Job Description
Senior Buyer/ Manager Procurement
The Role
Cognizant is seeking a Senior Buyer / Procurement Manager for IT in India (Noida/Bangalore/Chennai/Pune)
As a Sr. Buyer/ Manager, you will be managing end to end procurement, requirement gathering and initiatives for various IT sub-categories such as Hardware, Network, Data Center & Field Services. You’ll identify areas of cost reduction & optimization opportunities through market analysis and supplier negotiations, analyze the cost models and support in the performance matrix of key suppliers. You’ll be closely working with Category Leads in this role.
The Role includes: -
1. Managing key suppliers/partners/VAR within the category. Running end to end RF(x) process, interacting with suppliers for quotes & renewals.
2. Collaboration with the internal teams / client facing teams/ BU stakeholders for firm bill of material & budget approvals.
3. Considerable knowledge of purchasing practices including best verses lowest price quote, closed bid process, total cost of purchase, cost savings of purchases, and public purchasing restrictions.
4. Good knowledge of competitive supplier base across all IT categories.
5. IT industry-based category buying experience (mandatory)
6. Work closely with Pre-Sales/Sales/Practice teams to support in Customer RFPs & solution discussions.
7. Publish project/procurement trackers & communicate effectively within the organization with updates.
8. Contract Management - Experience in closure of SOWs, Master Agreements
9. Process oriented person and who can align with the Procurement Process and Policy. Good understanding of PR to PO process and working experience in basic ERP for Supply Chain / Procurement.
10. Experience working in ERP suites such as Ariba.
11. Experience in managing RFP’s, RFI, RFQ's and Reverse Auctions
12. Extensive experience in IT sourcing preferably for categories such as Hardware, Network, Data Center, Colocation, IT Field Services & Telecom.
13. Understanding of Supplier 360, Resell business & Procurement as a Service
14. Knowledge on supplier due diligence & on boarding process and tools
15. Excellent skill in supplier negotiations and negotiation strategies
16. Hands on experience on source selection techniques and fair value requirements
17. Knowledge on local tax and regulations related to procurement.
18. Ability to handle confidential material judiciously.
Duties and Tasks
1. Prepare specifications for the purpose of soliciting bids/proposals from qualified vendors; distribute invitations for bids/proposals, and set bid/proposal opening dates; receive and evaluate bid for successful vendor; maintain file records
2. Convert requisitions; issue purchase orders; approve ordering; distribute purchase orders to the appropriate Vendor Partner.
3. Negotiate with the suppliers on day-to-day purchase requirements and ensure soft dollar/ hard dollar savings to the organization
4. To strategize to find cost-effective deals and suppliers
5. Drive implementation of Procurement policies and procedures
6. End to end contract execution and timely renewal of contracts
7. Manage supplier relationships and conduct periodic business reviews
8. Design, develop and execute RFx
9. Participate in procurement audits
10. Interact with various business groups in contract execution process
11. Prepare supplier recommendation summary
12. Ensure compliance to Global Procurement policy
Skills
1. Guides and motivates the business groups to nurture and develop process culture across service lines
2. Influence & collaborate with business groups to ensure process and policy compliance
3. IT Procurement (Hardware/Data Center/ Field Services category preferred)
4. Negotiation & Contracting
5. Analytical Skills
6. Communication & Presentation skills
7. Project Management, Organization and Interpersonal Skills
8. Effective and Efficient in problem solving and ensure the end-to-end cycle time is as per the accepted SLA.
9. Experience in MS office and responsible for reporting key procurement parameters.
10. Flexible in office time as the Procurement Leaders are present globally across different time zones.
Essential Qualification and Skills Requirements
1. Graduate with minimum 8 to 9 years of experience in Procurement handling, Sourcing, purchasing, contract management, vendor relationship & direct Vendor interactions for IT Hardware Sourcing areas.
2. Work Experience: Minimum of 5 years of proven experience in strategic sourcing/ senior buyer related roles
3. Experience working with varying ERP Platforms
Who you are: -
1. You can demonstrate experience in managing large volume of business in the End User computing category &
2. You are Techno-commercial and understands how the cost can be optimized by consolidating both technical and commercial parameters.
3. You love to learn and incorporate creative ideas to bring efficiencies to the procurement processes.
4. You give meaning to data by investigating the complex data sets and making sense of information.
5. You are a team player and thrive to bring collective success for the function