricing structures, labor models, and Statements of Work.
• Excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
• Strong contract review and commercial risk management capabilities.
• Experience developing supplier performance management programs and scorecards.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and spend analytics tools.
• Ability to influence decision-making across multiple business functions.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.