Category Associate – Consulting

Overview

Category Associate in Takeda's Indirect Procurement team, supporting Consulting category strategy and execution through market and supplier insights, data-driven analysis, and delivery of procurement initiatives.

What you'll do

• Co-lead development and execution of the global Consulting category strategy, while independently owning assigned subcategories, initiatives and stakeholder relationships.
• Lead and support assigned category initiatives from opportunity identification through strategy development, sourcing, negotiation, implementation and value realization.
• Proactively identify opportunities across cost, innovation, risk, sustainability and operational performance through stakeholder engagement, spend analysis, supplier intelligence and market insights.
• Maintain a pipeline of initiatives and recommendations.
• Build and manage relationships with assigned global and regional stakeholders, translating business priorities into actionable procurement and category initiatives.
• Develop and deliver category updates, recommendations, supplier evaluations and business cases to Procurement and business stakeholders, including senior stakeholders as appropriate.
• Lead category, stakeholder and supplier meetings, including agendas, recommendations, decisions, actions and follow through.
• Lead assigned supplier selection, onboarding, segmentation, negotiations, governance, performance management, compliance and risk management activities.
• Drive day to day decisions and escalate material commercial, risk or strategic matters when appropriate.
• Collaborate with the Value Delivery Team, Takeda Business Solutions, Finance, Legal, regional Procurement teams and other cross-functional partners to ensure execution and realization of procurement value.

What you'll need

• Bachelor degree.
• 10-12+ years of experience in procurement, category management, strategic sourcing, supply chain, or a related business function.
• Understanding of category management, sourcing, supplier management, and procurement processes, with the ability to support category strategy execution.
• Experience supporting category activities, supplier evaluations, contract administration, and procurement project delivery.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret spend data, market intelligence, supplier information, and performance metrics to support business decisions.
• Solid commercial and financial acumen and understanding of procurement principles, including supplier negotiations, cost drivers, and value creation opportunities.
• Subject-matter expertise in Consulting related spend categories, or similar categories, in healthcare, biotech or pharmaceutical industry.
• Ability to conduct market research and develop insights on supplier markets, industry trends, and competitive dynamics.
• Strong stakeholder collaboration and communication skills, working effectively across procurement, business, finance, legal, and operational teams.
• Demonstrated learning agility and continuous improvement mindset.
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
• Proven project management skills, including planning, execution, stakeholder alignment, risk management, and delivery of strategic sourcing projects across multiple business functions.
• Experience working with ERP systems and procurement platforms such as SAP Ariba, Wave, or equivalent solutions.
• Fluent written and spoken English.
• Flexibility to participate in occasional meetings and presentations across global time zones, with primary collaboration aligned to India-based working hours.

Nice to have

• Relevant academic background.
• Interest in developing category expertise and leveraging digital, automation, and AI-enabled solutions.

Details

• Location: Bengaluru, India.
• Work mode: Hybrid.
• Employment type: Full time, regular employee.