Director of Procurement & Contract Services

Montana State University - Office of Student Engagement; Bozeman (MT); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Montana State University is seeking a strategic Director of Procurement and Contract Services responsible for the university's procurement function, contracts, and Jaggaer system. This role guides policy compliance and delivers a seamless procure-to-pay experience for campus stakeholders across MSU and affiliates.

The successful candidate will lead a team, set strategic direction, and partner with Finance to advance a modern, integrated procurement model, ensuring efficiency and accountability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a related field and leadership experience in procurement.
• Experience with public procurement including RFPs and IFBs.
• Ability to lead through managers in a highly regulated environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead procurement and contracting while coordinating with accounts payable to deliver a cohesive procure-to-pay experience.
• Maintain procurement delegation and ensure compliance with Montana state law and university policies.
• Communicate clearly with diverse campus stakeholders including affiliated campuses and external partners.
• Provide unit oversight and align cross-unit teams to achieve service standards.
• Oversee contracts for goods and services and coordinate with Legal Counsel on terms and conditions.
• Drive governance and enhancements of Jaggaer/SmartBuyMSU and the procure-to-pay system.
• Identify opportunities to reduce administrative burden and improve processing times.
• Balance compliance with responsiveness to academic, research, and operational needs.

Skills

Leadership experience

Public procurement

RFPs and IFBs

Strategic planning

Policy compliance

Education

Bachelor's degree in business, finance, public administration, law, or related field (or equivalent experience)

Advanced degree or professional certification (e.g., MBA, J.D., CPPO, CPSM)

Tools

Jaggaer

Job description

Position Details

Position Information

Announcement Number STAFF - VA - 27060. For questions regarding this position, please contact:

Megan Lasso

406-994-4391

[e-mail]

Classification Title Administrative Director Working Title Director of Procurement & Contract Services Brief Position Overview

Montana State University is seeking a strategic and collaborative leader to serve as Director of Procurement and Contract Services. This role provides executive oversight of the university’s procurement function, contracts for goods and services, and guides the strategic use of the university procure-to-pay system (Jaggaer), collaborating across Financial Services to ensure an efficient and all-inclusive process.

Reporting to the Associate Vice President for Financial Services, the Director is responsible for setting strategy, ensuring compliance with state law, Board of Regents policy, and university procedures, and delivering a seamless, customer-focused experience for campus stakeholders.

Position Number 4C3504 Department Procurement Services Division Office of VP for Administration & Finance Appointment Type Professional Contract Term Fiscal Year Semester If other, specify From date If other, specify End date FLSA Exempt Union Affiliation Exempt from Collective Bargaining FTE 1.0 FTE Benefits Eligible Eligible Salary Salary commensurate with experience, education, and qualifications. Contract Type MUS If other, please specify Recruitment Type Open

General Statement

The Director develops, administers, and implements policies to assure compliance with state procurement law, and university purchasing policies, rules, and procedures. The Director liaises with the university faculty and staff, affiliate campuses of Montana State University, and the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. The Director has the purchasing authority for MSU and its affiliated campuses.

The Director of Procurement and Contract Services provides strategic leadership and executive oversight for Montana State University’s procurement function, contracts for goods and services, and governs the university procure-to-pay system (Jaggaer), collaborating across Financial Services to ensure an efficient and all-inclusive process that is seamless to end users. Reporting to the Associate Vice President for Financial Services, this role is responsible for establishing strategy, driving consistent and service-oriented operations, ensuring compliance with state law, Board of Regents policy, and university procedures, and advancing a modern, integrated, and institutionally responsive procure-to-pay model. At MSU, SmartBuyMSU (Jaggaer) serves as the university’s online platform for purchasing, contracting, receiving invoices, and issuing payments. This role has oversight of the system, including guiding necessary enhancements and upgrades. University Financial Services is charged with providing efficient, effective, and timely university-wide business services in compliance with applicable rules and regulations.

The Director sets direction for procurement, contracting, and strategic purchasing. They will accomplish this by aligning work across unit teams, establishing service standards and performance expectations, and ensuring that campus departments experience these functions as a coordinated service. They work closely with the Accounts Payable team to ensure they are included as a part of the improvements and changes to the system which affects the entire procure-to-pay lifecycle.

The role is expected to exercise sound judgment, solve complex problems, make defensible determinations in ambiguous situations, and balance compliance with responsiveness to the academic, research, and operational needs of the university.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead and integrate procurement and contracting while coordinating with accounts payable to deliver a cohesive, service-oriented procure-to-pay experience.
• Maintain Procurement Delegation from State Procurement Bureau, by ensuring the following: university compliance with Title 18 of the Montana Code Annotated, creation and maintenance of university procurement and contract management policy, university compliance with required training certification of procurement staff, proper tracking and retention of procurement and contract records in accordance with laws/rules/policies.
• Maintain clear lines of communication between departmental staff, the university staff and faculty (including affiliated campuses), University legal counsel, University Information Technology, and other units of the Montana University System, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, and vendors.
• Provide oversight of the unit in coordination with the management team in place.
• Oversee contracts for goods and services, including review of terms and conditions and coordination with Legal Counsel
• Lead governance, enhancements, and long-term strategy for the university’s procure-to-pay system (Jaggaer/SmartBuyMSU)
• Drive continuous improvement to reduce administrative burden, improve cycle times, and enhance the campus user experience
• Identify and mitigate institutional risk across the procure-to-pay lifecycle
• Liaise with the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education (OCHE) Chief Procurement Officer on delegations, policy interpretation, and system-level initiatives
• Identify strategic sourcing opportunities to provide university wide goods and services with greatest value

Required Qualifications – Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, public administration, law, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 7 years of progressive leadership experience in procurement
• Demonstrated experience in public procurement including preparing and analyzing RFPs and IFBs.
• Demonstrated experience in management and leadership
• Demonstrated ability to lead through managers, solve complex problems, and operate in a highly regulated environment

Preferred Qualifications – Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills

• Advanced degree or professional certification (e.g., MBA, J.D., CPPO, CPSM)
• Demonstrated experience in higher education environments with R1 research status
• Demonstrated experience negotiating contract terms and conditions
• Demonstrated experience with Jaggaer or similar procure-to-pay systems

The Successful Candidate Will

• Be a strategic and service-minded leader
• Have excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to quickly learn and apply organization/institution compliance policies and regulations
• Ability to balance compliance, risk, and effective delivery of services to faculty and staff across the university
• Utilize discretion and sound decision-making to come to independent decisions in line with established policies and procedures.
• Maintain a positive, effective, and professional approach while working on complex, high impact projects.
• Represent the division to others in a professional and courteous manner.

Position Special Requirements/Additional Information

This job description should not be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements, but a general description of the job. Nothing contained herein restricts Montana State University’s rights to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

Physical Demands

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily with or without reasonable accommodations. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

This position has supervisory duties? Yes

Posting Detail Information

Number Of Vacancies 1 Desired Start Date At The Conclusion Of a Successful Search Position End Date (if Temporary) Open Date Close Date Applications Will Be

Screening of applications will begin on September 18, 2026; however, applications will continue to be accepted until an adequate applicant pool has been established.

Special Instructions

This position is not eligible for sponsorship.

EEO Statement

Montana State University is an equal opportunity employer. MSU does not discriminate against any applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, national origin, physical or mental disability, or any other protected class status in violation of any applicable law.

In compliance with the Montana Veteran's Employment Preference Act, MSU provides preference in employment to veterans, disabled veterans, and certain eligible relatives of veterans. To claim veteran's preference, please complete the veteran's preference information located in the Demographics section of your profile.

Applicant Documents

Required Documents

• Resume
• Cover Letter

Optional Documents

Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).