Sr. Category Manager - Sterilization & Specialty Materials

A Day in the Life

Join our Global Supply Management team as a Sr. Category Manager – Sterilization & Specialty Materials, where you will utilize your strong track record of delivering results in a matrixed organization, where collaboration with diverse individuals, teams, and skill sets is essential for success.

As the Sr. Category Manager – Sterilization & Specialty Materials, you will take charge of developing and executing global category strategies for Medtronic's sterilization spend, with primary focus on EO, Gamma, and Radiation (e-beam) sterilization modalities, while also owning assigned specialty material subcategories.

In this role, you'll dive deep into managing a highly regulated, capacity-constrained, and strategically critical category that directly impacts product availability, patient safety, regulatory compliance, and business continuity. The Sr. Category Manager will lead commercial strategy, supplier engagement, and cross-functional alignment across all sterilization technologies used within Medtronic's global manufacturing network, and will help advance category management performance by driving KPIs across specialty materials.

You will look beyond immediate suppliers, assessing multiple tiers of the supply chain to maximize leverage, ensure compliance, and safeguard supply continuity, while also playing a key role in Make vs Buy decision-making by partnering with Operations, Quality, Regulatory, Engineering, and Supply Network teams.

At Medtronic, we bring bold ideas forward with speed and decisiveness to put patients first in everything we do. In-person exchanges are invaluable to our work. We're working a minimum of 4 days a week onsite as part of our commitment to fostering a culture of professional growth and cross-functional collaboration as we work together to engineer the extraordinary.

Responsibilities

As a Sr. Category Manager – Sterilization & Specialty Materials, you will play a pivotal role in shaping our supply management strategy for our sterilization spend. This is a high-impact position where you'll drive innovation, optimize costs, and ensure best-in-class supplier relationships. You will also be responsible for specialty material subcategories and for driving category management KPIs across specialty materials. You will:

• Own and execute category strategies: Develop and execute global category strategies across Sterilization Services (EO, Gamma, and Radiation sterilization) and assigned specialty material subcategories, aligned with business growth, network strategy, regulatory requirements, and KPI targets.
• Negotiate & optimize contracts: Lead commercial negotiations, contract renewals, pricing actions, and capacity commitments across sterilization modalities and applicable specialty material subcategories to deliver cost optimization (savings), improve contract coverage, and protect service levels.
• Drive KPI performance management: Monitor supplier cost drivers (e.g., regulatory burden, energy inputs, utilization, demand volatility) and lead corrective actions across sterilization and specialty materials to improve supplier performance, reduce risk, and strengthen business continuity for high-revenue and high-risk product portfolios.
• Lead market, capacity & supply analysis: Leverage demand, utilization, and capacity insights (and relevant market intelligence) across sterilization and specialty materials to inform sourcing decisions, anticipate constraints, and maintain KPI operating cadence (forecast accuracy, capacity assurance, and risk posture).
• Support quality, compliance & change initiatives: Partner with Manufacturing, SQE, Regulatory, Network Strategy, Logistics, and Operating Units to support product launches, validations/qualifications, and ongoing compliance for sterilization services and applicable specialty material subcategories.

Must Have: Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in Category Management, Strategic Sourcing, or Supply Management, or an advanced degree with a minimum of 5 years of relevant category management experience

Nice to Have

• Experience with EO, Gamma, or Radiation sterilization, medical device manufacturing, or regulated industries.
• Familiarity with sterilization validations, capacity planning, and supplier risk management.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills.
• Experience partnering with Quality, Regulatory, and Manufacturing organizations.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, organization, and project management skills; strong presentation abilities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Excel, analytics tools, and SAP.
• Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally to vendor sites.
• For Baccalaureate degrees earned outside of the United States, a degree that satisfies the requirements of 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(A) is required.

Physical Job Requirements

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this position, but they are not an exhaustive list of all the required responsibilities and skills of this position.

The physical demands described within the Responsibilities section of this job description are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. For Office Roles: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to be independently mobile. The employee is also required to interact with a computer, and communicate with peers and co-workers. Contact your manager or local HR to understand the Work Conditions and Physical requirements that may be specific to each role.

U.S. Work Authorization & Sponsorship

At Medtronic, we are committed to fostering an environment where employees can thrive and make a meaningful impact. In alignment with our enterprise-wide workforce planning approach, U.S. work authorization sponsorship (H-1B, TN, J, etc.) is offered exclusively for Principal-level roles and above, where specialized expertise aligns with long-term business needs. Roles below the Principal level require candidates to possess unrestricted U.S. work authorization at the time of hire and for the duration of employment.

Join us in our mission to alleviate pain, restore health, and extend life—where your unique background and perspective are valued.