Summary – Procurement Specialist 

Conexess is pleased to be aiding a local client in their search for a Procurement Specialist. This person must live in the middle TN area and will be onsite once things settle down. They will be working closely and collaboratively with IT and Procurement while leading strategic sourcing events, negotiations, contract administration and other related strategic, tactical and transactional activities in support of IT procurement. This is an important role within the Indirect Procurement Team and will report directly to the IT Procurement Category Manager, who is responsible for all of IT Procurement. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities
• Provide transactional support, to ensure daily workflows move smoothly and within policy.
• Develop training material, and update so as we continue to scale the team new team members can be trained quickly.
• Train new team member in use of the system and update training material as they become outdated.

Sourcing
• Perform sourcing RFx events for Software, Hardware, SaaS, Services, Cloud, & Telecom related categories.
• Lead the Sourcing Process, including preparing RFI/RFPs by working closely with the stakeholders to understand their needs, translating that into the RFI/RFP template, asking the right questions, and managing the RFI/RFP process.
• Research and advise  stakeholders on supplier options, deal structuring and other deal aspects, including deal duration, selection criteria and supplier KPIs.
• Create evaluation sheets, evaluate the supplier responses, and perform qualitative and quantitative analysis to drive to consensus on vendor selection.
• Providing detailed analysis of supplier proposals to stakeholders, including pricing and business terms.
• Analysis of supplier proposals, to differentiate between suppliers on proposed solution, commercial and legal terms.
• Provide continuous improvement recommendations to streamline current vendor sourcing/contracting process.
• Negotiate savings and cost avoidance.

Contracting
• Lead contract negotiations for Software, Hardware, SaaS, Services, Cloud & Telecom related contracts (i.e. Master Software/Hardware Agreements, ELAs, Cloud Agreements, etc.).
• Provide end-to-end administrative support for technology contracts.
• Red-line contracts to facilitate negotiations.
• Collaborate with various internal stakeholders on all requirements and work with Legal, Information Security, and Risk Management on contract negotiations.
• Candidate must have strong negotiation skills when dealing with vendors
• Candidate must be good at analyzing and negotiating business terms and conditions with vendors via phone and/or email to ensure minimum risk related to purchases.
• Ensure all contracts for legal review are organized, validated, and include all supporting documentation.
• Maintain updated contract repository.
• Work with internal customers and partners such as legal and stakeholders, to optimally structure contracts, and schedule regular meetings with internal requestors to review expiring contracts and investigate renewal options for cost savings opportunities.

Experience:
• 1-3 years of IT focused procurement experience is preferred
• 2-5 years of procurement experience is required

Required skills:
• Contract review experience
• RFX sourcing experience

Preferred Other knowledge, skills or abilities:
• Comprehension of business and legal terms related to sourcing/contract matters.
• Plan, organize and carry out multiple related sourcing and contracting activities simultaneously.
• Project management
• Experience with Ariba
• Tech savvy

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