Career Area:

Job Description:

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other.  We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Job Summary:

Leads the North America Procurement Contracting Center of Excellence team, overseeing contract execution, compliance, systems, reporting, and continuous improvement. Partners with Procurement, Business Units, Category Management, Suppliers, Legal, and other functions to standardize processes, mitigate risk, and improve service quality.

Responsibilities:

• Monitor metrics and contract requests, drive continuous improvement, standardize work, and mitigate risk.
• Improve compliance, purchase-order management related to contracting requests, and service cycle times.
• Align procurement processes and priorities across the organization.
• Lead operational execution, transactions, systems, data, reporting, and performance monitoring.

Educational Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• English Advanced
• Expertise in procurement, purchasing, supply chain, contracting, shared services, or procurement operations.
• Expertise leading teams, operations, and improvement initiatives.

Skills:

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop the North America procurement team.
• Set clear expectations for quality, responsiveness, and service.
• Establish performance goals aligned to regional and enterprise objectives.
• Build organizational capability through talent development, succession planning, and knowledge sharing.
• Promote a culture of inclusion, collaboration, engagement, accountability, continuous improvement, and ethical business conduct.

Procurement Operations Management

• Oversee purchase orders related to contracting requests, contract support, data, workflows, and issue resolution.
• Ensure compliance with policies, controls, and governance.
• Partner with sourcing, category, contracting, and business teams.
• Monitor operational risk and implement corrective actions.
• Ensure effective execution of requisition-to-purchase-order processes.
• Oversee contract approvals, purchase order compliance, and procurement governance.
• Monitor procurement metrics and business performance indicators.
• Identify process improvements that simplify operations and improve stakeholder experience.

Process Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Standardize and simplify North American procurement processes.
• Use metrics and analytics to identify improvements in quality, cycle time, customer experience, and efficiency.
• Support adoption of procurement tools, systems, and best practices.

Stakeholder & Customer Support

• Build strong relationships with procurement, business, legal, contracting, and functional partners.
• Resolve escalated operational and customer-support issues.
• Align services with business priorities and communication performance, risks, and opportunities.
• Provide guidance regarding procurement policies, sourcing strategies, and contracting decisions.
• Support major business initiatives and regional projects requiring procurement leadership.

Metrics & Governance

• Manage operational metrics, analytics, reporting, and performance reviews.
• Track service levels, workloads, cycle times, compliance, and quality.
• Maintain documentation and audit readiness and advise leaders on trends and business needs.

Success Measures

• Transaction quality, accuracy, compliance, and operational performance.
• Improved service levels, cycle times, and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Successful improvement initiatives and strong team engagement, development, and retention.

Top Candidates also have:

• Expert supporting procurement operations in a regional or global environment.
• Knowledge of procurement systems, contract management processes, supplier onboarding, and purchasing workflows.
• Expertise leading cross-functional improvement projects.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement expertise

Additional Information:

• Location: Santa Maria Office
• This position is five-day a week in-office model.
• Domestic and international travel up to 10%
• Valid Travel Visa and Passport
• Sponsorship for foreign candidates is not available.
• Relocation assistance is available for this position.
• Do not forget to include a resumé in English in your profile in Workday​.

Final details:

Please frequently check the email associated with your application, including the junk/spam folder, as this is the primary correspondence method. If you wish to know the status of your application – please use the candidate log-in on our career website as it will reflect any updates to your status.    

The Caterpillar Code of Conduct states that we will select, and place employees based on their qualifications for the job to be performed, without regard to race, religion, national origin, color, gender identity, sexual orientation, age or disability. In this company we do not request pregnancy tests, nor HIV tests as requirements for employment entry, permanence or promotion.

Posting Dates:

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply

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