Global Category Manager
BASF · Shanghai
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- Job Description
- Global Category Manager
LOCATION
Shanghai, CHN
COMPANY
Surventis Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
JOB FIELD
Procurement
JOB TYPE
Permanent
JOB ID
145380
FLEXIBLE WORK OPTIONS
On-site
Welcome
If you're someone who inspires others, owns their impact and wants to elevate what they do, you'll fit right in. Until July 1, our business was part of BASF. As part of the current transition, all job listings and the application process are still hosted on the BASF platform and therefore fully presented in BASF branding.
Please do not be confused by this: All roles are positions at Surventis, and your application will be submitted to us. At Surventis, we go beyond the surface - in everything we do.
We put customers at the center, think one step ahead, and develop solutions that create real value and lasting partnerships. We inspire each other to think further, take ownership of our work, and constantly push to elevate what's possible. If you bring your full self, challenge the obvious answer, and want to grow with a team that means it - this is your place.
About the Role
The Global Category Manager for Merchandise Goods owns the global category strategy and value-delivery agenda while being based in Asia. The role defines category direction, leads strategic supplier relationships, governs complex negotiations, establishes portfolio and sourcing standards, and ensures a competitive, resilient, and sustainable supplier base across regions.
The GCM is accountable for translating business priorities into a multi-year category roadmap and for aligning execution through Global Category Buyers, General Buyers, Procurement Technical Managers, Procurement Operations, Product Management, Supply Chain, Commercial teams, Finance, and other business stakeholders.
Role boundary. This is a Global Category Manager role, not a General Buyer or operational purchasing role. The GCM owns category strategy, global supplier governance, negotiation direction, and value delivery. Regional and local execution is assigned through the integrated category team and relevant procurement operations.
How You Will Do It
- Global Category Strategy Ownership
- Develop, maintain, and periodically refresh the global Merchandise Goods category strategy and multi-year roadmap.
- Define category objectives, sourcing models, supplier architecture, regional execution priorities, value levers, risks, and implementation milestones.
- Integrate business requirements, market intelligence, supplier capabilities, demand patterns, product economics, and regional insights into category decisions.
- Provide clear direction, priorities, targets, and decision principles to Global Category Buyers and other execution teams.
- Spend, Demand, and Portfolio Governance
- Establish a reliable global fact base by supplier, product family, SKU, country, region, channel, and business.
- Lead demand and portfolio governance, including assortment rationalization, specification simplification, SKU reduction, approved product lists, and prevention of uncontrolled product proliferation.
- Define governance for delegated spend, local sourcing, supplier onboarding, material creation, catalogs, approvals, and exceptions.
- Partner with Product Management, Sales, Finance, and Supply Chain to balance customer requirements, commercial value, complexity, and sourcing feasibility.
- Strategic Supplier and Market Management
- Define supplier segmentation and the target supplier panel for the category.
- Build and manage executive relationships with strategic suppliers, distributors, and private-label partners.
- Establish supplier power maps, development plans, performance routines, and clearly defined improvement milestones.
- Monitor supplier competitiveness, financial health, innovation capability, capacity, service, quality, sustainability, and supply risk.
- Develop global and regional market intelligence covering cost drivers, industry trends, alternative suppliers, emerging technologies, and channel developments.
- Negotiation Governance and Leadership
- Define the annual negotiation agenda, targets, governance, team composition, and escalation approach for strategic and complex negotiations.
- Lead or personally participate in major global negotiations and support GCBs in regional negotiations.
- Ensure negotiation strategies use robust fact bases, demand bundling, cost models, competitive alternatives, and appropriate commercial tactics.
- Govern sourcing recommendations and supplier awards within delegated authority, ensuring consistency with the category strategy.
- Promote negotiation excellence through preparation standards, Negotiation Board governance, coaching, lessons learned, and best-practice sharing.
- Private-Label, White-Label, and Alternative Sourcing
- Define the global strategy for private-label and white-label products, including portfolio priorities and supplier-selection criteria.
- Identify best-cost-country and alternative-sourcing opportunities while considering quality, lead time, supply-chain reliability, regulatory requirements, and implementation feasibility.
- Coordinate with Product Management and technical stakeholders on product specifications, qualification pathways, branding, packaging, and commercialization requirements.
- Drive scalable sourcing models that reduce fragmentation and improve margins, competitiveness, and supply resilience.
- Value Creation and Financial Performance
- Own the category value-creation pipeline and deliver validated savings, cost avoidance, cash, working-capital, margin, and process-efficiency contributions.
- Prioritize initiatives across supplier consolidation, demand bundling, assortment optimization, specification harmonization, best-cost sourcing, private-label expansion, and commercial-term improvement.
- Validate financial benefits with Finance or Controlling and maintain transparent implementation and benefit tracking.
- Communicate category developm