Associate Sourcing Specialist, Procurement
About the Graduate Development Program
National Grid’s Graduate Development Program (GDP) is an in-depth training and development program for high achieving recent college graduates who aspire to take on future leadership roles in a dynamic, ever-changing industry. Graduates start their careers at National Grid with an in-depth 8-week Orientation which gives you exposure to all part of the company, allows you to network with your Graduate cohort, GDP alumni, and senior leaders, and provides you with the opportunity to travel throughout our service territory in the northeast US. National Grid is aiming for an in-person GDP experience for Summer 2021. However, we will continue to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 and will shift to a virtual program if necessary, in order to honor our commitment to our young talent pipeline.
Following Orientation, Graduates begin working in their hired position. Additionally, all Graduates will develop leadership skills through frequent development sessions and a Capstone Project at the completion of your first year with National Grid. You will meet amazing individuals, both within our organization and local communities and will be assigned a mentor who will provide guidance and insight to help you start and progress in your career.
About the Position
The Associate Strategic Sourcing Specialist is responsible for supporting National Grid’s sourcing activities within US Procurement.
U.S. Procurement is structured strategically into four category teams: Electric Services and Materials, Gas Distribution and Transmission, Wholesale Networks and Corporate Indirects. This position will report into one of the three groups detailed above, specific teams include: Construction Services (Electric & Gas), Materials (Electric & Gas), and IT & New Energy Solutions.
Category Management
- With support of the Category Manager & Senior staff, work with Stakeholders to establish clear business needs, apply forward thinking skills to establish flexible long-term category strategies with value options & clear supplier performance criteria
- Responsible to execute operationally, complex sourcing activities; able to implement more than one option: RFX, e-sourcing or Consortiums
- Support the delivery of savings targets
Commercial Negotiation
- Basic understanding of contractual terms & conditions and able to craft structured agreements with legal and stakeholder input
- Establishes structured negotiation plans (with support of Senior staff) with clarity of desired outcomes, leveraging stakeholder input and support where appropriate
- Basic understanding of supplier’s position, desired outcomes, and leverage points
Supplier Relationship Management
- Identifies critical suppliers and creates appropriate engagement plans to ensure our Supply Chain risk profile and inputs to continuous improvement are proactively managed
- Demonstrates a collaborative approach with supply base and develops integrated plans to drive appropriate value for business and customer requirements
- Builds appropriate supplier performance measurements (KPIs) into contractual frameworks
- Holds suppliers to account for performance delivery using KPI data and strategic business reviews
Procurement Process Management and Improvement
- Drive continuous improvement to identify and eliminate waste in the extended E2E Supply Chain
System and Analytics
- Some experience working with multiple ERP systems: SAP, Tableau, Ariba, Spend Analytics
- Understands how to analyze large data sets and extract information for strategic decision making
Market and Supplier Development
- Basic understanding of supplier landscape, risks, and benefits in global markets
Supervisory/Interpersonal- Experience Required
- Ability to work collaboratively with other departments and build strong working relationships.
- Experience of communicating with others from peer group to management.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Qualifications
- Bachelor or Master’s degree from an accredited institution
- Graduated between May 2020 and June 2021
- Ability to begin the National Grid Graduate Program June 1, 2021 or June 21, 2021
- Valid driver’s license
- Proven leadership experience
- Demonstrated effective communication and interpersonal skills
- Applicants for the Graduate Development Program must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the United States