Regional Purchasing Category Manager

About the role

KONE DM Purchasing is a global organization responsible for direct‑materials sourcing. We are looking for a Regional Purchasing Category Manager based in Kunshan, China. The role focuses on driving product cost competitiveness, developing VAVE opportunities, implementing new products with suppliers, and managing production transfers across KONE suppliers.

Key responsibilities

• Understand business requirements, product development road‑maps, supply‑market trends and technology road‑maps.
• Support competition benchmarking to identify sourcing opportunities and meet stakeholder expectations.
• Translate business needs and market insights into sourcing strategies and cross‑functional category plans, working closely with R&D.
• Lead supplier negotiations and act as contract owner for nominated contracts.
• Identify and mitigate risks to ensure supply resilience and minimise cost impact.
• Resolve supplier‑related operational issues and drive category savings and KPI achievement.
• Manage supplier relationships through segmentation and category steering activities.
• Oversee supplier development, roadmap planning and category budgeting.

Required profile

• 10+ years of sourcing experience, preferably in the elevator/escalator industry.
• B.Sc. or M.Sc. degree in Engineering, Supply Chain Management or a related field.
• Strong negotiation, influencing and interpersonal skills.
• Customer‑oriented, self‑motivated with ownership and teamwork mindset.
• Analytical, strategic thinking and change‑management capabilities.
• High energy, integrity and willingness to travel.
• Fluent English (mandatory).