Director, Procurement

American Equity•West Des Moines, IA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

At American Equity we offer leading annuity products that help empower our clients to fulfill their needs and wants in retirement. Our success comes from hiring high-energy individuals who embody the beliefs that drive our unique culture. We currently fund over half a million retirements nationwide, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, for over thirty years with satellite offices in Charlotte, NC and New York, NY. This position sits onsite in our downtown Des Moines, IA office GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE JOB: The Director, Procurement is responsible for the development, management, and operation of a comprehensive enterprise procurement program that assures the effective and policy-compliant sourcing, contracting, and purchasing of direct and indirect products and services, including on-premises and platform-based (SaaS/PaaS-based) solutions in support of functional requirements underlying business operations. This role also manages vendor relations through supplier and vendor quality and contract Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance discussions and assesses solution efficacy and lifecycle viability as part of contract renewals negotiations. Significant concentration of purchasing responsibilities within this program lie in the technology arena, either directly through software and hardware purchases from technology vendors/resellers, or indirectly through the integration of purchased solutions into a complex corporate technical infrastructure. Additional key focus areas include but are not limited to: Consulting, Finance/Accounting, Marketing, Distribution, Insurance Operations, and Human Resources vendors. This is a leadership role that includes both strategic decision-making and direct employee management responsibilities, along with independent judgment and discretion within complex vendor negotiations of contracts that often exceed $1M and impact multiple business units within the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business administration, finance or related field of study; plus eight (8) years of related experience or equivalent education and/or experience. Master’s degree in a related discipline is desirable.
Minimum of three (3) years of direct supervisory experience in a management role.
A proven track record of negotiating large, complex agreements with favorable prices, terms and conditions with both national and international vendors.
A meaningful work history demonstrating increasing levels of achievement with complex contract negotiations, vendor management, and sourcing strategies in the procurement field is required. A history of technology-specific buying is preferred.
Strong business acumen including ability to understand non-technical business topics.
Broad understanding of procurement best practices and procedures, especially in the technology industry.
Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office Suite.
Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills.
Effective written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively present information and respond to questions.
Demonstrate competency in time management techniques required to actively manage multiple competing priorities.
Customer service orientation.
Strong numerical skills, and strong attention to detail.
Ability to work cooperatively and successfully with employees, customers, and other outside third parties.
Strong organizational and planning skills, coupled with excellent time and task management.
Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and policy and procedural documents.
Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals and technical/operational procedures.
Ability to successfully handle pressure and meet deadlines in a fast-paced work environment.
Minimal travel (approximately 5-10%) is expected in this role; travel may occur for vendor meetings and assessments, or training needs.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in a related discipline is desirable.
Certified Purchasing Manager (CPM), Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM), Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), or Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) is preferred.
A history of technology-specific buying is preferred.

Responsibilities

Develops, implements and monitors a strategic and comprehensive enterprise procurement program to ensure that purchasing decisions adhere to defined policies and processes, vendor management is aligned with applicable risk and regulatory considerations, and that purchasing contractual terms and costs are optimized.
Manages third-party vendor contracting relationships necessary for the strategic and risk management needs of the business.
Leads key competitive sourcing engagements through the translation of business objectives into defined requirements.
Identifies areas of consolidation, integration (with American National), and cost savings across procured products and preferred vendors.
Leads a team of employees with responsibility for managing the employee life cycle and experience, including tasks such as the selection and retention of talent, continuous feedback and performance management, reward and recognition, corrective action and employee development.
Responds to vendor requests both accurately and timely and escalates to management instances where negative feedback is received or where established service level agreements (SLA) will not be met.
Coaches, mentors, and leads departmental staff toward appropriate business objective completion as well as career track progression.
Identifies third party vendor risks and takes steps to mitigate contractually and monitor when mitigation is not possible.
Develops and executes department management and strategies in collaboration with department lead and key stakeholders, inclusive of requirements analysis, sourcing, contracting, negotiation and vendor management.
Collaborate with executives to assess and develop policy for risk mitigation.
Drives the creation and analysis of Requests for Proposal (RFP), Proofs of Concept (POC), and similar solution analysis activities.
Evaluates vendor quotations, proposals, and bids with technology and business stakeholders to collaboratively recommend the best solutions as a combined element of product, vendor, service, quality, terms, and pricing.
Leads complex negotiations with vendors and suppliers to arrive at the most favorable contract, service, and pricing outcomes across Master Services Agreements (MSA), Statements of Work (SOW), Service Orders, and similar contractual binders.
Collaborates with Legal to assess and evaluate contractual terms; clarifies the scope/need for specific procurement initiatives while recommending contract improvements as part of our legal reviews.
Conducts post-procurement performance reviews to assess the efficacy of product implementations after acquisition, reports findings to executives.
Maintains inventories of existing vendor relationships, points of contact, service and escalation paths, SLA and compliance, and current committed spending.
Develops and provides relevant analytics and metrics across departments.
Manages relationships with external vendors and internal stakeholders relative to purchased products and their overall lifecycle management.
Develops and communicates procurement sourcing procedures and operating standards to staff throughout the organization including senior leadership.
Maintains individual skill set by seeking out training in response to emerging procurement trends and strategies within the field; suggest tangible improvements to corporate operations (where beneficial).
Manages workflow of enterprise contracting lifecycle across all lines of business.
Responsible for creation and socialization of enterprise vendor risk management program and activities, collaborating with senior management and key stakeholders.
Performs other related work as assigned.