EY - GDS Consulting - AI And DATA - Data Acquisition Category Manager

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Job Description

Role title: Data Acquisition Category Manager

About the AI Ready Data Function:

EY aspires to become the world’s most trusted AI-powered professional services firm, delivering transformative value to clients and employees. Leveraging its extensive data across finance, legal, HR, and core business operations, EY is uniquely positioned to accelerate its data strategy and unlock new opportunities for growth and protection of its business.

To achieve this vision, all Service Lines and global regions must collaborate on strategic priorities aligned with EY’s “All In” goal: safeguarding the current US$50B revenue base while generating the next US$50B. Central to this effort is advancing data management across its lifecycle to enhance existing services and create innovative offerings.

EY’s AI Ready Data Strategy, led by Applied Innovation and the Global Data Office, is the foundation for this transformation. The Data Office drives applied innovation by redefining how data is discovered, managed, utilized, and scaled. A key enabler is the development of an enterprise data platform supported by robust governance, unlocking the full potential of EY’s data assets to fuel innovation and deliver next-level client service.

The Data Acquisition team plays a critical role within this function, enabling EY to source, manage, and optimize strategic data needed to support global service lines, regions, and client engagements.

About the Delivery Team:

The Data Acquisition team consists of Category Managers, Inventory & Finance specialists, and work with colleagues in the wider Data Office and other teams such as Procurement. Together, the team delivers an integrated approach to sourcing and managing data across EY. Category Managers work directly with business stakeholders and collaborate with Procurement, GCO, Finance, Risk and other global functions to meet enterprise data needs efficiently and compliantly.

Position Summary:

The Data Acquisition Category Manager is responsible for managing one or more assigned data categories and Vendors relationships, ensuring the strategic sourcing, evaluation, commercial negotiation, lifecycle management, and performance monitoring of data vendors and products.

This role supports EY’s enterprise data strategy by ensuring that data acquisitions are aligned to:

• business needs,
• category specific insights,
• cost transparency,
• global governance standards, and
• long-term strategic value creation.

Category Managers combine business acumen, data product expertise, vendor knowledge, and commercial negotiation skill to enable trusted, scalable, cost-effective data solutions for the firm.

What We Look For

A successful Category Manager demonstrates curiosity, commercial acumen, and the ability to work constructively with stakeholders. You are comfortable navigating complexity and ambiguity, can build strong relationships across global teams, and proactively seek ways to enhance category performance and value. You bring disciplined execution, high integrity, and a commitment to learning and continuous improvement.

Essential Responsibilities of the Job:

In alignment with the Head of Data Acquisition enterprise sourcing strategy, this role will:

Category Strategy & Planning

• Develop and maintain category plans based on business demand, market insights, and EY’s data strategy.
• Identify emerging opportunities, risks, and trends that shape future category direction.
• Define priorities and usage needs across regions, service lines, and stakeholder groups.

Vendor & Product Management

• Manage assigned vendors across their lifecycle, including evaluation, onboarding, performance monitoring, and issue escalation.
• Lead negotiations and prepare for renewals, ensuring alignment with licensing, IP, privacy, and usage requirements.
• Maintain clear segmentation and scorecards to track vendor performance and product value.

Commercial & Financial Management

• Support budget planning and provide transparency on costs, category spend, and financial risks.
• Conduct category specific analyses such as TCO, ROI, and Cost information assessments.
• Partner with Procurement, Finance and Risk to optimize commercial terms and ensure compliance.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Gather and translate business requirements into clear data specifications.
• Match business use cases to the most appropriate data sources or products within your categories.
• Work collaboratively with functions (Service and Sub Service Lines including Super Region Management and stakeholders, Procurement, Finance, GCO, Risk) to ensure alignment and coordinated execution.

Delivery, Reporting & Governance

• Maintain accurate inventories of category related data assets, contracts, and obligations.
• Produce category specific reporting to support decision making and transparency.
• Ensure all sourcing activity adheres to EY data governance, licensing, and risk management standards.

Analytical/Decision Making Responsibilities:

• Apply sound judgment when evaluating data products, commercial options, and vendor proposals.
• Use usage insights, consumption patterns, and ROI data to inform renewal recommendations and prioritization.
• Make decisions that balance business value, cost efficiency, and governance obligations.

Knowledge and Skills Requirements:

• Experience in data management, data supply chains, vendor management or procurement in a global organization.
• An in-depth knowledge of the 3rd Party Data Marketplace providers and vendors such as LSEG, S&P, IDC, Gartner.
• Strong understanding of licensing models, IP and usage rights.
• Ability to analyse comparative strengths of data products and competitive landscapes.
• Skilled in negotiation, relationship management, and working across multi disciplinary teams.
• Proficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint; familiarity with Power BI preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with strong stakeholder facing presence.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or at least 5 years of relevant experience.
• Experience in procurement, supply chain, commercial negotiation, or data vendor ecosystems preferred.
• Consulting or cross functional project experience advantageous.
• Ability to translate business needs into clear data requirements.

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