Category Associate – Meetings, Conferences & Events

Overview

Category Associate for Meetings, Conferences and Events within Takeda's Indirect Procurement team, supporting 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 execute the global Meetings, Conferences and Events category strategy, independently owning assigned subcategories, initiatives and stakeholder relationships.
• Lead 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 in line with category strategies and procurement standards.
• Operate with a high degree of independence within approved category strategies and governance, driving day-to-day decisions and escalating 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 Meetings, Conferences and Events 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, with interest in developing category expertise and leveraging digital, automation and AI-enabled solutions.
• 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 to support sourcing, pipeline management and supplier engagement.
• 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.

Details

• Location: IND - Bengaluru.
• Work mode: Hybrid.
• Employee worker type, regular, full time.