Category Manager, IT – Indirect

At Verint, we believe customer engagement is the core of every global brand. Our mission is to help organizations elevate Customer Experience (CX) and increase workforce productivity by delivering CX Automation. We hire innovators with the passion, creativity, and drive to answer constantly shifting market challenges and deliver impactful results for our customers. Our commitment to attracting and retaining a talented, diverse, and engaged team creates a collaborative environment that openly celebrates all cultures and affords personal and professional growth opportunities. Learn more at www.verint.com . Overview of Job Function: The Category Manager, IT – Indirect will be responsible for sourcing, negotiating and contract management for the company’s indirect IT spend, with a primary focus on SaaS and enterprise software and cloud services, as well as IT hardware, telecom and data network services, and IT professional services. This includes leading cross functional teams to determine and execute the category sourcing strategy, requirements, vendor candidates and supplier selection, and managing the SaaS and software contract lifecycle from intake and evaluation through negotiation and renewal. The Category Manager will be responsible for the supplier relationships and ensuring compliance of vendor engagements in accordance with the company’s procurement policies and procedures. Principal Duties and Essential Responsibilities: Demonstrate cross functional leadership, working closely with teams to identify opportunities, aggregate spend, and standardize SaaS and enterprise software, cloud, hardware, telecom and data network services, and IT services as required to leverage purchasing power and achieve results. Develop and coordinate assigned category specific plans and remain accountable for targets aligned with procurement objectives. Interface and persuade cross-functional teams, including senior leadership, to ensure seamless execution of category plans. Use current spend information/data and business knowledge to identify sourcing projects for individual subcategories and develop an overall cost reduction plan. Communicate, execute, and implement category initiatives. Lead complex, strategic sourcing projects and obtain cost savings through supplier negotiations, event driven activities and alternate sourcing. Manage the end-to-end SaaS and software procurement lifecycle, from intake, business case and requirements through vendor evaluation, negotiation, contracting and renewal, in partnership with IT, Information Security, Legal, Finance and business owners. Negotiate SaaS and software agreements, including subscription and consumption-based pricing models, multi-year commitments, renewal price caps, true-ups, auto-renewal and termination terms, license entitlements, data protection and security requirements, and service levels. Maintain a forward-looking renewal calendar for SaaS and software contracts and lead renewal strategy well ahead of notice dates to preserve negotiating leverage and avoid unplanned auto-renewals. Partner with IT and Finance to rationalize the SaaS and software portfolio by identifying duplicate applications, unused or underutilized licenses and unmanaged purchases, and right-sizing entitlements to drive cost savings and cost avoidance. Partner with IT and Finance to manage cloud commitments and spend (e.g., Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform), including enterprise agreements, committed-spend discounts and marketplace purchases. Coordinate with Information Security, Privacy and Legal to ensure third-party risk, security and data privacy due diligence is completed at vendor onboarding and renewal. Monitor current category market conditions, including vendor pricing and licensing model changes, to identify potential supply challenges and develop supply continuity plan. Manage all vendors as required including key suppliers with global and/or critical contracts. Respond and…

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