Project Procurement Category Manager

Role Overview

• Serve as the primary representative of Procurement to AEP business units and implement sourcing strategies that optimize spend.
• Act as the main point of contact for project teams, strengthening partnerships, improving service levels, and driving key Supply Chain performance metrics.
• Oversee coordination between Project Procurement professionals and other Supply Chain teams and resources to support project delivery.
• Ensure adherence to AEP and regulatory standards, policies, and procedures across all project procurement activities.
• Collaborate with Project Procurement professionals and Supply Chain teams to fulfill all material and service requirements for assigned projects.
• Represent Supply Chain in project meetings, phase gate reviews, and other forums, ensuring clear communication and alignment.
• Lead escalation and resolution of project material issues, including developing corrective actions and recovery plans.
• Partner with project managers to develop procurement matrices and plans covering material supply, contracting, logistics, and expediting.
• Develop and manage comprehensive Project Procurement Execution Plans, including pricing, PO/MR tracking, order timelines, contractual need dates, and delivery expectations.
• Support project engineers, managers, and contractors in procuring goods and services in accordance with approved procurement plans.
• Monitor and report on all procurement planning activities, including material requisitions, supply tracking, shortage identification, and expediting.
• Assess and communicate quality, cost, and schedule impacts arising from Supply Chain activities; develop mitigation strategies to reduce project risk.
• Address escalated issues and ensure timely communication of resolutions to project and Supply Chain stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong relationships across AEP’s procurement organization.
• Develop and sustain collaborative networks with internal stakeholders and suppliers to support demand planning, forecasting, strategy development, and contract utilization.
• Lead cross-functional teams including technical subject matter experts and other stakeholders in the development and execution of sourcing strategies.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university required in Finance, Business, Economics, Engineering, or related disciplines.
• Ten (10) or more years of progressively responsible experience in project management, category management, strategic sourcing, purchasing, consulting, cost accounting, finance, or related PMP/SCM fields.
• Professional certifications such as PMP, SCMP, CPSM, or equivalent preferred.
• Exceptional communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills, with strong influencing and persuasion capabilities.
• Demonstrated innovation, initiative, leadership, and management experience.
• Ability to lead teams in a matrixed organization across geographical and functional reporting lines.
• Proven experience negotiating large, complex commercial agreements.
• Ability to apply market intelligence and insights to the project schedule.
• Strong understanding of the strategic sourcing process.
• Advanced negotiation and project management skills.
• Thorough knowledge of purchasing, accounts payable, work management, and financial systems; familiarity with AEP systems (e.g., SAP, Ariba) preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite including Excel (Pivot tables, VLOOKUP) is required; familiarity with visualization tools is preferred (Tableau, PowerBI, or SQL).

Tech Stack

• PMP
• SQL
• Tableau

Benefits

• Unique comprehensive benefits package that aims to support and enhance the overall well-being of our employees.