Category Manager – Maintenance & Services

Job description

Category Manager – Maintenance & Services with French Location: Paris, France Industry: Manufacturing / CPG / FMCG

Role Overview

The MRO Category Lead will bring deep subject matter expertise and is seen as thought leader in the Category Management of the MRO Category. This individual will have the capability to conceive, initiate, develop, communicate, and manage the execution of an MRO category strategy in the FMCG/CPG/Manufacturing domain . They will need to demonstrate and display history of development and implementation of an MRO Category Strategy with multiple strategic initiative delivering quantifiable benefits.

Additionally, the MRO Category Lead will have extensive experience in business stakeholder engagement and a consultative approach to drive transformation of the MRO category in a client environment.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Governance

• Set overarching category and sourcing strategy for the engagement, ensuring alignment between strategy and delivery
• Lead, direct, and develop regional delivery team (category managers, sourcing specialists, buyers), setting priorities and removing blockers
• Establish governance cadences, escalation paths, and steering forums to keep engagement on track and stakeholders aligned

Category Strategy & Spend Management

• Develop and execute category strategies for MRO aligned with business and operational goals
• Drive category plan alignment across the regions ensuring seamless integration of category-led, proactive-regional, local or reactive (eg contract renewals) events
• Manage end-to-end category lifecycle, including spend analysis, and total cost of ownership (TCO) optimization, working in close proximity with the client and cooperation with the CAPEX category manager
• Identify opportunities for consolidation, standardization, and preferred supplier programs across sites
• Negotiate commercial terms, pricing models, service levels (SLAs), and master service agreements (MSAs)
• Help regional buyers drive sourcing projects
• Drive continuous improvement, cost reduction, and cost avoidance initiatives with services suppliers

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Serve as the senior point of contact and strategic business partner to the client, building trust and managing expectations at leadership level
• Represent delivery status, risks, and value creation to client executives and internal leadership

Financial & Value Delivery

• Deliver and report annual cost savings, cost avoidance, and value creation metrics Leverage should-cost models, rate benchmarking, and market analytics Qualifications Approximately 8-10 years’ experience in handling category management activities in the MRO space Business or Engineering school graduate is a must, dual degree is a plus Professional certification (CPSM, CPSD, CIPS, PMP) preferred Exposure in drafting category strategy, sourcing planning, business case creation, sourcing execution and contract closure Good client facing & client management skills
• Demonstrated experience with maintenance and services procurement in multiple geographies Experience working with global, regional and local suppliers at different levels, within multiple geographies Very good communication skills Soft

Skills & Competencies

Strong customer‑centric mindset (client‑facing experience preferred), creating proximity Transformation mindset with ability to identify improvement opportunities Highly organized, proactive, and goal‑oriented High integrity, attention to detail, and strong prioritization skills