Category Manager R&D Services, Professional - Mechelen, BE or Leiden, NL

Pleased to meet you, we are Galapagos, a dynamic fast growing Biotech company with offices in Europe and the US.

We’re in the business of changing lives. In our quest to discover and develop life-improving medicines we go where no one has ever gone before. In every challenge we face, we see new opportunities. We pioneer for patients. We need thought leaders and rapid thinkers, entrepreneurs in spirit and status quo-fighters. Collaborative innovators and perseverant idealists. We need the best-in-class. In other words, we need you: The ‘make-it-happener’.

We are looking for a Category Manager R&D Services, Professional - Mechelen, BE or Leiden, NL

Scope of the job

The Procurement Team has embarked onto a transformational journey aimed to operate transversally and in an agile manner – breaking down silos and operating with flexibility to deliver strategic solutions that not only optimize our supply chains but also enhance operational efficiency and build strategic partnerships with our suppliers.
The Category Manager for R&D Services plays a pivotal role in the procurement team, responsible for developing comprehensive global category and sourcing strategies aligned with Business objectives encompassing strategy deployment, strategic supplier management and contract oversight. In this role, you’ll collaborate closely with internal stakeholders to understand their needs, and build strategies that maximize efficiency, achieve cost savings and deliver added value for the organization. This position requires a deep understanding of market dynamics, strong negotiation skills and the ability to foster relationships with internal stakeholders and suppliers that positively impact Business outcomes.
The spend in this category is well diversified and includes amongst others Discovery Research, Pre-Clinical Services and Clinical Development Services.

Your role
• Work cross-functionally with internal teams to manage projects and ensure their successful deployment across the organization.
• Cultivate strong relationships based on trust with your colleagues, business stakeholders and the suppliers in your portfolio.
• Influence how Procurement creates impact at GLPG through your business partnering skills.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives within the procurement function, including process enhancements, technology adoption, and cost reduction efforts.
• Focus yourself on added values activities to maximize your impact, drive innovation and contribute to the success and growth of the organization.
• Developing, improving, and deploying category strategies: aligning Business objectives and incorporating the organisation's goal into strategies with mid-term results in an end-to-end perspective
• Implementing Supplier Relationship Management and Governance with key stakeholders and strategic suppliers.
• Leveraging supplier relationships with long-term mutual values and being the main point of contact of the key suppliers for strategic discussions.

Actively managing the overall risk within your category and developing appropriate risk
mitigation strategies to ensure business continuity.
• Providing the business with the market trends, the competitive landscape and the dynamics around the supply markets enabling the development of sound procurement strategies and execution plans.
• Leading the sourcing/tendering process (RFx) for business-critical or complex projects and proactively follow-up and monitor the on-going projects.
• Leading the negotiation of the business and commercial terms of the contracts and demonstrating value for money.
• Leading and planning implementation of new/improved procurement process/way of working/approach, taking into account the environment and different stakeholders.
• Managing and coaching R&D services buyer, cultivating teamwork and excellence.

Who are you?
Minimum 6 years of experience in strategic Procurement roles and preferably with a background in the pharmaceutical industry.
• A good knowledge of the Discovery Research, Pre-Clinical Services and Clinical Development process and the ecosystem of partners supporting it - You may not have all, and still we would like to hear from you.
• Able to demonstrate strong business acumen and negotiation skills.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and can navigate self through periods of uncertainty or where a clear path forwards need to be built from scratch.
• Strong and effective decision-making capacity.
• Proven track record of building effective working relationships with both internal as well as external stakeholders as a trusted business partner.
• Strong ability to inspire, influence and lead through others: proactively engage, inform, align, and facilitate key decisions with stakeholders and with procurement team.
• Great communication skills - ability to think creatively, engage in effective communication and be a driver of change with internal stakeholders and suppliers.
• Strong analytical and quantitative modelling skills including the ability to structure, collect, analyse, and communicate insights based on data in an organized manner.
• Hands on in operational management & follow up.
• Fluent in English, Dutch is a plus.

What’s in it for you?

You will be part of a fast growing and amazing company. As ‘make-it-happener’ you will get all the support you need to make your job successful. At Galapagos we aim to recruit the best people, who stand out among their peers, with integrity and excellent interpersonal and organizational skills. Our employees are the strength behind Galapagos, a highly motivated team, eager to maintain Galapagos’ leading position and achieve breakthroughs in biopharmaceutical research. Galapagos offers a competitive remuneration package and a dynamic work environment.

We are Galapagos: together we can make it happen…!