Category Manager – Aerospace Category, CSE (Combat Support Equipment) Market

ADS, Inc. began more than 20 years ago by outfitting Navy SEALS with quality dive equipment, and today we're proud to manage 3,000 supplier partnerships and over 50,000 products.

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Job Title: Category Manager – Aerospace

Location: ADS Headquarters (Virginia Beach, VA)

ADS, Inc. is seeking a self-starter to lead and own revenue generation for our CSE AEROSPACE Category. This role requires a team player that is responsible for sustainable growth within the CSE AEROSPACE Category across all ADS sales channels. An effective Category Manager understands and can articulate ADS' niche in the marketplace, the industrial base partnerships required to be successful and convert that understanding into an effective go-to-market strategy that increases revenue, value to the supplier base and internal customer base. The right candidate will deliver value through strategic planning, effective negotiations, delivering impactful capability briefs, and general sales execution. The Category Manager will build strong partnerships with external/internal stakeholders to identify new opportunities, negotiate cost savings and return profits on time invested. Vast competencies and knowledge in contract development, including key contracting principles, standard terms, and a strong grasp on industry trends and standards will be expected.

Responsibilities:

• • Negotiate terms with new and existing suppliers to maximize overall margin
  • Identify new vendors and assess viability for partnerships
  • Travel to new vendor facilities to assess capability and products and to best understand where ADS can add value
  • Travel to applicable industry trade shows and ADS sponsored events
  • Maintain deep relationships with existing vendor community - continually reinforce ADS value proposition
  • Understand competitive landscape for category, both customer facing and vendor facing
  • Develop a strong understanding of territory and white space for targeted growth by conducting ride-alongs, sales planning with internal associates, post order follow-ups, etc.
  • Create and execute sales initiatives that bring value and margin to ADS Sales reps and vendors
  • Develop & present annual plan for suppliers and sales
  • Assess this plan quarterly and adjust as needed
  • Develop long term plan for Category growth
  • Engaging in deal strategy & negotiations
  • Actively logging all sales activity using internal CRM
  • Deep understanding of existing contracts available in your category and exploration to gain additional applicable contracts avenues for acquisition
  • Support capture efforts for new contracts
  • May have direct report of Supplier Account Manager(s)
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Performance Standards: Your success as a Category Manager will be measured by customer and supplier satisfaction, attitude, work ethic, hitting your assigned category indirect margin goal, team engagement, and overall sales growth.

Requirements:

• • 5 years’ experience with US Government contracting and acquisition
  • 2 years’ successful experience in business development and/or program management
  • 3 years’ experience in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word must be highly proficient
  • 3 years’ experience in applicable industries
  • Must demonstrate drive and ability to solve problems independently, without prompting
  • Must be hungry to create opportunities and find new business
  • Must possess strong and fearless negotiations skills while still managing relationships with finesse
  • (ADS experience may be substituted for any of the above at the manager's discretion)
  • Extensive travel required (50% or 2 ( /-) weeks of every month)

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience selling to the military or government highly preferred
• Prior Aerospace experience strongly preferred
• Prior Salesforce or other CRM software experience
• Understanding of government contracts, defense procurement and relevant purchasing methods desired

ADS believes that a diverse work environment leads to bigger thinking and more creative solutions to our customers problems and we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or gender identification, national origin or any other legally protected characteristic. We strive to represent our community with a workforce diverse in gender and ethnicity. We actively seek out veterans and the disabled for opportunities at ADS.

Please note: ADS may be subject to mandatory employment-related COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Therefore, to the extent any such mandates apply, covered employees may be required to provide adequate documentation of full vaccination against COVID-19, unless otherwise qualified for legal medical or religious accommodation.