Job Title: Contract Specialist
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Type: 6 months contract w/extension possibilities
Summary:
The Business Contract Operations Specialist will work as an integral member of the NA Business Operations team, managing the processes associated with creating vendor agreements, including service agreements, work orders, change orders and purchase requisitions. Responsibilities will include reviewing all submissions in detail for accuracy and completeness, partnering with internal stakeholders such as Legal, Procurement and Finance, processing agreements and serving as an expert user of the financial and legal systems. The Business Contract Operations Specialist will also manage brand marketing budget trackers, ensuring accurate capture of spend, accruals, and forecasts in a timely manner.
Essential Functions
- Serve as a subject matter expert on the end-to-end processes associated with initiating, and then managing, new and existing relationships with suppliers.
- Proactively oversee the review and approval of new agreements and the creation of associated purchase requisitions and/or purchase orders, ?100 million annually
- Work in conjunction with business partners, Legal and Finance to help ensure that required documentation is obtained, pertinent risk assessments are conducted, and all associated timelines are met.
- Develop and maintain expertise in SAP, Smartsheets, and the Legal and Risk Assessment tools, proactively contributing suggestions for improvement and updating associated documentation as needed.
- Partner with assigned business functions, effectively communicating milestones, due dates and contractual commitments; develop and provide monthly reports on contract statuses, responding to all associated questions in a timely manner.
- Proactively identify potential business critical challenges and work in conjunction with management to implement solutions.
- Attend quarterly collaboration meetings with Finance and Legal; stay up to date on financial milestones, best practices, system updates, and any relevant compliance requirements.
- Model Procurement Coordinator excellence. Represent NA Business Operations as an active Global Advisor to the procurement coordinator community to knowledge share and provide process improvements that might be implemented globally.
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- 3+ years of relevant experience
- Demonstrated success in managing supplier-partners including third party service providers
- Prior experience with budget development and management
- Working knowledge of financial processes, technologies (e.g. SAP, Salesforce), compliance and regulatory requirements
- Proven ability to collaborate effectively with internal and external partners to meet a common goal
- Demonstrated excellence in organizational and communication skills
- Effective problem solver with ability to think independently
- Must be able to work in a highly energetic, flexible, changing and fast paced environment Required/Preferred Education and Licenses
- Bachelor's Degree
- Project Management Professional (PMP) designation or equivalent, a plus
