Manager - Contracts II

This role is responsible for negotiating industry-leading national agreements for the group purchasing organization in the area of Purchased Services. The objective is to ensure best-in-class industry pricing and contract terms and conditions. The position’s key area of focus will be sourcing initiatives that are primarily services applicable to healthcare and non-healthcare clients. Sourcing categories will be medium to high spend, complexity, risk, and sensitivity. The position may have some responsibility for other types of categories for the purposes of development and workload allocation. The individual must possess knowledge or prior experience in principles and concepts related to sourcing and contract management. The individual is a negotiator with in-depth knowledge and experience in contract negotiations and an understanding of contract terms and conditions. The individual must be able to use best practices and knowledge of internal or external business issues to improve the contract portfolio. The individual exercises judgment in selecting and/or adapting methods for obtaining solutions—taking a new perspective on using existing solutions to solve complex problems.

What you will do in this role includes:

Project Management: Ability to plan and execute project timelines for assigned categories, with guidance from the manager.

• Must have a demonstrated level of organizational ability and attention to detail
• Ability to translate objectives into project planning priorities, create and manage work plans and timelines for multiple projects and priorities, and finalize negotiations in the timeframe designated for the project
• Ability to be highly efficient and productive, demonstrating a high volume of contracts/categories handled without sacrificing quality

Category Knowledge: Understanding or aptitude to learn the service/product categories assigned and how end-users interface with the services/products.

• Understanding or demonstrated ability to learn in-depth aspects of the portfolio:
• Service/product features and benefits
• Service/product comparisons between supplier offerings
• Operational impact to provider
• Interpretation and use of market information provided by the global sourcing team
• Future service/product pipeline and impact on market
• Interpretation of current and new FDA 510(k) filings

Supplier Knowledge: The individual must be able to develop and use knowledge about the supplier to develop strategies, create leverage, mitigate risks, anticipate market direction, and potential supplier direction.

• Includes, but not limited to:
• Discuss future service/product pipelines with suppliers
• Review current or future technology
• Investigate new supplier entrants to market
• Understand the multi-business unit supplier and how they will leverage their capabilities

Strategy Development, Validation, and Risk Mitigation: Some assigned categories are handled through a simplified acquisition process (SAP), where the strategy is primarily pre-determined. Other assigned categories are handled through a comprehensive acquisition process (CAP) that requires strategy development. For these categories, the individual will develop the strategy with the guidance of their manager. The individual will seek the guidance of the manager for risk issues and agreed-upon risk mitigation strategies. For these categories, the individual will develop the strategy, identify risks, and develop a risk mitigation plan. The individual will present that information to their manager for discussion and approval.

Sourcing Process: Thorough understanding and accountability for the sourcing process for their assigned portfolio. This includes market research, bid preparation, RFI, Strategy Development & Validation, RFP, Contract Negotiations, and contract launch.

• CAP category strategies and final awards must be presented and validated by customer-led Advisory Boards and a customer-led, executive-level Supply Chain Board.
• The individual’s board presentations must be well-prepared, concise, and articulated clearly. The individual must consistently deliver a dynamic presentation that captures the audience's attention and is delivered with enthusiasm and passion.

Supplier and Customer Relationship Management: Oversee the supplier relationship during the sourcing process. Participate in supplier business reviews and review new services/technologies as they arise in assigned categories.

• Build strong relationships with supplier contacts.
• Build strong customer relationships through frequent interaction (all levels, including executive).

Communications: Communications are primarily focused on effective and efficient communications with internal stakeholders and suppliers, with limited communication to customers and include:

• Facilitating conversations with the internal functional team during project kick-off to gather feedback, opinions, and alignment of resource needs to meet contracting initiative timelines
• Communication of the bid process, negotiation status, agreement on terms, and financial proposal
• Engaging customers through one-on-one conversations to articulate business strategy and resolve customer-specific issues/concerns with contracting strategy or outcome.

What qualifications you will need:

• Accredited College Bachelor’s Degree required (Supply Chain, Healthcare, Business, Finance)
• 2+ years of relevant work experience preferred. The ideal candidate will have experience in strategic sourcing and negotiating a variety of contracts in the Purchased Services and/or Clinical and Non-Clinical areas.
• Strategic sourcing
• Contract negotiation
• Contract management
• Supply chain operations
• Materials management/purchasing
• Contracting financial analysis
• Healthcare knowledge is a plus