Procurement Manager - Princeton University

The Contract Manager promotes a high degree of professionalism in cradle-to-grave (source-to-pay) procurement activities, minimizing risks to Facilities and the University while meeting procurement objectives and ensuring compliance with policies and procedures.  The Contract Manager partners with key Facilities and University stakeholders to understand and align business strategy, market dynamics, and supplier capabilities in the development of procurement strategies.  The Contract Manager also provides leadership in the areas of sourcing, procurement, contract management, spend analytics and reporting.  This role will also administer a portfolio of design and construction contracts, while managing a team of 2 contract administrators

As a Facilities' subject matter expert and authority on procurement related processes, this person is responsible for driving continuous improvement and transformation efforts across all shared procurement processes including refining design and construction contracts terms and conditions, expanding eProcurement capabilities, supporting the University’s supplier diversity initiatives, establishing standard analytics and reporting packages, and driving efficiency in the process for procuring high volume, low dollar design and construction services to support Facilities’ partners.  The Contract Manager reports to the Director of Procurement, in Facilities Finance and Administrative Services (FFAS) a.

FFAS is embedded within Facilities and is responsible for providing shared services to all Facilities partners as well as the broader University community, including procurement support for all design, construction and related services.

Two positions available

Procurement function leadership

• Develops sourcing strategies and action plans for design, construction and related contract agreements. The portfolio of the Contract Manager includes architect-engineer and construction agreements that range from release order to complex multi-million dollar contracts
• Develops and executes sourcing strategies and events, and leads sourcing activities for assigned portfolio of design, construction and related services utilizing various data (previous spend, previous supplier performance, etc.), market information and operational objectives to deliver long-term value. This includes authoring category strategy documents, obtaining key stakeholder buy-in and providing regular progress updates.
• Leads supplier negotiations; analyzes proposals; facilitates competitive bidding events, promoting utilization of online competitive bidding technology. This includes reviewing and ensuring scope of work and project description documents support a competitive selection process, developing selection criteria in addition to price, promoting supplier diversity, creating thorough solicitation documents, creating detailed bid/proposal comparison documents for selection team members, and being a significant contributor in supplier selection.  Awards contracts and provides comprehensive post-award administration including enforcement of supplier obligations, compliance with terms and conditions, amendment and change order processing, resolution of claims and disputes, and contract closeout. 
• Provides procurement advice, guidance, and support to project teams, project managers, and other Facilities partners through engagement and consultation, assessment and understanding of needs and requirements, application of procurement knowledge and expertise, problem solving, and dispute intervention and resolution.
• Leverages PeopleSoft, Jaggaer, OnBase, Maximo and other systems to implement standard analytics and reports to monitor key performance indicators.
• Partners with FFAS procurement staff to identify, document, and prioritize process issues and enhancement requests and engage and coordinate with other users and stakeholders throughout Facilities to develop and implement process improvements and solutions.
• Supports and enhances the University’s sustainability and diversity initiatives and objectives.

 Team leadership and development

• Manages, leads and inspires a team of various levels of contract administrators, currently with two direct reports. Provides guidance, training, and coaching to encourage professional development and skills enhancement to enhance work performance and enable effective contribution to organizational goals by the team.
• Oversees and supervises day-to-day operations, assigns and reviews work, manages workloads, and provides direction, support, and advice to team on procurement matters such as sourcing and source selection, competition, solicitation structuring, contract formation and administration, and dispute resolution.
• Ensures compliance with both University and Facilities policies

Strategic initiatives

• Leads and executes various strategic initiatives as assigned from the procurement leadership team, gathering information, analyzing data, and implementing process improvements to advance procurement initiatives in the organization.
• Participates in new system implementations and is an active member of working groups and resource committees representing facilities procurement
• Mentors new staff and helps with onboarding of staff outside of procurement to teach them about the department

Complex Tasks, Key Decision-Making, Special Demands

This position has a significant level of purchasing and payment authority and is authorized to sign contracts up to $50,000 on behalf of the University. Unquestionable integrity and responsibility are required. This position is also responsible for compliance with internal and external policies and regulations and responds to audits and other compliance activities.

Essential Qualifications:

• Seven (5) to ten (7) years in procurement, contract administration or other relevant supply chain management or business position.
• 3-5 years of supervisory experience
• Superior analytical ability to quickly gather facts, perform root cause analysis, and draw conclusions
• Strong conceptual thinking skills with ability to lead others through ambiguous and/or complex issues
• Extensive experience managing change across multiple stakeholder groups
• Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills for interaction with team members and stakeholders
• Extensive experience drafting contract language and/or procurement policies and procedures
• Ability to manage multiple projects and tasks concurrently and knowledge of business requirement and project management principles and methodologies
• Demonstrated experience in one or more of the following capacities:
  • Drafting and negotiating supplier agreements including master service agreements, statements of work, non-disclosure agreements and change orders/amendments
  • Configuring and maintaining an eProcurement environment including supplier and contract enablement and invoice automation
• Extensive experience with Source to Pay lifecycle tools and processes including leading practices
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in supply chain management, economics, finance, operations, business or relevant discipline.
• CPM or CPSM certification
• MBA, MS or relevant advanced degree
• Experience procuring design, construction and related services
• Experience with eProcurement systems

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS