Category Manager, Software

We are building a dedicated Software category within Global Procurement's Tech Sourcing organization. The Category Manager - Software is a hands-on sourcing position who can manage and execute sourcing and category strategies for specific software categories.

In this role you will own day-to-day sourcing and supplier management across enterprise software deals. The portfolio includes enterprise operations, productivity, and collaboration tools, alongside the wider software estate. You will translate category plans into sourcing events, commercial analysis, contract execution, and measurable outcomes.

You will partner closely with business and technology stakeholders and Procurement colleagues to ensure we are extracting maximum value from supplier and reseller relationships, managing renewals, licensing, and consumption, and driving measurable business impact across a complex and fast-moving spend category.

This is an individual-contributor role where the impact will span globally across multiple regions, partnering with other software category managers to ensure one of our fastest-growing and most visible categories is managed optimally.

What you'll do

• Category Planning and Execution: work with the business stakeholders to support development of category planning and implementation of the software category strategy.
• Sourcing delivery: Plan and run end-to-end sourcing events (RFI, RFQ, and RFP) for enterprise software, prepare commercial evaluation models, negotiation strategies (commercial and contract), and award recommendations.
• Commercial management: Support negotiations on agreements; structure pricing, licensing, renewal mechanics, SLAs, and commercial terms in line with Procurement and Legal standards.
• Supplier performance: Monitor supplier delivery, service levels, support quality, and renewal risk; manage supplier escalation paths
• Stakeholder partnership: Act as a trusted Procurement partner to business operations, enterprise technology, and other stakeholder teams on software requirements, licensing, timelines, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Market and risk intelligence: Track licensing models, price inflation, vendor consolidation, and consumption trends; surface risks and opportunities to stakeholder teams.
• Process and compliance: Ensure software purchases follow Optiver Procurement policy and controls; maintain accurate records in sourcing and contract systems.
• Cross-regional coordination: Collaborate with Procurement colleagues to align global frameworks, regional exceptions, and consistent ways of working across geographies.
• Knowledge sharing: Contribute to category playbooks, should-cost models, and lessons learned from sourcing events to uplift team capability.

What you’ll get

You’ll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem-solvers. Motivated by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, collectively tackling some of the toughest challenges in the financial markets.

In addition, you’ll receive:

• The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 40 different countries
• Highly competitive compensation package including performance-based bonus structure
• 401(k) match up to 50%
• Comprehensive health, mental, dental, vision, disability, and life coverage
• 25 paid vacation days alongside market holidays
• Extensive office perks, including breakfast, lunch and snacks, regular social events, clubs, sports leagues and more

Who you are

• 5+ years of technology procurement or strategic sourcing experience, with substantive exposure to software categories (SaaS, enterprise applications, business operations systems, and productivity and collaboration tools).
• Demonstrated delivery of complex sourcing projects from intake through contract signature, including multi-supplier evaluations and executive-ready business cases.
• Experience supporting or leading software provider and/or reseller negotiations with measurable commercial outcomes.
• Working knowledge of software commercial dynamics (subscriptions, enterprise agreements, true-ups, consumption commitments, renewals, and license optimization).
• Proven ability to partner with business and technology stakeholders and finance on requirements and commercial decisions.
• Experience operating in a matrixed, global environment with multiple regions and stakeholders.
• Strong negotiation, analytical, and financial skills; ability to build and interpret TCO and should-cost analyses for software solutions.
• Proficiency in sourcing methodologies, contract structures, and commercial terms common in enterprise software.
• Clear communication - able to distil complex technical and commercial trade-offs for business and leadership audiences.
• Organization and prioritization in a fast-paced environment with competing demands and time-sensitive renewal and project needs.
• Familiarity with procurement systems and tooling and disciplined contract and spend data management.
• Collaborative mindset with integrity, attention to detail, and a continuous-improvement approach.
• Experience in trading, or other technology-intensive industries with demanding uptime, security, and data-protection requirements.
• Exposure to enterprise productivity suites, collaboration platforms, or business-operations application estates.
• Experience supporting software asset management, license optimization, or SaaS lifecycle programs in partnership with IT and business operations.

Who we are

At Optiver, our mission is to improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency and stabilizing the market no matter the conditions. With a focus on continuous improvement, we prioritize safeguarding the health and efficiency of the markets for all participants. As one of the largest market making institutions, we are a respected partner on 100+ exchanges across the globe.

Our differences are our edge. Optiver does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, or other legally protected characteristics.