Merck KGaA Posted September 9, 2026

Category Manager & Global Sourcing Manager Site Services (all genders)

Weiterstadt, Hessen, Germany FULL_TIME
Procurement Manager
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Merck KGaA is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Work Your Magic with us!

Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.

Your role

As a Global Category Manager for Site Services, you will sit at the heart of a worldwide Technical Sourcing organization, shaping the procurement strategies that underpin some of the most significant capital and operational investments across a global science and technology enterprise. This is a high-

visibility, high-impact role for an experienced procurement professional who thrives on complexity, drives value at scale, and influences outcomes across organizational boundaries without relying on direct authority.

You will own and continuously evolve the global category strategy for Site Services – spanning Equipment and Components, Construction, and Energy – directly aligned to capital investment plans and long-term business priorities. Applying a spend entrepreneurship mindset, you will lead rigorous end-to-end sourcing programs: from market analysis, supplier segmentation, and total cost of ownership modeling through to contract conclusion and claim management.

You will build and govern a high-performing strategic supplier portfolio, establish structured supplier relationship management programs with clear key performance indicator frameworks and governance cadences, and ensure resilient, multi-region supply continuity. Acting as a trusted counterpart to

Manufacturing, Engineering, Operations, Finance, Legal, and Compliance stakeholders across all business sectors, you will coordinate virtual global category teams across the Americas, Europe, and Asia – generating cross- project synergies and delivering quantifiable, sustained value improvements with full transparency to senior leadership

Who you are

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Economics, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field; equivalent professional experience is equally valued.

• 8–12+ years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing and category management, with a strong track record in indirect, technical, or engineering-related procurement within complex, multinational environments – ideally in life sciences, healthcare, or electronics.

• Demonstrated expertise in developing and executing global category strategies, including capital expenditure and operational expenditure procurement, supplier relationship management, contract negotiations, and multi-region supplier governance.

• Exceptional analytical and commercial acumen: fluency in total cost of ownership modeling, spend analytics, should-cost analysis, and advanced negotiation strategies, with the ability to translate technical requirements into compelling procurement solutions.

• Outstanding stakeholder management and influencing skills; proven ability to lead without formal authority in a matrixed global organization and to present data-driven business cases to senior leadership.

• Solid understanding of compliance-intensive environments, including Good Manufacturing Practice standards and sustainable procurement practices aligned to environmental, social, and governance principles.

• Demonstrated ability to engage with artificial intelligence tools and concepts – including their practical applications, limitations, and ethical implications – to support informed, responsible decision-making in a procurement context.

• Business fluency in English is required; proficiency in German, French, Mandarin, or other languages is a distinct advantage.

What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe that this variety drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress!

Apply now and become a part of a team that is dedicated to Sparking Discovery and Elevating Humanity!

Job details

Seniority
Manager
Function
Procurement
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Weiterstadt, Hessen, Germany
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Procurement role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 127 comparable Manager Procurement roles across 31 biopharma companies.

127Comparable roles tracked
115Currently active
31Companies hiring similar roles
25Countries represented

Salary context

27 of 127 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Regional Procurement Associate · Merck KGaA $73,500/yr – $110,300/yr
Highest disclosed · Associate Director, Category Management · AbbVie $141,500/yr – $268,500/yr
Peer group range $91,900 – $205,000 (median $159,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 127 comparable roles

United States42
Spain10
Poland10
India8
United Kingdom8
Czech Republic7

+ 19 more countries

Seniority mix

127 of 127 peers have a known seniority level

Manager100
Associate Director19
Associate8

Therapeutic area mix

0 of 127 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

50%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Ingelheim, Germany Associate
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
45%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Renss, United States Manager
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Regeneron India Private Limited Hyderabad, India Manager
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
GlaxoSmithKline LLC Upper Providence, United States Manager
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
GlaxoSmithKline K.K. Akasaka, Japan Manager
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Sanofi-Aventis SA (Spain) Barcelona, Spain Manager
Same function Same seniority

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Procurement job in Germany, and choose locations and companies.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

50%
Associate Head of Global Category - API & CDMO (Ingelheim, Germany, Rheinland-Pfalz)
Boehringer Ingelheim · Ingelheim, Germany · Associate
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
45%
Senior Manager, R&D Procurement - Clinical Labs and Diagnostics
GlaxoSmithKline LLC · Upper Providence, United States · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Regional Category Manager, Commercial IT
Novartis · East Hanover, United States · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Procurement- Sr. Category Manager
Biogen · Cambridge, United States · Manager
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.