Your Role

The Global Business Services (GBS) department is responsible for delivering strategic and category supplier sourcing, contracting and governance excellence at Blue Shield of California. The Principal Sourcing Specialist (Supplier Procurement/Contracting) is responsible for the management and execution of the enterprise sourcing process including supporting the business in making effective sourcing decisions. This person executes and delivers value through strategic, operational, and transactional sourcing initiatives working in partnership with the assigned Blue Shield of California Business Unit(s).

Your Work

In this role you will:

• Manage relationship with business unit and act as a trusted advisor and provide leadership through sourcing strategy advice and consultation to best achieve the business strategy and objectives
• Capture and aggregate business requirements for sourcing support requested. Build and execute procurement plan with Business Unit(s)
• Analyze business unit demand and support overall capacity planning and alignment. Capture/define demand forecasts and annual budget and provide supplier/market insights as part of business unit plans
• Promote small, disadvantaged, and minority-owned businesses through a supplier diversity program
• Provide guidance to Business partners and seek alignment to influence spend and cost savings through vendor rationalization and driving economies of scale
• Analyze the supplier market to identify best sources for acquisition of goods and services
• Manage RFx process including supplier selection and qualification through a competitive bid process for goods and/or services
• Lead, structure, and guide business partners on complex contracts. Research cost drivers and conduct industry and spend analysis for the development of negotiation strategy
• Utilize contract templates and create contract documents that fully encompass the business requirements and mitigate risk
• Write and negotiate statements of work
• Assist the Business in maintaining compliance with all Blue Shield policies regarding contracting and purchasing
• Assist the Business to resolve vendor management issues such as vendor disputes and/or vendor termination. Facilitate vendor risk management, due diligence and on boarding activities
• Present status and issue identification/resolution effectively to management

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Requires a bachelors degree or equivalent experience, MBA preferred
• Requires at least 10 years of prior relevant experience in a sourcing, contracting, and negotiations role
• Requires deep knowledge of end-to-end sourcing and contracting typically obtained through experience combined with advanced education
• Certified Outsourcing Professional or Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) a plus
• Previous experience working in the Healthcare or related services industry highly desired
• 8 - 10 years of experience in a strategic sourcing/category management and/or business process/services outsourcing sourcing, including experience being in a negotiations role or other relevant experience highly desired
• Experience managing and working through tough situations specific to sourcing and contracting processes
• Ability to perform work without appreciable direction including the ability exercise considerable independence in determining objectives and approaches; may direct the work of others and/or act as leader of cross-functional teams
• Contracting Expertise: In-depth knowledge of contractual documents and requirements, risk control programs and business services sourcing and best practice
• Understand the key components of basic agreements and how legal terms impact business terms and vice versa. Be able to articulate high-level understanding of the issues with confidence to the legal team as relates to both client contract requirements and supplier edits
• Contract Writing and Negotiation: Ability to understand how clauses relate to one another, including all exhibits and schedules. Ability to write clearly and concisely while adapting templates to fit the services being procured in accordance with client's expectations. Ability to review statements of work and/or requirements provided by a business partner, identify risks, apply best practices and improve the quality of the work product
• Procurement Knowledge: Knowledge of procurement methods, technologies and processes. Ability to analyze and recommend improvements to a client's procurement organization
• Competitive Bid Experience: Experience in executing strategic competitive bids with a track record of delivering cost efficiencies and value across diverse portfolio of enterprise sourcing activities. Ability to manage complex competitive bid processes
• Sourcing Project Management: Experience of managing sourcing projects from start to finish; strong ability to practice and apply time management skills to balance and manage the requirements of workload without missing deadlines. Ability to secure alignment with stakeholders and hold them accountable to deadlines, while communicating risks and necessary adjustments in a timely manner. Ability to manage multiple projects concurrently
• Data analysis, strategic thinking, accuracy, attention to detail, and Microsoft Office skills

Pay Range: The pay range for this role is $136,400 to $204,600 for California. Range for outside of California is $124,000 to $186,000.

Note: Please note that this range represents the pay range for this and many other positions at Blue Shield that fall into this pay grade. Blue Shield salaries are based on a variety of factors, including the candidate's experience, location (California, Bay area, or outside California), and current employee salaries for similar roles.

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