Senior Category Manager - Research and Analytics Services

Job Description

Do you want to work on complex and pressing challenges—the kind that bring together curious, ambitious, and determined leaders who strive to become better every day? If this sounds like you, you’ve come to the right place. Your Impact You will lead the firm’s shift from traditional outsourced research to an AI-enabled delivery model. This role sits at the forefront of a firm-wide transformation, reimagining how external research and analytics are accessed, governed, and optimized. You will shape and drive the Outsourcing Category Strategy and Optimization, a core mandate focused not only on building a scalable, generative AI (gen AI) integrated delivery infrastructure, but also on delivering measurable spend reduction and vendor value capture. You will act as the strategic partner to Client Service Teams (CSTs), practices, and leadership, ensuring category direction is both forward-looking and grounded in business impact. You will join the External Capabilities & Insights (eC&I) team, a high-performing group managing a $300M+ portfolio of external resources that power the firm’s client service. As part of this team, you will serve as a strategic partner to the Global leaders of Client Capabilities Network (CCN) and eC&I, driving category management and leading strategic and operational excellence. eC&I functions as a Center of Excellence, providing Client Service Teams and practices with cutting-edge external capabilities. The team operates across three key pillars: (a) Client Service & Innovation Enablement – building an external ecosystem aligned with the firm’s strategy, (b) Risk Mitigation – managing third-party risks and governance, (c) Efficient Resource & Spend Management – driving adoption, cost optimization, and impact. The team delivers five critical service lines - Expert Network Services, Surveys, Data, Knowledge, and Business Research & Analytics Outsourcing - impacting over 98% of CSTs globally. It is deeply integrated with practices and boasts an exceptional global talent pool. We are seeking a high-performing leader to shape and drive the Outsourcing Category Strategy and spend optimization, a firm-wide transformation initiative to streamline external support workflows. This role is critical to operationalizing the firm’s outsourcing category strategy—delivering scalable infrastructure, disciplined vendor workflows, and gen AI-powered sourcing models across the enterprise. Category strategy and spend Optimization. This is the core mandate of the role, ensuring we deliver business impact at scale through a world-class outsourcing ecosystem. You will shape and execute a comprehensive category strategy for the outsourcing service line, ensuring strong alignment with gen AI strategy and client's/CST's needs. Acting as a thought partner to practices, CSTs, and senior leadership, you will influence how outsourced research and analytics is integrated into client service. Additionally, you will oversee capability deployment across diverse use cases, optimizing access, engagement, and impact. You will serve as the owner and orchestrator of a firm-wide shift in how outsourcing capabilities are requested, routed, and fulfilled. This includes leading the rollout of the platform, embedding taxonomy tagging and vendor gatekeeping logic, and coordinating the delivery of core Minimum Viable Product (MVP) features in partnership with Product, Legal, Tech, and the broader CCN team. A key part of this mandate is translating strategic direction into day-to-day decisions, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring forward momentum across a complex ecosystem. Success in this role will require deep engagement with power users, consulting teams, CCN leaders, and capability owners. You will be responsible for facilitating structured pilots, enabling user testing cycles, and managing field adoption of new workflows. This includes preparing the firm for the shift to a single, centralized outsourcing entry point and ensuring users are equipped with the right tools, playbooks, and training support. You will partner on tracking key category-level KPIs—such as vendor utilization, gen AI routing success, taxonomy compliance, and spend value capture. You will also help establish dashboards, audit logs, and end-of-engagement reporting routines to ensure the outsourcing model continuously evolves based on data and firm feedback. Your role will include establishing governance mechanisms and best practices in contracting, risk mitigation, and commercial models. Collaboration with finance and practices will be key to modernizing economic models and ensuring that resource investments are commercially viable and scalable. This role offers a unique opportunity to sit at the intersection of strategy, operations, and transformation—helping shape the next-generation outsourcing model for the firm. Ideal candidates will bring strong experience in cross-functional implementation, a structured problem-solving mindset, and a proven ability to operate with speed and clarity in high-ambiguity environments. Experience in vendor management, category strategy, or large-scale tooling rollouts is highly desirable. Above all, we’re looking for a driven, collaborative, and outcomes-oriented teammate ready to lead from the front. Your Growth You are someone who thrives in a high-performance environment, bringing a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle meaningful challenges that have a real impact. In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, we’ll provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities to help you quickly broaden your expertise, grow into a well-rounded professional, and contribute to work that truly makes a difference. When you join us, you will have: Continuous learning: Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey. A voice that matters: From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You’ll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes. Global community: With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm’s diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Exceptional benefits: In addition to a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, mental health, and vision coverage for you, your spouse/partner, and children. Your qualifications and skills 8+ years of experience in consulting, strategy, category management, or research/knowledge management. Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred. Deep understanding of the external capabilities landscape and strategic resource management. Experience partnering with senior leadership on strategic initiatives, operations, and execution. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a structured, data-driven approach to decision-making. Demonstrated ability to manage complex stakeholder landscapes, working across teams, functions, and geographies. Experience with outsourced service models, vendor management, and financial performance tracking is a plus. Deep entrepreneurial mindset, with the ability to execute at both strategic and operational levels. Excellent communication skills—able to distill complexity into clear, actionable insights for senior leaders.