Senior Sourcing Lead

GEP; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 800,000; Full time

Job summary

GEP is seeking a Sr. Strategic Buyer to join their managed services team. The role involves executing strategic sourcing initiatives and leading negotiations to drive savings. Ideal candidates will have expertise in strategic sourcing, strong analytical skills, and experience leading teams.

Qualifications

• Proven expertise in strategic sourcing.
• Proficiency in English, both written and spoken.
• Experience in managing and mentoring teams.

Responsibilities

• Manage the planning and execution of strategic sourcing initiatives.
• Lead negotiations to ensure savings and timely supply.
• Manage supplier selection and procurement activities.

Skills

Strategic sourcing

Negotiation

Analytical skills

Communication

Leadership

Tools

SMART by GEP

Job description

Company Overview

GEP is a diverse, creative team of people passionate about procurement. We invest ourselves in our client’s success, creating strong collaborative relationships that deliver extraordinary value year after year. Our clients include market global leaders with far-flung international operations, Fortune 500 and Global 2000 enterprises, leading government and public institutions.

We deliver practical, effective services and software that enable procurement leaders to maximize their impact on business operations, strategy, and financial performance. GEP is a place where individuality is prized, and talent respected. We’re focused on what is real and effective. GEP is where good ideas and great people are recognized, results matter, and ability and hard work drive achievements. We’re a learning organization, actively seeking people to help shape, grow, and continually improve us.

What you will do

At GEP, we are looking to continue our growth trajectory by expanding our talented managed services team.

As a Sr. Strategic Buyer, you will partner with our client and internal teams and manage the planning and execution of strategic sourcing initiatives using a multi-step sourcing process.

• Support category managers with category strategy plans, sourcing execution, and strategic sourcing tasks.
• Identify and communicate with a diverse range of stakeholders, such as suppliers, project sponsors, end-users, and other supporting functions like HR, Legal, and Finance.
• Leverage the GEP network of Category Experts and tools to deliver insights to any project or client.
• Provide support regarding Supplier Management/Procurement processes and policies.
• Establish negotiation strategies, identify and develop negotiation levers, validate them with stakeholders, and lead negotiations to ensure savings, timely supply, and other benefits for purchases, including business analytics, savings reporting, and tracking.
• Discuss with vendors and evaluate their products and capabilities as suppliers.
• Use SMART by GEP technology and client ERP systems for procurement operations.
• Demonstrate continuous effort to improve operations, manage SOPs, decrease turnaround times, and streamline work processes.
• Manage all supplier selection and procurement activities (e.g., RFI, RFP, RFQ, Scorecard, and Bid Analysis).
• Work cooperatively and jointly to provide quality seamless customer service.
• Lead a small/medium-sized team.
• Participate in firm-building activities, including recruitment.

What you should bring

• Proven expertise in strategic sourcing, with focus on the following category: Directs (trends, suppliers, industry specifics, terminology, legal frameworks).
• Proficiency in English (both written and spoken).
• Experience managing and mentoring small to medium-sized teams, both operationally and in career development.
• Knowledge of principles and practices of large-scale centralized purchasing.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills to engage with all levels of management in client organizations.
• Strong analytical, reporting, and presentation skills, including creating baselines, performing market tests/analyses, and succinctly summarizing key points via email or presentations.
• Experience leading and executing negotiations.
• Ability to manage multiple procurement projects simultaneously and assess new purchase requirements based on spend risk, etc.
• Knowledge of various categories, including trends, suppliers, industry specifics, terminology, and legal frameworks, would be advantageous.
• Advantageous: Business process improvement methodologies such as TQM, Six Sigma, APEX, etc.