Category Analyst
Category Analyst — Role SummaryThe Category Analyst supports Category Management by turning spend, supplier, market, and sourcing data into actionable insights used to build category strategies and monitor supplier performance.This is a highly analytical procurement/supply chain role. The ideal candidate should have a finance, engineering, economics, computer science, or technical/business background with strong data analysis skills.Key ResponsibilitiesThe person will be responsible for:Gathering and analyzing category spend dataPerforming spend analysis, including off-contract or non-compliant spendBuilding baselines from category dataConducting supply market analysis, including suppliers, benchmarks, indices, cost drivers, and market trendsCreating sourcing evaluation models and negotiation modelsBuilding total cost of ownership modelsDeveloping supplier scorecards, KPIs, service-level metrics, and monitoring toolsSupporting category strategy developmentMaintaining databases of potential suppliersSupporting current-state and future-state process documentationRequired / Strongly Preferred BackgroundIdeal candidate profile:3–5 years of experience in category management, procurement analytics, sourcing analysis, supply chain analytics, or data analysisEngineering, finance, economics, computer science, or business-related degreeStrong analytics and financial acumenExperience with tools such as:Power BITableauPythonSQLQlikViewAlteryxExperience extracting data from relational databasesRail industry experience is preferred, but not mandatoryProject management or supply chain certification is desirableSkills to Screen ForThe strongest candidates should be able to explain experience with:Spend analysisSupplier performance managementStrategic sourcingMarket analysisTotal cost of ownership modelingKPI / scorecard developmentRFI / RFP evaluation supportNegotiation modelingProcurement process supportData visualization and reporting