Category Manager - Capital Projects

Sourcing Must Haves

• Industry Background:

  • Chemical Manufacturing, Petrochemical, Oil & Gas Refineries (downstream)

  • Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) firms with petrochemical focus attractive

  • Pulp and Paper acceptable

  • Avoid upstream oil and gas, pure field-based construction procurement, turnaround-only buyers

• Experience & Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business Administration, Engineering or relevant discipline

  • 5 to 10+ years procurement experience

  • Minimum 3+ years capital projects procurement experience

  • Experience procuring major capital equipment packages

• Equipment Focus:

  • Fixed equipment: tanks, heat exchangers

  • Rotating equipment: compressors, pumps

  • Electrical equipment: transformers, switchgear

• Technical & Process Knowledge:

  • Familiarity with FEL stage gate or FEED processes

  • Strong mechanical aptitude, understanding of equipment applications and process conditions

  • Ability to structure technically sound RFP packages for million-dollar equipment

• Commercial & Behavioral Competencies:

  • Ability to influence and manage change within engineering teams

  • Commercial mindset with strong analytical and negotiation skills

  • Comfortable challenging engineers constructively

  • Proactive milestone and risk management

  • Ability to navigate ambiguity and influence without authority

• Project Scale:

  • Equipment packages typically $500k to $10m

  • Purchase lifecycle 6 months to 2 years

• ERP Experience:

  • JD Edwards preferred, SAP acceptable

  • Ability to extract and analyze spend data

• Leadership (Senior Role):

  • Prior people management experience

  • Managing capital procurement teams and delivering own cost savings

Sourcing Nice to Haves

• EPC experience supporting capital equipment procurement for petrochemical clients

• Experience with multi-year capital plans and forward commitments

• Regional proximity preferred (Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Houston acceptable)

Location Requirements

• Preference for Oklahoma City location

• Remote work possible with approximately 25% travel

• Cannot employ remote workers in California, Washington, New York

• Illinois limited by headcount restrictions

Other Preferences

• Candidate must be commercially assertive but relationship-driven

• Forward-thinking and proactive

• Avoid turnaround procurement buyers, transactional PO specialists, field-based coordinators

• Cultural fit includes ability to be a trusted commercial advisor to engineers, handle supplier corrective actions

• Interview process includes multiple stages with procurement leadership, project managers, and team fit conversations