Director, Procurement

Director, Procurement

The Director of Procurement will report to and be responsible for assisting the Chief Procurement Officer in setting strategy, driving strategic cost transformation across the enterprise, leading senior stakeholder interaction and driving tactical execution of Category Plans for the centralized Procurement team at athenahealth. athenahealth is a leader in healthcare technology, and is a dynamic, privately owned company with excellent senior leadership support and understanding of the significant value strategic procurement teams can deliver. The Director of Procurement role will be instrumental in driving procurement excellence across the enterprise, including a focus on reducing third-party cost and associated risk. The Director of Procurement role is responsible for leading a team of 2-5 Category Managers, leading the development of category strategic sourcing strategies across the enterprise, as well as being directly responsible for the execution of these strategies, including day-to-day interaction with internal stakeholders and suppliers to ensure an uninterrupted supply of quality goods and services at optimum cost. The Director of Procurement will develop and implement supply chain strategies that are continuously improving and aligned with global strategic goals and stakeholder needs. This individual will have responsibility for owning and leveraging supplier relationships, negotiating supplier contracts, managing and reporting defined procurement metrics across their assigned category areas, identifying opportunities to reduce total supply chain cost, evaluating market conditions and the effects on pricing, and communicating with the Company’s supplier partners. The Director of Procurement will also have significant input into and ownership of key enabling processes and technology supporting the central Procurement team.

Job Responsibilities

• Identify opportunities to aggregate and leverage global Company spending with a focus on improving bottom line performance. Perform ongoing spend analysis to collect, categorize and analyze spend data to develop the foundation for ongoing value generation and ROI optimization.
• Develop annual procurement budgets and objectives in conjunction with leadership and FP&A; create specific short-term tactics and long-term category strategies to support the Company’s long-range goals.
• Set negotiation strategies for the most complex, high value and strategically important third-party relationships to secure terms that are in the organization’s best interest. Negotiate superior contracts while improving operational efficiencies and service levels. Identify and reduce/eliminate non-compliant or rogue spending.
• Establish and maintain strategic supplier partnerships and alliances that promote greater efficiency and value generation in the procurement process and facilitate constructive communications. Develop a performance measurement and management program for key suppliers.
• Define key metrics and necessary systems to track and report on procurement activity. Provide updates to both leadership and the business on cost savings, supplier negotiations, spend under management, operational efficiencies and future initiatives.
• Develop processes and drive periodic reviews and evaluations of commodities and services usage, price trends, and market conditions to develop, as appropriate, lower-cost substitutes and alternative sources of supply.
• Proactively identify, evaluate, and capitalize on opportunities to reduce sourcing and purchasing costs by establishing contracts that improve the organization’s buying patterns and enhance Athena’s end to end supply processes.
• Drive discussion with senior management stakeholders related to new contracts or supplier programs, tools, technology and group achievements.
• Provide input into and ownership of key enabling processes and technology supporting the central Procurement team (Spend Analysis, P2P, Process and Policy ownership and improvement opportunities).
• Work with the Chief Procurement Officer, Finance, Internal Audit, Legal and others to develop policies and procedures in the following areas; Source-to-pay, qualifying new suppliers, competitive bidding, contract review and approval, ongoing supplier risk management, etc.
• Provide significant input into and subsequent ownership of key enabling processes and technologies supporting the central procurement team and covering the entire vendor lifecycle, including but not limited to Spend Analysis, Source-to-Pay, Risk, Contract and Performance Management
• Identify, train, coach, and develop key subordinates and track performance to ensure that the highest professional and ethical purchasing standards are achieved and maintained and established performance goals are consistently met.

Typical Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Finance and/or related Science or Business degree required; MBA, JD or graduate degree in related field preferred.
• 5-10 years of relevant experience in and with Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Source-to-pay processes and technologies.
• Experience leading procurement category or operational teams in a similar sized company.
• Demonstrated record of accomplishment in negotiating complex contracts and supplier execution.
• Demonstrated record of procurement process and policy implementation and improvement