Senior Category Buyer

About us

At National Grid we are committed to delivering safe and reliable energy to the customers and communities we serve. We are one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world. We are proud of the contributions our work and our people make to the prosperity and wellbeing of our customers, communities, and investors.

National Grid has embarked on ambitious capital projects and construction programs designed to build the infrastructure to enable our renewable electric future. Projects include upgrades to transmission lines, substations and distribution network infrastructure that will support renewable energy and reliability initiatives and other programs. 

National Grid has a focus on providing electricity and gas to millions of its existing customers, by continuously updating its infrastructure to provide the most safe and reliable system.

Job Purpose

Senior Buyer is a key role at National Grid, working with suppliers, stakeholders, and procurement colleagues to run bids, negotiate agreements, category strategy development, with a focus on driving savings benefits and efficiencies. 

They develop and own key supplier and stakeholder relationships, able to evaluate supplier risks and develop mitigation plans.

As a key member of our procurement group, they deliver innovative thinking supported by detailed analytics, data science, market research, and subject matter expertise, to help our category teams and stakeholders make effective sourcing decisions.

Through business partnering the procurement group enhances the relationship and from collaborative efforts bridges the gap of applying critical thinking, helping drive the goals of the company forward, providing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and risk mitigation efforts, while further evaluating our supplier base. 

Key Accountabilities

 The following competencies are core to the Senior Buyer role:

Category Management: 
The Senior Buyer must have the ability to think independently and bring viable solutions to the forefront that are actionable
•    Experience with Developing Category Strategies - With support of the Category Manager/Lead, work with Stakeholders to evaluate and establish business needs, apply forward thinking skills establishing flexible long-term category strategies with value options & clear supplier performance criteria, while thinking “out of the box” longer term to minimize and mitigate risks
•    Supplier Engagement - Regularly engage with suppliers to seek feedback, discuss improvement opportunities, and resolve issues, while ensuring continuous enhancement of supplier performance and alignment with National Grid's objectives
•    Analytics - Utilize varied and complex data sets to identify gaps and new opportunities to drive benefits through the contracts End to End lifecycle, while implementing analytics as part of the Category Strategy
•    Market Research - Conduct industry analysis and evaluate supplier performance, incorporating the research into the Category Strategy and associated contract initiatives/bidding events

Procurement/Strategic Sourcing Process (SSP)
•    Source Events (RFx, Sole Source, Direct Negotiate) – Leads the execution of multiple sourcing initiatives using tailored procurement strategies to optimize value, mitigate risk, and support business objectives
•    Stakeholder Coordination - Develops and maintains relationships with business units and suppliers, while furth understanding the needs and issues that each side faces. At times acting as the interface/bridge between both parties
•    Bid Analysis - Analyzes responses to complex bid requests, points out commercial differences, and makes succinct recommendations in selecting appropriate suppliers for contract awards
•    Process Management and Improvement - Drive continuous improvement to identify and eliminate waste in the extended E2E Supply Chain. Identify innovative procurement solutions that provide savings benefits and process efficiencies for the organization. Ability to take those ideas and clearly articulate the change solution/improvements to various stakeholders and change board
•    Total Cost of Ownership - Evaluate and apply the concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) and supplier/ contract switching costs to support decision making options
•    Commercial Negotiation - Capable of preparing negotiation strategies with clarity of desired outcomes and conducting complex negotiations successfully under aggressive time demands
•    Understanding Counterparty - Has comprehensive understanding of supplier's position, desired outcomes, and leverage points with the ability to maximize the benefits to the company while maintaining a good working relationship with suppliers
•    Build KPI – Work with contract management to evaluate and build appropriate supplier performance measurements (KPls) into contractual frameworks

Supplier Relationship Management: The Senior Buyer will regularly engage with category suppliers to seek feedback, discuss improvement opportunities, and resolve issues, ensuring continuous enhancement of supplier performance and alignment with National Grid's objectives

•    Foundation Criteria - Identifies critical suppliers and creates appropriate engagement plans to ensure our Supply Chain risk profile and inputs to continuous improvement are proactively managed
•    Drive Value - Demonstrates a collaborative approach with supply base and develops integrated plans to drive appropriate value for business and customer requirements

Qualifications

•    Bachelor's degree (B.A or B.S) required; in supply chain or business management degree preferred, masters degree
•    Professional Certification in Supply Chain or Contract Management (I.E. CPSM and APICS)
•    5+ Years experience in a procurement role
•    Experience in the $10 – 20M spend range with contract and framework/multiyear agreements
•    Strategic sourcing, contract negotiations and vendor management, as is a strong working knowledge of ERP systems such as SAP and ARIBA. Also, working knowledge of Power Bi, etc.
•    The candidate must have strong interpersonal skills, specifically in communications across a multi-national and matrixed organization. 
•    Candidate should be proficient in planning, project management, stakeholder engagement, and business analysis
•    Ability to clearly articulate one’s position and be able to influence others 
•    Act as a mentor to other buyers in the organization
•    An equivalent combination of education and extensive subject matter expertise along with procurement process experience may be accepted as a satisfactory substitute for the specific education requirements listed above
  

 Additional Qualifications
•    In some cases, experience with bidding construction projects is a plus (EPC, EPCM; GMP, Design/Bid/Build, etc.) which includes full depth of knowledge of several models that can be articulated to the business that will help with the understanding of the pros & cons of each further acting as a trusted advisor for the proposed selection of the most appropriate model  

More Information

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At National Grid, we work a hybrid work schedule which generally means that some days you will work in the office and some days you will work remotely. This can vary and is at your manager's discretion.  Applicants for these positions can be located in any of our service territories (New York and Massachusetts) or any state that borders New York and Massachusetts, and you must reside within a reasonable driving distance to your respective office.