Sourcing Lead - Knowledge Services

Job Description

What you will do

The Sourcing Lead will lead tactical/spot buys and support category strategies to help our customers deliver tangible results. They will also work with our teams (sometimes across different clients) to ensure they have the skills, development, and tools needed to meet agrees goals with clients and develop themselves professionally.

The Sourcing Lead will arrange for the purchase of assigned commodities and services. Work includes talking to vendors and department officials, examining requirements, criteria, price, suitability and availability of items or services, comparing specifications and reviewing alternatives to requests.

Responsibilities:

The qualified candidate will be responsible for:

• Supporting category managers with category strategy plans, sourcing execution, supporting category planning and strategic sourcing tasks
• Interfacing and communicating with stakeholders, project team, suppliers, GEP network and tools, and providing support with respect to Supplier Management/ Procurement processes and policies
• Establishing negotiation strategies, identifying and developing negotiation levers, validating them with stakeholders and leading negotiations to ensure savings, timely supply and other benefits for purchases, business analytics, savings reporting and tracking, stakeholder interaction as part of the S2C program
• Discussing with vendors and evaluating their products and capabilities as suppliers
• Using SMART by GEP technology and client ERP system for procurement operations and suggest improvements tailored to the client
• Demonstrating continuous effort to improve operations, manage SOP's, decrease turnaround times and streamline work processes
• Managing all supplier selection and procurement activities (e.g. RFI, RFP, RFQ, Scorecard and Bid Analysis, etc.)
• Working cooperatively and jointly to provide quality seamless customer service
• Reviewing orders for accuracy and compliance with existing policies and procedures
• Organizing, updating, and retaining key documents and technical entries
• Preparing purchase orders through an ERP and placing orders for the purchase of goods and services.

• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Proficiency in Norwegian (both written and spoken)
• Strong analytical, reporting and presentation skills i.e. regarding creating baselines, performing market tests/analyses, summarizing the key points succinctly by email/in presentation
• Good negotiation skills
• Ability to manage various procurement projects at once and work with various stakeholders
• Ability to assess new purchase requirements based on spend risk etc.
• Ability to lead and manage meetings
• Ability to work in self-managed and team environments
• Ability to communicate with all levels of management in client organizations
• Good record of interaction with procurement team and stakeholders
• Knowledge of:
• Assigned commodities and services including sources of supply, commodity markets, price trends, grades, and qualities
• Common business practices relating to the purchase, pricing, terms, shipment, taxes, payment terms for commodities and services etc.
• Principles and practices of large-scale centralized purchasing
• Any business process improvement methodology such as TQM, Six Sigma, APEX etc. - a plus.
• 3-5 years of experience in procurement
• Involvement in the procurement of a variety of supplies, materials, equipment and services
• Flexible to work in all shifts