Category Manager, External Workers

You'll work in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Darien, or Miramar and be a part of the External Worker Category team within McKinsey & Company's Optimize function whose vision is to enable colleagues and the firm to live our purpose confidently by creating leading solutions and experiences across our supplier ecosystem.

The External Worker category team plays a critical role in making responsible buying easy by ensuring we have a best in class end to end process for sourcing contingent labor through our preferred suppliers and increasing category adoption and compliance.

You will lead a critical portfolio managing hundreds of suppliers within the external worker and services procurement category.

Your performance will be evaluated based on key metrics such as innovation, financial impact, sustainability, risk management, and strategic growth. You will develop and implement long-term strategies for external worker category management, ensuring alignment with the firm's goals. You will drive innovation and efficiency by fostering high-impact relationships with suppliers. You will govern and manage third-party risks as it will be crucial to protect the firm, while embedding sustainable practices will promote responsible sourcing and long-term value creation.

You will recommend innovative solutions based on industry trends and key metrics and communicate the category vision and strategy to firm leaders. You will build and maintain strategic relationships with internal stakeholders and external parties will allow you to leverage best practices and industry knowledge. You will demonstrate a growth mindset as you will provide leadership and drive integration and collaboration within the team. You will develop talent through coaching and feedback.

* Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain management, or a related field; master's degree or professional certification is a plus
* 7+ years of experience in, procurement, with a contingent labor focus and category management experience
* Commanding knowledge of current and emerging contingent labor services, including negotiation SOW/contracts and rate cards
* Excellent people leadership skills - you are an outstanding people leader who attracts and develops a group of highly talented colleagues
* Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work across functions at all organizational levels
* Experience influencing senior leadership in a consensus-based culture, able to drive change, meet deadlines, and inspire confidence among senior leadership
* Ability to manage multiple points of view and perspectives towards syndicated solution; results oriented, highly equipped at delivering measurable outcomes and overcoming challenges
* Comfort with navigating ambiguous situations with thoughtfulness and pragmatism
* Strong problem solving, structuring, communications and client service capabilities
* An entrepreneurial, action and growth-oriented mindset
* Mastery of Excel and PowerPoint