Senior Category Manager – Contingent Workforce & Professional Services

Job description

As Senior Category Manager, you’ll shape our contingent workforce and professional services procurement strategy, negotiate high-value commercial agreements and build strategic vendor partnerships that keep our development pipeline moving across Australia and Asia. You’ll also help build a smarter, AI-enabled procurement function, using data, technology and new ways of working to drive better commercial outcomes. We welcome applications from across Australia, with a preference for candidates based in Melbourne or Sydney. What You’ll Do Category strategy: Develop and execute multi-year strategies for contingent labour (labour hire, temporary and fixed-term contractors, independent contractors) and professional services (engineering, technical, IT, legal, advisory and management consulting), aligned with NEXTDC’s growth, workforce strategy and capital program. Spend and market intelligence: Analyse category spend, demand drivers, rate benchmarks and supply-market dynamics across Australia and Asia to identify, quantify and prioritise savings, demand management and innovation opportunities. Strategic sourcing and negotiation: Lead end-to-end RFI, RFP and tender processes and high-value negotiations with labour hire providers, recruitment agencies, MSPs and consulting firms to secure the best total value, not just the lowest rate. Operating model: Design and lead the contingent workforce operating model, including preferred supplier panels, rate cards, margin and mark-up structures, and evaluation of MSP, VMS and direct sourcing options to consolidate spend and simplify the supplier base. Commercial frameworks: Develop commercial frameworks and procurement models with strategic third parties to support project execution and growth Compliance and risk: Own the category risk framework with People & Culture and Legal, embedding controls to prevent non-compliant engagements. Supplier performance: Manage strategic supplier relationships and performance through KPIs, scorecards, quarterly business reviews and improvement plans, resolving issues and disputes promptly and constructively. Stakeholder partnership: Work with Development, Engineering and Construction teams to ensure critical resourcing and expertise is secured and utilised efficiently across the company. Policy, process and technology: Develop and implement best-practice external talent engagement policies, processes and guidelines covering approvals, onboarding and offboarding, tenure limits, conversion and procure-to-pay, using procurement and workforce technology to improve control, speed and data quality. Value tracking and reporting: Define and report category performance metrics, including savings delivered, spend under management, compliance, rate variance, time-to-engage, tenure and supplier performance, to Procurement leadership and executives. AI-enabled procurement: Explore and adopt AI and automation throughout the category lifecycle, including spend analytics, market research, rate benchmarking, sourcing, contract review and supplier performance, sharing successful practices to build a best-in-class, AI-enabled procurement function. Regional expansion: Support NEXTDC’s growth across Asia by expanding supplier coverage and establishing compliant engagement models in new markets. Safety, sustainability and ethics: Embed NEXTDC’s safety, sustainability, diversity and ethical sourcing commitments into supplier selection and management, including opportunities for Indigenous and social enterprise suppliers. What You’ll Bring Category leadership: Proven ability to develop and deliver category strategies that generate measurable, sustained commercial value. Commercial acumen and negotiation: Expert negotiation skills with strong financial and analytical capabilities, including analysing rate cards, margins and total external workforce costs. Contingent workforce expertise: Knowledge of Australian workplace regulations relevant to contingent labour, including the Fair Work Act, labour hire licensing and modern slavery obligations. Influence and stakeholder management: Ability to influence and challenge senior leaders when needed, translating complex commercial and risk issues into clear recommendations. Contracting: Strong understanding of services contract structures and commercial terms, including MSAs, panel agreements and SOWs. Data and insight: Advanced spend analysis, Excel and BI skills, with the ability to turn data into actionable insights. Technology: Working knowledge of e-procurement, ERP and VMS platforms. AI curiosity and learning mindset: Eagerness to learn and apply AI tools in daily work and become an AI-enabled operator. Hands-on procurement AI experience is advantageous but not essential. Change leadership: Ability to drive adoption of new processes and ways of working in a fast-paced, high-growth environment. Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including concise, executive-ready papers and recommendations. Personal attributes: High ownership, resilience, curiosity and unquestionable integrity. Bachelor's degree in Business, Commerce, Supply Chain, Law, Human Resources or a related discipline. MCIPS qualification or working towards it is highly regarded. 5+ years of procurement or category management experience, including at least 3 years leading contingent labour and/or professional services categories in a large, complex organisation. Experience with similar labour arrangements in Asia will be highly valued. Proven track record of delivering significant savings and value across labour hire, contractor and consulting spend. Experience designing or transforming contingent workforce programs, including MSP/VMS, preferred supplier panels and SOW governance. Experience in data centres, critical infrastructure, construction, energy, telecommunications or technology is highly regarded. Experience operating across Asia-Pacific is desirable. Be part of a fast-growing, future-focused technology company Play a key role in supporting AI and digital infrastructure in Australia Thrive in a collaborative, inclusive, and values-driven culture Access career development and progression opportunities as we expand Our mission is to continue building a diverse and inclusive workforce which represents the communities in which we operate. Make NEXTDC your next move. At NEXTDC we are building the heart of Australia & Asia’s high-tech future. We design, build and operate world class, next generation data centres, using cutting edge, environmentally efficient infrastructure to service the specific requirements of local, international customers. NEXTDC is an exciting ASX 100-listed technology company, only 16 years young and operating 17 data centres across 7 major cities in Australia, with multiple international sites in development to support our customer’s digital infrastructure. At NEXTDC our success depends on the talents of our people, and we foster a culture of continued learning and development. Our culture is built on collaboration and innovation, we are passionate about what we do, and we are committed to our mission to be the leading customer-centric data centre services company. Where Cloud lives and AI thrives