Senior Specialist, Category Management - Travel - job 1 of 2

AbbVie's mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines and solutions that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people's lives across several key therapeutic areas – immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and eye care – and products and services in our Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Tik Tok.

Purpose
The Senior Specialist, Category Management - Employee Travel Program executes sub-category procurement strategy as part of the larger category management team, reporting up to Category Managers and Directors. This role contributes to the end-to-end procurement process including contracting and supplier relationship management, ensuring that activities comply with defined processes and in line with broader category strategy. The Senior Specialist also enables the execution of procurement projects and continuous improvement initiatives.

*This role will be onsite in the Northern Chicago suburbs and be hybrid (3 days a week in office).

Responsibilities

• Partner with Category Managers and Associate Directors to execute subcategory-specific procurement strategies within the Travel Category.
• Implement and monitor effectiveness of strategies for the travel category, ensuring alignment with overall business goals.
• Report on supplier process and operational health, informing Category Leaders to enable strategic decision-making, incorporating industry trends, emerging technologies, and market dynamics.
• Monitor initiatives to drive value with category suppliers, tracking cost savings and enhancing overall procurement value.
• Enable sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measures, working alongside suppliers to enhance sustainable and responsible sourcing practices.
• Execute Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) strategies, managing relationships with category suppliers and collaborating to enact creative and cutting-edge solutions that deliver on long-term business needs.
• Implement mitigation strategies to proactively manage procurement risk across the relevant category, maintaining process and policy compliance.
• Ensure effective project management from initiation to completion, collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver strategic category-related projects. Assist category leaders with opportunities for process optimization and efficiency gains, executing continuous improvement programs that achieve strategic objectives.
• Assist with the end-to-end procurement process from sourcing strategy to contract negotiation and execution, enabling negotiations with category suppliers and facilitating decisions by developing the required analysis and gathering relevant data.
• Develop own capabilities and accumulates category expertise in accordance with individual learning path. Actively enable team goals, ensuring performance targets and objectives are delivered successfully.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Mgmt or Travel/Meeting Management. In lieu of degree, equivalent, relevant years of experience may suffice.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in procurement, supply chain, or travel/meetings related management function. 
• Previous experience as a Travel Manager or in category management, contract negotiation, and supplier relationship management.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Power Platform).
• Fast learner comfortable navigating across a range of industries and sectors.
• High cross-functional collaboration abilities and teamwork skills, effectively navigating and coordinating diverse team dynamics.
• Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, facilitating empathetic interactions, effective communication, and robust relationship-building across a matrixed organization.
• Impactful executive functioning abilities and autonomous work ethic, maintaining efficient performance in challenging situations and building consensus in decision-making.

Key Stakeholders 
Business Leads, Business Partners, Category Leads, Procurement Leads/Managers, Procurement Strategy & Capabilities Office

Applicable only to applicants applying to a position in any location with pay disclosure requirements under state or local law: ​​

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• The compensation range described below is the range of possible base pay compensation that the Company believes in good faith it will pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. Individual compensation paid within this range will depend on many factors including geographic location, and we may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future.​​

• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off (vacation, holidays, sick), medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k) to eligible employees.​​

• This job is eligible to participate in our short-term incentive programs. ​​

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Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, incentive, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole and absolute discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, consistent with applicable law. 

AbbVie is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to operating with integrity, driving innovation, transforming lives and serving our community.  Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled. 

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