Career Area:
Purchasing & Procurement
**Job Description**:
**Job Description**:
This position is responsible for the procurement and management of assigned commodities within the Indirect Purchasing Department. Responsibilities may include, but not limited to: purchase order placement; issue resolution; preparing contracts; acting as the lead negotiator providing solutions to a wide range of issues; developing commercial strategies for product and/or service contracts; managing supplier relationships and performance metrics; communicating and mitigating risk that could impact Solar's ability to meet the business plan.
Nature and Scope
This position acts with a sense of urgency and is diligent in providing timely support to internal clients and external customers. This individual operates in compliance with corporate and Supply Chain policies and procedures. A Procurement Specialist may manage relationships of some non-strategic suppliers, but will predominately oversee strategic or complex suppliers. There is an expectation to not only participate on but lead projects from conception to maturity that directly support organizational objectives.
The primary functions of the job include but are not limited to:
Supply Chain Management
- Applies advanced Supply Chain knowledge to manage processes, establish policies, and develop value-adding strategies.
- Develops and maintains relationships with internal clients and lower-level supplier executives
functioning as the Supply Chain and Solar ambassador.
- Monitors and manages ownership of risk from financial, business continuation, and compliance
perspectives. Ensures procurement processes meets audit, regulatory, and legal standards.
- Has the ability to lead a team, provides direction, and coaches less experienced staff members.
Contract Management
- Leads agreements on complex, high value contracts, and resolves issues. Develops and implements solutions to improve contract compliance. Proactively identifies issues during and after
contract completion and manages resolution.
- Develops standard written agreements for development requirements.
- Works closely with users defining supplier performance measurements and reporting frameworks.
- Manages the transition process when changing contracted suppliers.
Negotiation
- Creates negotiation strategies based on thorough knowledge of business requirements.
- Communicates negotiation strategies and parameters to negotiating team and defines roles.
- Able to ethically execute negotiation strategy for moderate criticality/complexity items displaying
varied negotiation techniques to achieve best results.
- Identifies and resolves areas of risk.
Supplier Management
- Integral part of supplier selection process and managing the relationships of existing suppliers.
- Manages relationship of moderate to high complex suppliers.
- Provides mentorship in establishing continuous improvement plans to achieve mutual benefits.
Cost Management
- Applies business strategies to daily activities, identifies market opportunities, gaps and trends.
- Understands, applies, and coaches others in building and analyzing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
models.
Purchasing Execution
- Resolves high complexity purchasing related grief issues with mínimal assistance.
- Develops, recommends, and provides training & mentorship around purchasing processes, process changes, and tools.
- Executes risk mitigation strategies to avoid Supply Chain disruption.
- Validates data integrity, identifies data gaps, and updates & corrects system data.
Internal clients include, but not limited to, the following: Manufacturing, Operations, Production Test, New Product Introduction & Design Engineering, Project Management, Facilities/Maintenance, Global Supply Chain, Finance, Accounts Payable, Legal, Business Management.
Required Qualifications
- Master's degree with 3 years purchasing experience, or Bachelor's degree with 5 years purchasing experience, or in lieu of a degree 7 years purchasing experience
- Advanced personal computer skills, i.e., Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook)
- Fluent in Business English in written and oral form.
Preferred Qualifications
- COUPA Procure to Pay (P2P) system knowledge
- CPM Certification and knowledge of 6 Sigma methodology desired
- Experience in managing complex and long-term contractual agreements
- Experience in the development of long-term supplier relationships
- Experience interpreting and negotiating contractual cost elements
- Sound analytical skills, problem solving with the ability to coach others on these skills
- Work independently on complex assignments; anticipate problems and provide solutions in a professional, logical and expedited manner
- Solid communication skills, high initiative, assertiveness, and organizational skills
- Strong knowledge of generally accepted purchasing practices, policies, and contracts
- Ability to function well in a team environment
Caterpillar is a