Supply Chain Category Specialist

We are a forward-thinking electric utility powered by a diverse team of employees committed to making customers' lives brighter, the environment better and our communities stronger.

FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, FirstEnergy includes one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, and a regulated generating fleet with a total capacity of more than 3,500 megawatts.

This is for an open position with the FirstEnergy Service Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. [SC00]

The Supply Chain Category Specialist collaborates with key internal and external stakeholders to undertake and support complex sourcing initiatives to ensure delivery of category strategies.

FirstEnergy Supply Chain (SC) is expanding its team in the key categories of Information Technology, Human Resources, Consulting Services, Professional Services, Legal, Communications, Facilities, Real Estate, Engineering, Construction and Utility Vegetation Management as it undergoes a strategic transformation to further support our business partners. Supply Chain is implementing a new Source to Pay system with supplementary technology to digitally transform our sourcing and category management team. SC is investing in market intelligence software, supplier risk, spend analytics and clean sheeting to advance our strategic sourcing priorities.

This position is designated as "mobile" signifying that you will work at home from any location. The ability to work remotely within the United States may be available based on business need. This option is not available in the states of California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, or Washington at this time.

• Supporting the strategic category manager in achieving significant cost reductions in his/her categories
• Defining contracting optimization strategies that seek total cost of ownership and service level improvements
• Working directly with stakeholders (users and support areas) to develop optimization strategies and improvement execution plans
• Leveraging technology, analytics, and tools to collect and analyze supplier spend data to drive savings
• Analyzing supplier performance data and provide input to category sourcing strategy
• Developing strategic plans for contracting and improving managed categories
• Ensuring execution of strategies within user area
• Leading supplier selection and management
• Measuring and tracking performance of overlooked suppliers
• Developing knowledge and best practices in the categories within areas of responsibility
• Ensuring user satisfaction of the strategic sourcing process
• Keeping strategic manager informed about acquisition progress
• Planning and leading bidding processes in "owned" categories
• Coordinating with users' technical assessment of received proposals
• Negotiating contract conditions that are more favorable for FirstEnergy
• Tracking market dynamics of categories
• Defining cost benchmarks for categories under management
• Serving as subject matter expert (SME) on supply chain category strategies, programs, and/or processes.
• Leading and taking full ownership of assigned supply chain category.
• Providing technical training and education to peers and other departments

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, business administration, engineering or related discipline and minimum 4 years' related work experience is required.
• OR High School or equivalent and minimum 7 years' related work experience is required. Related work experience includes supply chain / sourcing work experience.
• Successful track record in a procurement organization
• Demonstrable pattern of success in leadership of procurement-based projects and programs
• Able to lead others on projects and in solving highly complex problems and situations
• Subject matter expert on procurement topics relevant to the responsibilities of this position
• Category strategies under management
• Strategic initiatives for category optimization
• Performance indicators defined and clear for teams, designed with the performance management analyst
• Implementation plans revised and approved by buyers
• Successful implementation of category improvements
• Ensure compliance with all policies and procedures

At FirstEnergy, employees are key to our success. We depend on their talents to meet the challenges of our changing business environment. We are committed to rewarding individual and team efforts through our total rewards philosophy which includes competitive pay plus incentive compensation, a company-sponsored pension plan, 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution, a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs, as well as skills development training with tuition reimbursement. Please visit our website at www.firstenergycorp.com to learn more about all of our employee rewards programs. FirstEnergy proudly supports workforce diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with a disability. No recruiters or agencies without a previously signed contract. Unable to sponsor or transfer H-1B visas at this time.

Safety is a core value for FirstEnergy and is essential to all of our business activities. We ensure employees have the tools, information, and processes to perform their duties in a manner that assures safety for themselves, their co-workers, our customers and the public. Our goals are to provide a safe work environment, to maintain an accident-free, injury-free workplace, and to promote and maintain public safety. To meet these goals, we dedicate ourselves to achieving world-class safety standards.

Exempt