Job: Senior Sourcing Associate

Job Purpose / Summary

The Sourcing Sr. Associate will execute intermediate and complex sourcing projects, from start to finish, including but not limited to – sourcing requests validation per client guidelines, requirements analysis for the bid packages, communicating with client requesters to close any data gaps, prepare and publish the package to the identified suppliers for bidding purposes, following up with suppliers to ensure adequate participation, and summarizing proposals back to the requestor.

Sr. Sourcing Associate will manage a team of Sourcing Associates and Analysts.  They are accountable for driving quality and consistency among their team while improving the overall capabilities of their team members.

Key Responsibilities / Job Duties*

* Sr. Sourcing Associate Key Responsibilities / Job Duties assume the inclusion of the descriptors from the Sourcing Associate position description.

• Act as the leader of a Sourcing Delivery team to providing sourcing services (RFP, RFI, RFQ) to our clients based on predefined service levels
• Act as the first point of escalation for project and client issues and address them within defined boundaries
• Manage a centralized project queue, assign project request to associates and analysts as they arrive
• Determine, manage, and report resource capacity of their delivery team so they can ensure support of client requirements
• Provide clear direction and understanding to team members of activities/tasks and operating approach
• Balances workloads to ensure team effort is sustainable and at the same time can deliver the results required
• Delivers constructive performance counseling/feedback to team members
• Demonstrates leadership to the team in both words and actions, including delivering difficult decisions & conversations
• Drives consensus while acknowledging diversity in team environments

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities*

* Sr. Sourcing Associate Knowledge, Skills and Abilities assume the inclusion of the descriptors from the Sourcing Associate position description.

• Mastery in all core phases of the DSS sourcing methodology and ability to provide mentoring and training to the rest of the team members.
• Ability to assess projects’ fit for reverse auction, setup and manage reverse auctions with minimal supervision
• Advanced negotiation skills
• Ability to follow a process based on documented guidelines without supervision
• Strong leadership skills, including ability to motivate and manage people
• Solid decision making ability using available facts in sensitive client and internal situations
• Advanced/”Expert” Excel skills, including working knowledge of filters, sorting, pivot tables, basic formulas, advanced formatting techniques, and advance data manipulation skills
• Proficiency in multiple eSourcing tools (e.g., Ariba, Procuri, Iasta, Zycus, ERP eSourcing module) at an “advanced” level (as defined by DSS, Software company, or client standards)

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelors Degree or equivalent work experience is required, Masters degree is preferred
• 4-8 years of related work experience with at least 3 years in procurement or sourcing
• Prior management experience is preferred

Deep understanding of at least two sourcing categories and a good understanding of an additional 5-10 categories (e.g. pricing structures, terminology, bidding sheet development expertise, cost structure, key vendors, etc.)