Purchasing Specialist

Purchasing Specialist

The Purchasing Specialist manages the processes and tools for automated and stand-alone procurement systems and communicates throughout the organization as needed. Incumbent works pro-actively with supply base and supports and/or leads strategic sourcing efforts. The specialist will possess comprehensive understanding of supplier contracts terms and conditions and the ability to translate these into applicable purchasing requirements. The position will provide reporting and analytics support for Enterprise Legal & Supplier Solutions and stakeholders.

Additionally, this role will support corporate programs including Contingent Labor.

Essential Primary Responsibilities/Accountabilities:

All Levels:

• Receives and processes purchase order requests to promptly secure supplier-provided products and services.
• Proactively reviews and serves as customer point of contact in order tracking, purchase order matching errors and is a liaison to the Accounts Payable, LOB, Receiving, and Supplier groups to correct matching errors or resolve issues which prevent timely processing of payment and financial reporting.
• Conducts transactional bidding and single source negotiations, including Request for Quotations (RFQs) as requested.
• Manages blanket purchase order establishment, spend control, and expiration activities.
• Responsible for year-end close out of expired or inactive purchase orders.
• Escalates supplier performance or stability concerns or trends to the Managers of Purchasing & Sourcing.
• Processes vendor supply reports for distribution to department managers.
• Confers with suppliers concerning late deliveries.
• Assists Sourcing Specialist in researching marketplaces and new supplier products and services related to assigned spend categories.
• Provides support in procurement/sourcing projects led by the Sourcing team.
• Contributes to the development of new processes, procedures, techniques, and standards. Collaborates with entire procurement team to review current processes and make improvements.
• Maintains and updates Item Master as required in purchasing system.
• Facilitates contingent labor onboarding, training, and tenure requests
• Consistently demonstrates high standards of integrity by supporting the Lifetime Healthcare Companies' mission and values, adhering to the Corporate Code of Conduct, and leading to the Lifetime Way values and beliefs.
• Maintains high regard for member privacy in accordance with the corporate privacy policies and procedures.
• Regular and reliable attendance is expected and required.
• Performs other functions as assigned by management.

Level II (in addition to Level I essential responsibilities/accountabilities):

• Pro-actively communicates with line of business to ensure Supplier Solutions team is aware of (i) upcoming supplier acquisition initiatives, (ii) capital projects, and/or (iii) current supplier-related performance matters.
• Manages supplier relationships, including setting key contracted suppliers up on automated ordering methodologies. Resolves contractual and pricing issues with supplier executive leadership.
• Works to identify and support development of new processes for effective administration of contractual supplier relationships which may include supplier partnership programs and management of committed contract savings.
• Provides reporting support for supplier sourcing, contracting, purchasing, and internal stakeholders.
• Regularly leads the implementation of new processes, procedures, techniques, and standards related to the purchasing function.
• Leads the analysis and resolution of data integration problems. Analyzes and sorts through complex issues, provides a comparative analysis of alternatives leading to a solution recommendation and action plan.
• Manages more complex procurement projects.
• Serves as primary contributor to logical and physical design of procurement tools and analytical processing databases in a real-time environment.
• Populates and maintains technical metadata repositories and related documentation.
• Supports activities to improve categorization, data integrity, capturing missing spend and enriching data from third party sources for our analytics program.

Level III (in addition to Level II essential responsibilities/accountabilities):

• Leads routine sourcing projects or participates in complex sourcing projects led by senior level Sourcing Specialists, to facilitate key document preparation and cross-functional team (comprised of mid and senior level company wide managers) activities.
• Supports Sourcing Specialist with strategic sourcing efforts associated with various expenditure categories, including creation and management of Request-for-Proposal (RFP) packages, negotiations with key suppliers, supplier presentation and proposal evaluation activities.
• Serves as a consultant on matters pertaining to budget development, procurement, and vendor management
• Leads the development, enhancement, and support of the Procure to Pay (P2P) function.
• May be accountable for the recommendation,…