Senior Manager, Strategic Category Management

Do you want to work with high-caliber professionals in a dynamic and growing company? Are you entrepreneurial, hard-working, and collegial? Join us at SB Energy, a leading infrastructure company backed by SoftBank Group and Ares Infrastructure, pairing cutting-edge innovation with best-in-class execution. Our mission is to deliver reliable and secure data centre and power infrastructure to strengthen America’s future.

Founded in 2019, SB Energy develops, builds, owns, and operates some of the largest and most technically advanced energy and data centre infrastructure projects in the United States. Since its founding, the company has rapidly grown into a top-tier integrated platform with more than 3 gigawatts (GW) in operation and a multi-GW pipeline of energy and data centre infrastructure nationwide.

The Senior Strategic Category Manager drives the global end-to-end category strategy, strategic sourcing, and supplier development for hyper-scale data centre mechanical infrastructure. In this role, you will manage a multi-hundred-million-dollar annual spend across key thermal & mechanical cooling management systems, including Chillers, Cooling Towers & Dry Coolers, CRAC/ CRAH, Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling & Cooling Distribution units.

You will act as the primary commercial authority for critical thermal & mechanical cooling suppliers, aligning engineering roadmaps, securing manufacturing capacity, and establishing resilient, cost-optimized supply chains to support rapid global data centre deployment.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute multi-year category strategies for Thermal & Mechanical cooling infrastructure equipment including market analysis, supplier segmentation, and sourcing roadmaps aligned to data centre capacity growth.
• Lead competitive sourcing events, contract negotiations, and supplier selection processes for Thermal & Mechanical Cooling equipment categories.
• Assess and mitigate supply chain risks associated with categories, including geopolitical exposure, single-source dependencies, long-lead-time components, and commodity price volatility.
• Partner with data centre engineering, construction, and capacity planning teams to align sourcing strategies with technology roadmaps and infrastructure deployment schedules.
• Act as the day-to-day procurement lead for assigned equipment packages and the primary commercial contact for suppliers.
• Drive supplier development initiatives to qualify new sources of supply, expand geographic diversity, and improve supply chain resilience for critical power and cooling categories.

Qualifications/Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Business, or related technical discipline. Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in strategic sourcing, program management, category management, or procurement for thermal & cooling infrastructure equipment or related mechanical systems.
• Experience leading end-to-end sourcing processes including RFx development, supplier evaluation, commercial negotiation, and contract execution for capital equipment categories.
• Experience developing category strategies that incorporate market intelligence, total cost of ownership analysis, and supply risk assessment.
• Experience managing supplier relationships and driving measurable improvements in supplier performance across cost, quality, and delivery.
• Experience communicating complex sourcing strategies and supplier performance data to cross-functional teams and executive stakeholders.

Location: Redwood City, CA; San Diego, CA; Denver, CO; Phoenix, AZ; Austin, TX. Remote locations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Base Pay - $140,000 - $200,000. The pay range mentioned above is a guideline. We tailor each offer based on your unique skills, experience, location, and market benchmarks—while ensuring internal parity across our teams.

At SB Energy, we invest in our people and their families with benefits designed for flexibility, support, and peace of mind. Full-time employees enjoy:

• 100% Company-Paid Medical, Dental & Vision (for employees and dependents)
• 401(k) with Company Match
• Generous Paid Time Off + 11 Paid Holidays
• 12 Weeks Parental Leave
• Life, AD&D & Long-Term Disability Coverage
• Mental, Physical & Social Wellness Support (with company contributions)
• Flexible Work Arrangements & Hybrid Office Setup Benefits

SB Energy is built on a foundation of collaboration and inclusion. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.