Specialist, Indirect Procurement

The Specialist, Indirect Procurement is responsible for leading strategic sourcing initiatives and managing key indirect spend categories across the organization. This role develops and executes sourcing strategies, leads competitive bidding and negotiations, manages strategic supplier relationships, and delivers measurable cost savings and value.

The role partners closely with internal stakeholders to understand business requirements, identify opportunities, and develop sourcing solutions that balance cost, quality, service, risk, and business needs.

The position has a high degree of independence and is expected to lead complex sourcing initiatives from opportunity identification through supplier selection, negotiation, implementation, and ongoing performance management.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Sourcing & Category Management

• Develop and execute sourcing strategies for assigned indirect spend categories.
• Lead RFIs, RFQs, RFPs, competitive bids, and supplier selection processes.
• Conduct market research, benchmarking, and spend analysis to identify opportunities.
• Evaluate suppliers based on cost, quality, service, capabilities, risk, and total cost of ownership.
• Identify opportunities for supplier consolidation, standardization, specification optimization, and demand management.
• Establish and maintain preferred supplier strategies for assigned categories.

Negotiation & Commercial Management

• Lead supplier negotiations involving pricing, payment terms, service levels, contract terms, and other commercial conditions.
• Develop negotiation strategies and recommendations for key sourcing initiatives.
• Support the development and renewal of supplier contracts with Legal and the Business.
• Ensure negotiated terms are documented and implemented appropriately.
• Identify opportunities for cost reduction, cost avoidance, and improved commercial value.

Supplier Relationship Management

• Manage strategic supplier relationships and serve as the primary procurement contact for key suppliers.
• Establish and monitor supplier KPIs, SLAs, and performance expectations.
• Conduct supplier performance reviews and business reviews where appropriate.
• Address supplier performance issues and develop corrective actions.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement and enhanced supplier value.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Partner with Operations, Finance, IT, HR, Facilities, Marketing, and other functions to understand requirements and develop sourcing strategies.
• Act as a trusted procurement advisor to internal stakeholders.
• Challenge specifications and requirements where appropriate to identify better-value alternatives.
• Communicate sourcing recommendations and business cases to stakeholders.

Spend & Performance Management

• Analyze indirect spend to identify savings and procurement opportunities.
• Develop and maintain savings pipelines and track realized savings.
• Monitor spend against contracts and preferred supplier agreements.
• Prepare reporting and analysis on procurement performance, savings, supplier performance, and category spend.

Procurement Process & Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve procurement processes, controls, systems, and policies.
• Support the implementation and adoption of procurement technologies and tools.
• Promote standardization and compliance across indirect procurement activities.
• Identify opportunities to automate or simplify purchasing processes.

Knowledge & Team Contribution

• Serve as a subject-matter resource for indirect procurement and assigned categories.
• Share sourcing best practices and market knowledge with the procurement team.
• Provide informal guidance and knowledge transfer to less experienced team members, without formal people-management responsibility.

Qualifications & Experience

• 3-6+ years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience leading RFP/RFQ processes and supplier negotiations.
• Experience managing indirect spend categories preferred.
• Experience in a distribution, multi-site, retail, logistics, or similar operating environment is an asset.
• Strong analytical and financial capabilities.
• Experience working with ERP, procurement, or P2P systems.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills preferred.

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinking
• Strong negotiation skills
• Commercial acumen
• Analytical and problem-solving skills
• Supplier relationship management
• Stakeholder management and influencing
• Strong communication skills
• Project management
• High level of independence and accountability
• Continuous improvement mindset

Key Performance Indicators

• Cost savings and cost avoidance delivered
• Savings pipeline and realization
• Spend under management
• Contract and preferred supplier compliance
• Supplier performance
• Sourcing cycle time
• Stakeholder satisfaction
• Procurement process improvements
• Bilingual