Category Manager - Telecom, GPO Tech Category

At Amazon, we're working to be the most customer-centric company on earth. To get there, we need exceptionally talented, bright, and driven people. If you'd like to help us reinvent how a global organization buys the telecom products and services that power its operations, this is your chance to make history.

We are seeking a Telecom Category Manager to strategically source telecom products and services across the US and Latin America on behalf of the Global Procurement Organization (GPO). This role sets category strategy, leads cross-functional sourcing teams, negotiates with the region's most important telecom suppliers, and partners with our most senior stakeholders to advance the full set of GPO strategic imperatives: delivering savings, mitigating risk, and improving productivity, while also expanding managed spend coverage, creating value across the supply chain, driving commercial excellence and compliance, unlocking supplier innovation, and pursuing optimization and standardization at scale. This leader will also be expected to modernize the telecom procurement process itself, using AI and automation to make sourcing faster, smarter, and more scalable.

Key job responsibilities
Category strategy & sourcing
* Establish category sourcing strategies for telecom across the US and Latin America; lead cross-functional strategic sourcing teams, negotiate with suppliers, and execute contracts to optimize Amazon's competitive position.
* Provide guidance on the development, execution, and management of category sourcing strategies for telecom purchases across the region.
* Identify, achieve, and report on savings and value targets for all category sourcing activities.

Stakeholder & supplier management
* Drive appropriate relationships with category suppliers, with the principal objective of achieving the optimal solution and total cost of ownership that meets the business's goals, supported by a culture of continuous improvement with performance benchmarks in use.
* Manage category suppliers to proactively identify, monitor, and optimize opportunities.
* Drive category suppliers in Supplier Relationship Management activities to mitigate risk, improve performance, and add value to Amazon.
* Lead the negotiation and implementation of supplier agreements/contracts, working with cross-functional stakeholders and suppliers to reach agreement on terms and conditions.
* Align with internal customers and deeply understand the business application of the telecom category.

Market intelligence & influence
* Act as a market intelligence provider for the telecom category; anticipate strategic opportunities and keep key stakeholders informed on market shifts, carrier and pricing model changes, and emerging suppliers.
* Help develop long-term department strategies and significantly influence cross-company project development, delivery processes, and standards.

Driving efficiency through AI & automation
* Reimagine the telecom procurement process end-to-end using AI, identifying high-friction, manual, or repetitive steps (intake, supplier research, invoice and inventory validation, contract review, renewal tracking, spend analysis) and deploying AI/automation to eliminate them.
* Use AI-driven tools to accelerate market and supplier intelligence, benchmark carrier and circuit pricing, surface consolidation and rationalization opportunities, and flag renewal and compliance risk earlier.
* Build repeatable, data-driven playbooks and standardized workflows that scale telecom sourcing across the US and Latin America with less manual effort.
* Partner with internal tech, finance, and procurement operations teams to pilot and adopt AI capabilities, measure their impact, and champion adoption across the broader GPO organization.
* Establish metrics that quantify efficiency gains (cycle-time reduction, hours saved, coverage expanded) and report on them as a core deliverable of the role.

A day in the life
A Telecom Category Manager in GPO owns telecom sourcing across the US and Latin America, blending category strategy, supplier negotiation, and process reinvention into each day. Mornings start with data: reviewing refreshed spend across the region, renewal timelines, carrier contract milestones, and savings tracking rolling up to GPO targets, often with AI-generated summaries flagging pricing changes, invoice or inventory discrepancies, and consolidation opportunities. The core work spans preparing for and leading complex negotiations with carriers and connectivity providers, running cross-functional sourcing teams with finance, legal, and procurement operations, and partnering with senior stakeholders to steer buying decisions toward optimal total cost of ownership rather than duplicate or under-optimized spend. A defining thread is working on the process, not just in it: piloting AI workflows to automate manual steps like intake triage and invoice validation, measuring the efficiency gains, and championing adoption across the broader GPO team. The day closes by updating savings and value tracking, quantifying automation impact, and aligning senior stakeholders against the full set of GPO strategic imperatives, before scanning ahead for the next carrier negotiation milestone and the next step worth automating.

About the team
The GPO Tech Category Team is Amazon's strategic technology procurement organization within the Global Procurement Organization, responsible for sourcing the technology goods and services that power Worldwide Operations. Applying rigorous category management, the team takes end-to-end ownership of its spend domains, from demand planning and sourcing strategy through negotiation, award, contract management, and supplier relationship management. Its work is anchored in creating value across the supply chain, delivering commercial excellence and compliance, and driving optimization and standardization at scale, while partnering closely with senior stakeholders across the business to align sourcing decisions with organizational priorities and the full set of GPO strategic imperatives.

Basic Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree
- Knowledge of Excel (Pivot Tables, VLookUps) at an advanced level and SQL
- 3+ years of relevant strategic sourcing and category management in indirect categories such as professional services, support or maintenance spend, supply chain, forecasting, manufacturing, sourcing/procurement, or vendor management experience
- 3+ years of defining and implementing process improvement initiatives using data and metrics experience
- Experience in stakeholder management, dealing with multiple stakeholders at varied levels of the organization
- Experience defining program requirements and using data and metrics to determine improvements
- 3+ years of working cross functionally with tech and non-tech teams experience

Preferred Qualifications

- 3+ years of driving end to end delivery, and communicating results to senior leadership experience
- 3+ years of driving process improvements experience
- Experience building processes, project management, and schedules

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, TN, Nashville - 77,200.00 - 115,800.00 USD annually
USA, TX, Houston - 85,800.00 - 128,600.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Arlington - 85,800.00 - 128,600.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Bellevue - 85,800.00 - 128,600.00 USD annually