Strategic Sourcing Manager

Summary

Join Western Digital as a Commodity Manager and develop the global sourcing strategy for Professional Services. You will be the sourcing expert, liaising with legal and business stakeholders to align sourcing strategies with business goals. Responsibilities include developing negotiation strategies, advising on contract terms, monitoring costs, and recommending cost savings. You will manage supplier relationships, perform should-cost analyses, and implement cost reduction initiatives. Success requires proven results in a fast-paced environment, strong teamwork, problem-solving skills, and excellent communication. This role offers opportunities to drive process improvements and contribute to Western Digital's competitive advantage.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with 3+ years of experience in indirect strategic sourcing with a multi-national organization with an emphasis in Professional Services including but not limited to HR Services, Employee Benefits, temp Labor and Recruiting agencies, Training, Management Services, Consulting, Audit, Financial
• Contract Negotiation / Vendor Mgmt. / Influencing skills
• Experience and expertise with sourcing & contracting ERP tools (SAP and/or Oracle)
• Demonstrated skills in negotiating and formulating Professional Services contracts, understanding cost models and various price structures, management of contractual, IP and labor law risks
• Demonstrated skills in project management
• Ability to work well in a high-pace dynamic environment, handle multiple projects simultaneously, and ensure task completion and deadlines are met as required
• Proficient with Microsoft Office applications: Excel, Word, PowerPoint
• Communicate well in English both in verbal and written form
• Strong project management, organizational, and analytical skills
• Excellent team facilitation and presentation skills
• Ability to present to all levels of management / stakeholders and articulate strategies and performance metrics

Responsibilities

• Develop the global sourcing strategy for the Professional Services category
• Liaison with legal
• Act as Procurement ambassador to the business
• Integrate into the business to ensure complete alignment and deep understanding of the business goals and partner in developing sourcing strategies
• Develop negotiation strategies
• Advise requestors on contract terms and conditions
• Monitor cost and scope of assigned contracts to assure compliance, best value and validate/improve pricing
• Recommend cost savings proposals including alternative sourcing
• Exercise independent judgment within defined practices and procedures to determine appropriate action
• Perform Sourcing and contract related activities for Professional Services in WD
• Ensure that their business owners are supported in a fast-paced, tight deadlines environment
• Provide excellent strategic sourcing support to business partners to ensure a competitive advantage for Western Digital
• Drive improvements in key metrics such as cost, quality, deliverables and cycle-time
• Drive process-improvements
• Assist with projects
• Provide feedback to management on market conditions, supplier relationships, and quality and customer service issues
• Manage supplier relationships, including supplier selection and qualification process, Quarterly business reviews and scorecards, supplier corrective actions, cost reduction programs
• Perform should-cost analysis for major services and spend areas and implement cost reduction initiatives
• Lead and support implementation of best-in-class practices and continuous improvement of systems and processes
• Work with various business stakeholders groups to identify and qualify new or existing capable suppliers, initiate requests for RFX’s, advise requestors with respect to contract terms and conditions
• Create and teach market & supplier analyses, leverages expertise to form sourcing strategies in accordance with market trends, internal & external roadmaps, and WD objectives
• Conduct RFP and lead cross functional teams through the selection process of preferred suppliers with effective scoring criteria to critically evaluate supplier proposals in accordance with company policies
• Lead negotiations on General Procurement agreements, including, but not limited to, Master Agreements, Statements of Work, Change Orders balancing business deliverables, legal interests and pricing
• Conduct analysis on proposals for Professional Services and sales services in support of various business functions
• Analyze total costs, assist business functions with ROI analysis, price and rate benchmarking and negotiate favorable business terms to leverage Western Digital’s purchasing power
• Provide global contract expertise for sourcing of Professional Services products and services for various business units
• Working closely with the stakeholders to establish and execute the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) sourcing strategy, including should cost models, and change in process levers to reduce cost
• Develop Negotiation Plans and Strategies to optimize cost savings and avoidance opportunities
• Develop and share deep understanding and anticipate future developments in the areas of Procurement Policy, BU/Category strategies, as well as maintain strong working knowledge of Benchmark with peers and industry groups to maintain knowledge & continually build expertise to ensure continued robustness and evolution of strategy
• Develop, refine and implement category strategies and tactics that enable the procurement of Professional Services products and services to align with business and deliver highest value
• Add value by becoming the subject matter expert on Professional Services categories/commodities and consulting internal clients on industry trends, benchmarking, and best practices
• Lead cross-functional meetings with various business functions and develop a communication strategy to keep internal clients informed about procurement processes, supplier strategy, and procurement policies
• Manage supplier relationships with focus on supply/contract and cost management
• Mediate supplier issues and resolve customer / supplier contract disputes if necessary
• Lead and participate in periodic business reviews with vendors to review performance and support mutually agreed upon improvement programs as required
• Develop supplier rationalization entitlements for each category
• Evaluate processes and recommend improvements to standardize lifecycle contract and sourcing processes and systems
• Ensure pricing & deliverables as negotiated are included in the contract; coordinate comparison of proposals and final contract terms
• Act as liaison between Legal and the business

Benefits

• Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance
• Annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents
• RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to Western Digital’s Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards
• Paid vacation time
• Paid sick leave
• Medical/dental/vision insurance
• Life, accident and disability insurance
• Tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts
• Employee assistance program
• Other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity
• Tuition reimbursement
• Transit
• The Applause Program
• Employee stock purchase plan
• The Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan