Software Category Manager

Summary Description: Syntiant Corp., a leader in the high-growth AI software and semiconductor solutions space, is looking for an experienced and talented Category Manager to take on a critical role with expansive responsibilities to enhance the Operations function in a growing organization. The Category Manager will be responsible for owning the strategic relationships with suppliers to ensure long-term partnership and alignment with business objectives. In this role, the position will conduct structured quarterly business reviews with key suppliers to evaluate performance, address challenges, and align on future strategies. Additionally, this position will play a key role in negotiating long-term contracts and supply agreements with key suppliers. The Category Manager will also collaborate with business stakeholders to understand requirements, budgets, and current gaps and challenges to develop the best sourcing strategies. Specific Duties and Responsibilities: Understanding needs and requirements of internal stakeholders on current and future spend for the assigned categories. Proactively seek value-creating opportunities across spend categories. Lead contract negotiations and institute a complete strategy to approach renewal. Deep market knowledge on software contracting trends. Analyze industry dynamics, sourcing trends and internal data to recommend sourcing initiatives Develop deep knowledge of the EDA relevant to Syntiant’s design and manufacturing flow and understand the strengths and weaknesses of suppliers’ products and services. Stay Ahead of the Curve: Continuously monitor IT market trends and sourcing best practices to keep our strategies fresh, forward-looking, and future-ready. Manage regional supplier relationships with travel partners, such as agencies, airlines, hotels, and car service companies. Collaborate across legal, finance, and IT to support end-to-end procurement processes Perform other job duties as assigned to meet business needs. Requirements Qualifications, Education, and Experience Required: BA/BS degree is required. Preference: 5-9 years’ experience in Strategic Sourcing. Able to synthesize and present complex matters and data analysis in executive presentation views with insightful commentary. Familiarity with OBIEE reporting and spend analysis. Working knowledge of Oracle is required. High attention to detail and the exercise of sound judgment and decision-making. Has exceptional written and verbal communications, time management and interpersonal skills. Experience in roles such as Electronic Design Automation, Wafer Fab Manufacturing, or Category Supplier/Sourcing Management in IP/EDA/ERP category is a plus. Benefits Benefits Summary: Medical: Several plan options including PPO and HSA-compatible plans from Anthem Blue Cross, most of which are 100% paid by Syntiant Corp. for you and your family.  Dental: Company-paid dental PPO coverage from MetLife, including coverage for Orthodontia.  Vision: Company-paid vision PPO coverage from MetLife / VSP.  Life Insurance / AD&D: Company-paid basic Life / AD&D coverage in the amount of 3x your salary (up to $1,000,000). Additional supplemental life insurance with low group rates is available for yourself and your family.  Disability Coverage: Company-paid Short Term and Long-Term Disability coverage provides up to 60% income replacement protection.  Spending and Savings Accounts: Flexible Spending Account (FSA) benefits for Health Care and Dependent Care. Health Savings Accounts (HSA) for those enrolled in a qualified Medical plan.  401K Retirement Plan: Administered by Empower, the 401(k) plan allows you to plan for your future by investing a portion of each paycheck.  Other Benefits: A company-provided Employee Assistance Program (EAP), as well as access to additional voluntary benefits including Accident, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, Legal Support, and Identity Fraud Protection. About Syntiant: Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Syntiant Corp. is a leader in delivering hardware and software solutions for edge AI deployment. The company’s purpose-built silicon and hardware-agnostic models are being deployed globally to power edge AI speech, audio, sensor and vision applications across a wide range of consumer and industrial use cases, from earbuds to automobiles. Syntiant’s advanced chip solutions merge deep learning with semiconductor design to produce ultra-low-power, high performance, deep neural network processors. Syntiant also provides compute-efficient software solutions with proprietary model architectures that enable world-leading inference speed and minimized memory footprint across a broad range of processors. The company is backed by several of the world’s leading strategic and financial investors including Intel Capital, Microsoft’s M12, Applied Ventures, Bosch Ventures, the Amazon Alexa Fund, and Atlantic Bridge Capital. More information on the company can be found by visiting https://www.syntiant.com/. One element in our total compensation package is base pay. The starting base pay for this role is targeted to be between $120,000 – $135,000. Individual compensation decisions are based on a number of factors, including but not limited to previous experience and skills acquired prior to joining Syntiant, cost of living in the assigned work location, assigned schedule, and salaries of similarly situated peers at the company. It is to be expected that candidates will come to us with different sets of skills and experiences and therefore will be paid at different points in the stated range. We recognize that the person(s) we select for hire may be less experienced or more experienced than the role as posted; if this is the case, any updates to available salary ranges will be communicated with candidates during the recruitment process.