Description
WGU is seeking a strategic and collaborative Manager, Sourcing to help plan, direct, and coordinate the procurement of Academic software and services across the university.
Responsibilities
- Lead sourcing, tendering, due diligence, and contract negotiation activities for software, services, and other assigned categories.
- Review planning, forecasting, and trend analysis to anticipate business needs and support sourcing strategies.
- Oversee the development and review of specifications for software, services, and supplies prior to market engagement.
- Guide stakeholders and vendors through sourcing and competitive bidding processes, ensuring thorough evaluation of vendor capabilities, strengths, and gaps.
- Negotiate pricing, terms, and conditions to minimize risk and maximize value for the university.
- Monitor marketplace trends and pricing to ensure competitiveness across assigned categories.
- Manage and develop a team of sourcing specialists, including hiring, coaching, performance management, and cross-functional coordination.
- Support the purchasing process within the Procure-to-Pay lifecycle, including vendor registration, requisition management, and purchase order issuance.
- Drive effective utilization of procurement technologies, including Workday, ServiceNow Procurement and Event Management, and other sourcing tools.
- Contribute to procurement policies, procedures, training materials, instructions, and webinars that promote best practices across the organization.
- Perform other job-related duties as assigned.
Requirements
- Bachelor's Degree in Business, Supply Chain, or a related field.
- 5 years of experience with procurement or purchasing.
- 1 year in a leadership role.
Core Capabilities
- Strong negotiation and organizational skills.
- Excellent decision-making and problem-solving abilities.
- Excellent skills in Microsoft Office Suite.
- Ability to learn new technologies and adapt to changing priorities.
- Ability to communicate effectively to improve teamwork, decision-making, and collaboration.
- Ability to work cooperatively across teams and organizational levels to achieve shared objectives.
- Ability to navigate ambiguity, manage risk, and make informed decisions with incomplete information.
- Ability to remain confident under pressure and effectively manage challenging situations.
- Strong outcomes-based orientation with a proven ability to set and achieve goals.
- Ability to foster a sense of belonging, build team morale, and lead cross-functional collaboration.
- Ability to take on new challenges, quickly learn unfamiliar tasks, and share knowledge with others.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare
- Health savings account and flexible spending account
- Basic and voluntary life insurance
- Disability coverage
- Accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages
- Legal and identity theft coverage
- Retirement savings plan
- Wellbeing program
- Discounted WGU tuition
- Flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual
- Flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual
- 11 paid holidays
- Other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave