Procurement Specialist - Marketing

Reporting to the Senior Director of Revenue Operations, you will play a pivotal role in the procure-to-pay (P-2-P) process for US and European Marketing functions.  You will be embedded in the Global Commercial Excellence organization where you will transform Marketing purchase requests into purchase orders ensuring the right products and services are purchased from the right suppliers, at the right price.  You will perform “spot-buys” and will negotiate favorable terms for the procurement of services, and supplies.

You will enforce our procurement policy by evaluating requests against the policy and pushing back when you determine that requests are not in compliance with the policy. You will be the “gate-keeper” for external supplier spending.  You will approve new supplier requests and you will ensure that all applicable purchases are sourced with our preferred suppliers. You will work closely with Strategic Sourcing to suggest areas where preferred suppliers can be better utilized to reduce costs.

You will be the liaison between suppliers, stakeholders, Accounts Payable, and Finance when invoice or purchasing issues arise. You will also ensure that purchases that qualify for early pay discounts are paid on time.

You will ensure that purchases are within budget for each project/campaign and will alert stakeholders when spending is about to exceed budget.

You will identify and implement continuous process improvements which will result in more streamlined, faster, and more responsive procurement processes.

Responsibilities, Duties, and Accountabilities:

• Achieve cost savings by negotiating, bidding, or consolidating requests. Ensure that purchases are made through our preferred suppliers.
• Ensure compliance to corporate policies and procedures, and corporate contracts,
• Recommend and implement process improvements. Aid in developing and documenting department procedures.
• Review and resolve invoice issues.
• Perform spot buys and select suppliers with best price, delivery, and terms
• Ensure that all purchases have proper account coding to streamline A/P and accounting processes.
• Identify areas where spend can be consolidated with a preferred supplier and recommend to Category Managers potential cost savings projects.  Assists with managing existing suppliers or suggesting new and alternative sources of supply.
• Proactively address and resolve routine issues including supplier performance, delivery, pricing, and / or invoicing.
• Participate in the month end expense accrual process, confirming Purchase Orders and amounts to be accrued and working with AP/Finance to confirm prepaid items are booked proper time periods

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree
• 2+ years progressive working experience in procurement and vendor management.
• 2+ years with SAP MM, MS office applications (especially Excel)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven customer service skills
• Enjoys working in a fast paced, changing growth environment.
• Interest in advancing career and continuous improvement.
• Professional certification is a plus
• Strong, recent SAP procurement experience
• Experience buying “indirect” services and knowledge of the Marketing category
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Highly motivated team player
• Strong attention to detail with excellent organizational skills
• Strong analytical, negotiation and decision-making skills with the ability to effectively manage and develop vendor relationships
• Customer service focus but able to push back on requests when appropriate
• Experienced using procurement enabling technologies such as e-procurement
• Experience with Allocadia is a plus

Women and Minorities encouraged to apply