Category Manager

Do you thrive on building relationships and driving process improvement? Do you want to help drive results in a rapidly growing company? Winnebago Outdoors is seeking a Category Manager to join our team. This role can be based in either Forest City, IA or Eden Prairie, MN. The Category Manager is a dynamic role that leads strategic sourcing initiatives across the Motorhome division supply chain as an individual contributor with heavy indirect leadership of projects and initiatives. The Category Manager will develop and implement sourcing strategies that optimize business partnerships and drive the required performance in cost, quality, service, and innovation. The Category Manager will create, and lead strategies related to cost reduction initiatives leveraging Enterprise spend, new and advanced product development, supply base optimization and rationalization, risk assessment and mitigation, and contract negotiations including master purchase agreements.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Develop, implement, and manage sourcing strategies for suppliers and/or categories to meet Business Unit objectives while supporting the Enterprise category plans
• Identify and drive implementation of strategic sourcing projects leveraging spend analytic, should cost modeling and ad hoc analysis tools to meet financial objectives
• Partnership with planning and procurement teams to ensure the optimization of working capital commitment to raw and semi-finished inventory levels
• Execute and facilitate supplier segmentation, Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) and performance reviews for all suppliers within category
• Develop, implement, and manage sourcing strategies for suppliers and/or categories to meet Motorhome objectives
• Identify supply base risk including market assessments, financial assessments, social responsibility, environment, ethics etc. and develop/implement mitigation plans
• Establish alternate sources of supply to enhance means of meeting business requirements and achieving supply base resiliency
• Develop and maintain knowledge of market conditions, trends, sources of supply and supplier capabilities for materials within assigned categories
• Negotiate and execute master purchase agreements for identified suppliers which includes interfacing with the appropriate areas such as enterprise sourcing, legal, engineering, product management, operations, quality, and senior leadership
• Lead sourcing and supplier selection process for New Product Development programs
• Facilitate and participate in supplier development initiatives including qualification and onboarding of new suppliers
• Participate in VA/VE, Kaizen and other similar initiatives
• Develop, maintain, and strengthen long-term supplier relationships
• Provide coaching and mentoring to partner departments and fellow sourcing and procurement team members

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain, Operations, Finance, Engineering, or related field. MBA/advanced degree a plus
• While the position is based in Forest City, IA at the Motorhome Plant, hybrid work schedules are possible for strong candidates
• 6+ years' experience with at least 2 years of experience in strategic sourcing or procurement preferred
• Experience leading strategic sourcing programs within a durable goods/manufacturing environment
• Strong collaborative leadership style with proven ability to drive change across multiple organizational levels, functions, locations, and "dotted lines"
• Ability to work in a complex matrix environment to create buy in and implement processes
• Strong analytical skills and multiple years of experience with Zycus or similar spend analytics software
• Able to interpret technical data such as specifications, drawings, and bills-of-material
• Preferred experience in New Product Development/Launch, or Product Lifecycle Management
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft applications
• This position will require travel to suppliers, other Winnebago Industries locations and conferences.