[Remote] Category Management Specialist VI - Marketing

February 24, 2026

Other Jobs To Apply

No other job posts for this day.

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Kaiser Permanente is seeking a highly strategic and influential Category Management Specialist VI to lead enterprise-level sourcing and category strategy for our Marketing portfolio. This principal-level role serves as an expert on Marketing-related spend and plays a critical role in advancing Kaiser Permanente's mission by ensuring that marketing investments deliver maximum value and operational impact.

Responsibilities

Promotes learning in others by communicating information and providing advice to drive projects forward; builds collaborative, cross-functional relationships.Solicits and acts on performance feedback; provides actionable feedback to others, including upward feedback to leadership; influences, mentors, and coaches team members. Practices self-leadership; creates, evaluates, and responds to the strengths and weaknesses of self and unit or team members. Leads the adaptation to competing demands and new responsibilities; adapts to and learns from change, challenges, and feedback. Fosters open dialogue amongst team members
Drives the execution of multiple work streams by identifying member and operational needs; translates business strategy into actionable business requirements; develops and updates new procedures and policies. Gains cross-functional support for objectives and priorities; determines and carries out processes and methodologies; solves highly complex issues; escalates and resolves issues as appropriate; sets standards and measures progress. Develops work plans to meet business priorities and deadlines; coordinates, obtains and distributes resources. Removes obstacles that impact performance; guides performance and develops contingency plans accordingly; influences the completion of project tasks by others
Serves as an expert and leads the development of category/spend strategies for all key categories by leveraging advanced expertise of the markets, suppliers and stakeholder needs; driving clear, informed decisions based upon a multi-year strategy; owning end-to-end delivery of business needs for categories under management; keeping current on external and internal influences that may impact the larger organization (e.g., Healthcare Reform, macroeconomic issues, etc.); and interacting with executive leadership to review and drive decisions
Builds and fosters long-term relationships with key internal clients and suppliers by building strong, collaborative relationships with internal clients across the business to gain buy-in and deliver value; demonstrating a deep understanding of client initiatives and short, medium, and long-term goals; partnering with suppliers to identify and pursue opportunities to drive improved quality and delivery performance; assuring alignment of initiatives and strategies with client expectations to drive value, innovation, service/supply resiliency, quality of care and governance; and partnering with key cross-functional stakeholders (e.g., Portfolio Leads, Sourcing, Procurement Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, etc.) to advance Category Management capabilities
Serves as a lead expert in the RFP process and/or supplier negotiations and facilitates contracting to deliver strategic value by leveraging advanced negotiation strategies, tactics, and processes in line with situational demands; leading contract negotiations in partnership with Legal; and leading the development and execution of RFPs to drive the strategic sourcing process
Leverages advanced analytics and insights to ensure data-driven decisions by analyzing category spend to understand price drivers and trends; applying cost and supply market analytics to create category strategies; and championing a digital mindset to adopt new technologies in the source to pay space
Drives the adoption of change practices with customers, suppliers and stakeholders throughout the implementation and/or modification of new or existing strategic programs (e.g., Source to Pay transformation, Category Management training programs, etc.)
Drives efforts to support KPs Sustainability and Environmental goals and serves as a lead advocate to further advance results in Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP)

Skills

Minimum four (4) years experience in a leadership role with or without direct reports
Bachelors degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Management Science, Business, Finance, Accounting, Contract Administration, Procurement or a directly related field and minimum nine (9) years experience in category management, strategic sourcing, or a directly related field. Additional equivalent work experience in a directly related field may be substituted for the degree requirement. Advanced degrees may be substituted for the work experience requirements
Master's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations, Management Science, Business, Finance, Accounting, Contract Administration, Procurement or a directly related field
Three (3) years of experience negotiating contracts for the procurement of goods and services

Company Overview

Kaiser Permanente is a health organization that offers disease prevention, mental healthcare, and chronic disease management services. It was founded in 1945, and is headquartered in Oakland, California, USA, with a workforce of 10001+ employees. Its website is https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org.

Back to blog

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...