Intuitive · 4 hours ago
Senior Category Manager
Sunnyvale, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$182K/yr - $261K/yr
10+ years expIntuitive is a global leader in robotic-assisted surgery and minimally invasive care, dedicated to transforming healthcare through innovative solutions. The Senior Category Manager will manage the supply chain of direct materials suppliers, develop category strategies, negotiate contracts, and lead cross-functional teams to optimize supply chain operations. This role requires collaboration with internal stakeholders and suppliers to ensure material availability and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
Health CareManufacturingMedical Device
Responsibilities
Manages supply chain of direct materials suppliers and parts (machined parts, castings and motion control components) to support business continuity and optimization, including sourcing, development of category strategy roadmaps, negotiating contracts, analyzing spend, creating inventory management strategies, gathering commodity intelligence, and managing supplier performance; may include limited management of purchase orders
Leads and executes strategies with cross-functional category team(s) to optimize supply chain across all manufacturing locations
Identifies and implements key Global Supply Chain initiatives
Develops and refines key business processes; champions and mentors team members in use of Sourcing processes; monitors industry and professional best practices
Provides cross-functional team leadership within metals category; leads cross-functional category team meetings
Collaborates with manager and cross-functional peers to create long-term supplier strategies and roadmaps. Engages with internal stakeholders to develop and influence category strategy that aligns with long-term business objectives, including capacity management, cost reduction targets, supplier performance improvement plans, inventory health targets and supply risk optimization
Co-leads direct procurement supplier selection process with collaboration from Supplier Engineering. Leverages knowledge of strategic sourcing practices to identify a core supply base able to offer lowest total cost of ownership and high-quality product while identifying value improvement opportunities
Leads alignment of production supplier requirements and sourcing strategies with those of new product development (NPI) for designated suppliers/categories to ensure uninterrupted material availability, alignment of risk, and cost goals with long term vision for the category / business
Prioritizes category team projects in collaboration with manager and ensures team goals and objectives are achieved
Leverages knowledge of commodity trends to propose and execute category strategies
Develops and presents category strategy reviews for metals category
Leads supplier scorecarding and supplier business reviews for assigned suppliers
Effectively identifies areas of improvement and sets internal and supplier targets to align with business objectives
Proactively collaborates with supply base and procurement team to understand and communicate demand changes and minimize excess inventory or material shortages
Leads continuous improvement efforts needed with suppliers and collaborates internally with cross-functional team to drive performance improvement projects
Effectively manages improvement projects and key milestones and presents progress to the internal and external stakeholders
Escalates issues with supplier executive leadership and drives resolution to achieve business objectives
Develops mitigation plans and programs for assigned suppliers and critical sub-tier suppliers; collaborates with manager and cross-functional peers to drive implementation
Leads capacity assessments for assigned suppliers and critical sub-tier suppliers; anticipates long-term risks and installs proactive mitigations
May serve as project manager for key supplier capacity or risk mitigation initiatives
Leverages problem solving skills and develops counter-measures to implement long-term solutions to identified problems
Establishes contractual agreements with suppliers and amendments to existing agreements
Negotiates long-term volume pricing, risk mitigation, and capacity agreements with key suppliers to support Intuitive’s volume growth
Reviews, administers, and manages long-term purchase order and delivery commitments to designated suppliers as necessary to support production and/or sales requirements within the business
Leads identification and implementation of cost reduction ideas to achieve year-over-year cost goals within metals category
Supports plant purchasing by leading negotiations with suppliers to adopt and implement lean sourcing principles to enable 100% material availability and optimization of on-hand inventory levels
Develops and Embraces continuous improvement techniques to drive toward attainment of key purchasing metrics (supplier on-time delivery, quality, risk management, inventory velocity, and cost reduction)
May lead change management/change order implementation for complex projects
Supports master data integrity for suppliers and parts
Mentors colleagues within the supply chain organization. Identifies process and training improvement opportunities and drives closure of identified gaps
Qualification
Required
Experience utilizing strategic sourcing principles, including six step sourcing process, category strategy development, and collaborative supplier management
Strong negotiation skills, proven track record of savings, and thorough understanding of key supplier agreement terms
Significant understanding of cost modeling, should-cost concepts and building blocks of product cost. Ability to apply cost modeling techniques in metals category to predict impact on product cost and develop mitigation strategies to improve total cost of ownership
Significant computer experience including MS Office products and ERP systems. Strong Excel skills
Proven track record of effective project management in a fast-paced manufacturing company. Ability to handle multiple tasks and projects successfully and adapt to changing priorities
Thorough knowledge of and experience working with kanban systems and other lean principles
Working knowledge of buying, material planning, master scheduling, and forecasting
Demonstrates concern for precision and thoroughness
Proven ability to consistently achieve stretch goals and objectives
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
BS degree or equivalent and 10+ years of supply chain experience in a regulated industry manufacturing environment
Preferred
Experience in the medical device industry preferred
SAP and Agile experience preferred
Experience managing Metals spend suppliers and/or technical expertise in this category preferred
Certifications: CPSM, CPIM, and/or PMP preferred
Company
Intuitive
Intuitive designs and manufactures robotic-assisted surgical systems.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Intuitive has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (339)
2024 (238)
2023 (181)
2022 (285)
2021 (145)
2020 (138)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$5MKey Investors
St. Cloud Capital
2003-04-30Post Ipo Equity
2000-06-23IPO
1996-01-01Seed· $5M
Leadership Team
Gillian Duncan
Senior Vice President, Professional Education & Program Services - Worldwide
Myriam Curet
Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer
Recent News
GlobeNewswire
2026-01-23
2026-01-23
Company data provided by crunchbase