Assistant Director of Strategic Sourcing and Contracting

Position Summary:

The Assistant Director of Strategic Sourcing and Contracting oversees Vanderbilt’s strategic sourcing, contracting, and category management functions and staff. The Assistant Director of Strategic Sourcing and Contracting leads the development and implementation of strategies to leverage the university’s buying power to deliver the best value for products and services required by the Vanderbilt community. The Assistant Director of Strategic Sourcing and Contracting will design, deploy, and manage processes, policies, and supporting technology that deliver exceptional value to the university while maximizing efficiency in the areas of strategic sourcing and negotiations, RFI/RFP request management and contract management. The Assistant Director of Strategic Sourcing and Contracting will also effectively manage and develop the Strategic Sourcing and Contract Management team.

Additionally, this role is responsible for proactive and comprehensive outreach to the Vanderbilt community to develop and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with faculty, staff, and students in support of the university’s vision.

Success in this position requires a strong understanding and appreciation of strategic sourcing, best practices in negotiation, competitive procurement and contracting, regulatory and statutory requirements for professional services and contracts practices, and Vanderbilt’s mission. Candidate must be deeply motivated to make a positive impact for the Vanderbilt community, exhibit enthusiasm and capability for pursuing a data and stakeholder-driven approach to establishing priorities, possess strong leadership qualities and professional integrity, and demonstrate a collaborative spirit that will benefit sourcing and contracting initiatives and the overall procure to pay function.

About the Work Unit:

The Procurement and Payment Services Team (PPS) serves as the single point of contact for all centralized supplier information management, procurement, payment, travel and expense, and card activities at the university, setting the overall strategy for Vanderbilt University’s purchases and payments. As part of the Division of Finance, PPS provides an integrated approach to Procurement goods and services by connecting the procurement function to payments issued to suppliers. PPS includes resources that facilitate sourcing, contracting, ordering and purchase order processing, payment of invoices, employee expense reimbursement processing, payment card management and the university’s managed travel program.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

• Sets and documents the long-term plan for strategic sourcing and contracting at Vanderbilt in collaboration with the Director of Procurement and Payment Services.
• Develops and implements strategic sourcing initiatives and processes based on outreach to the Vanderbilt community, data-driven analysis and market expertise.
• Proactively initiates outreach to the Vanderbilt community to identify strategic sourcing priorities and highlight the value of strategic procurement and the use of preferred vendors.
• Negotiates business terms of vendor contracts on behalf of Vanderbilt, collaborating with the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) and Vanderbilt financial units to manage legal risks of contractual agreements.
• Oversees contracting process including developing process efficiencies while simultaneously assessing and managing risks. Ensures contractual risks are identified, assessed and mitigated with appropriate contract provisions including federal and other regulatory requirements concerning procurement.
• Assist in resolution of contract administration issues including issues involving terms and conditions, changes in requirements, terminations, and disputes.
• Participates actively in development, implementation and ongoing evaluation of sourcing, contracting and other procurement-related business processes and supporting technology.
• Develops and maintains service level agreements (SLAs) with stakeholders to support superior customer service.
• Leads and supervises the professional development of Vanderbilt’s strategic sourcing and contract team to achieve strategic sourcing and contracting objectives and best practices.
• Recommends and maintains key performance indicators for measuring the financial and operating performance of the strategic sourcing and contracting team.
• Collaborates extensively with the Procure to Pay leadership team to ensure a cohesive and efficient best-in-class procure to pay process and organization at Vanderbilt.

Supervisory Relationships:

This position has direct supervisory responsibility over the Strategic Sourcing and Contract Management team within