Strategic Sourcing Specialist

Sun Communities; Southfield, Northern (MI, KY); Hybrid; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive Medical and Prescription

On-Site Fitness Center

401(k) Plan with Sun matching

Tuition Reimbursement

Paid Time Off including holidays

Job summary

Sun Communities is seeking a Strategic Sourcing Specialist in the Metro Detroit area to execute category strategies and manage supplier partnerships from RFI through contract execution. You will refine business requirements with Category Managers, qualify suppliers, and support negotiations and onboarding to drive measurable savings and value.

The role emphasizes data-driven decisions, strong communication, and proficiency with procurement tools while ensuring compliance and post-award

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain, finance, or related field.
• 5 years in strategic sourcing, procurement, or supply chain.
• Must have a valid driver's license.
• Experience drafting and redlining commercial contracts and coordinating legal review.
• Strong analytical skills with data-driven recommendations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Proficiency with Coupa, Wrike, and Excel.
• Ability to manage multiple sourcing events concurrently.
• Experience in real estate or property management a plus.
• CIPS or CPSM certifications preferred.

Responsibilities

• Gather, refine, and document requirements for sourcing events with stakeholders.
• Identify, screen, and qualify suppliers; evaluate bids and recommend selections.
• Prepare and manage end-to-end RFI, RFP, and RFQ processes.
• Own sourcing events from discovery to contract execution and transition.
• Support negotiation strategy with briefs, scenarios, and terms.
• Draft and negotiate contract terms; coordinate legal review.
• Track savings and contribute to reporting and dashboards.
• Provide market intelligence to inform strategy development.
• Support ESG sourcing objectives and supplier diversity initiatives.
• Ensure smooth post-award onboarding and transition.

Skills

Negotiation skills

Sourcing strategy development

Stakeholder management

Contract negotiation

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance or related field

Tools

Coupa

Wrike

Excel

Job description

The Strategic Sourcing Specialist is the execution engine of the procurement organization, the role that turns category strategies and business requirements into competitively sourced, well-negotiated supplier partnerships and executed contracts that deliver measurable results and value. Reporting to the Manager, Sourcing, this role is responsible for the hands-on execution of sourcing events across Sun’s spend categories. The Strategic Sourcing Specialist gathers and refines requirements from Category Managers and business stakeholders, identifies and qualifies suppliers, prepares and administers request for information (RFI), request for proposal (RFP), and request for quotation (RFQ) processes and events, evaluates bids, supports negotiation, and drafts commercial contracts through execution. Once suppliers are awarded, this role coordinates managed supplier onboarding and contributes to savings tracking and reporting that validates procurement’s value to the enterprise.

Corporate Headquarters (HQ) position, located in the Metro Detroit, Michigan market today.

Job Duties

• Gather, refine, and document business requirements and scopes of work (SOWs) in collaboration with Category Managers and business stakeholders, ensuring sourcing events are grounded in clear, actionable specifications. (Essential)
• Identify, screen, and qualify suppliers through market research, supplier databases, and Category Manager input; evaluate bids, score responses against criteria, and recommend supplier selection. (Essential)
• Prepare, administer, and manage RFI, RFP, and RFQ processes end-to-end, including document preparation, issuance, bidder communications, and question-and-answer management, that align with category strategy objectives. (Essential)
• Own assigned sourcing events from discovery through contract execution and transition, delivering sourcing objectives, milestones, and stakeholder commitments; proactively identify and identify risks and recommend actions to ensure timely completion. (Essential)
• Support negotiation strategy development and execution under the direction of the Manager, Sourcing, preparing negotiation briefs, modeling scenarios, and documenting agreed terms. (Essential)
• Draft, redline, and negotiate commercial contract terms; coordinate legal and risk review processes and manage contract documents through to execution within delegation of authority thresholds. (Essential)
• Track and validate savings for completed sourcing events; contribute to savings reporting and dashboards that demonstrate procurement value delivery against category targets. (Essential)
• Contribute market intelligence and benchmarking insights gathered during sourcing events to inform Category Manager strategy development and refresh cycles.
• Provide input on sourcing pipeline prioritization based on event complexity, business risk prioritization, market readiness, and resource capacity; support the Manager, Sourcing in workload planning and scheduling.
• Support compliance and audit activities by maintaining complete, well-organized sourcing documentation, including bid records, evaluation matrices, negotiation logs, and executed contracts.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of sourcing processes, templates, and tools; share best practices and lessons learned across the procurement team.
• Ensure effective post-award transition to the appropriate teams, packaging sourcing outcomes, contract details, implementation requirements, and stakeholder communications to enable smooth onboarding, system setup, and go-live.
• Execute supplier diversity and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sourcing objectives, incorporating diverse supplier participation into sourcing events and tracking results against program targets.
• Support supplier offboarding and transition activities by providing sourcing documentation, contract context including administering Sun's termination responsibilities, and coordination support to ensure continuity of service during supplier exits.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance or related field (Required)
• 5 years in of experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, or supply chain (Required)
• Must have a valid driver's license
• Demonstrated experience drafting and redlining commercial contracts, negotiating terms and conditions, and coordinating legal review processes.
• Strong analytical skills with proven ability to build evaluation matrices, model total cost of ownership (TCO) scenarios, and present data-driven recommendations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to manage bidder communications, prepare clear RFI, RFP, and RFQ documents, and present evaluation findings to stakeholders.
• Proficiency in procurement platforms (e.g., Coupa), project management tools (e.g., Wrike), and Excel; comfort working with large datasets and spend analytics.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent sourcing events at different stages of the sourcing lifecycle.
• Understanding of procurement lifecycle concepts, category management principles, and supplier qualification frameworks.
• Experience in real estate, property management, or portfolio-based operations environments a plus.
• Preferred Certifications/Licensures:(Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS))
• Preferred Certifications/Licensures:(Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM))

BENEFITS

At Sun Communities, you will be part of an industry-leading organization where you will be challenged, inspired, rewarded and transformed. We place a high priority on our team members, and this is a big part of what sets us apart. We will ask you to give us your very best every day, and will challenge you with interesting work, stretch assignments, a collaborative and supportive work environment and plenty of learning and growth. In exchange, we will reward you with great pay, advancement opportunities, paid time off, great benefits, and flexibility.

• Comprehensive Medical and Prescription coverage with 4plan optionsso you can choose the plan that best meets the needs of you and your family
• Comprehensive Dental and Vision Plans
• On-Site Fitness Center
• Voluntary Health and Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts
• Life,Accidental Death &Dismemberment Insurance and Dependent Life
• Short and Long-Term Disability Coverage
• 401(k) Plan with Sun matching contribution
• Employee Assistance Program
• Identity Theft Insurance
• Legal Assistance Plan
• Pet Insurance
• Tuition Reimbursement program providing financial support to team members who further their formal education
• Vacation RV Site Discounts for team members when visiting Sun resorts across the nation
• Team Member Perks & Discounts program with hundreds of discounts on things like travel, merchandise, mobile phone service, and more
• Up to six weeks of paid parental leave for the birth of achild, adoption, or placement of a child
• Paid Time Off including tenholidays, vacation, personal, sick time, bereavement and pay for jury duty