Category Specialist - Vendor Management Inventory

City of Edmonton•Edmonton, AB

5d•CA$47 - CA$59•Onsite

About The Position

As a strategic supply chain professional, you will serve as a key architect of the City’s material supply chain, ensuring our frontline teams have exactly what they need to keep Edmonton moving. Reporting to the Manager, Category Management & Logistics, you will take the reins of our Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) program, balancing daily contract administration with proactive coordination across our internal customer groups. You are a collaborative problem-solver who balances analytical rigour with the City’s commitment to financial stewardship. By performing the full cycle of category management activities and building strong partnerships with internal customer teams, you will play a critical part in identifying operational gaps across a multi-site footprint to meet business objectives, increase customer service, and maximize value delivered.

Requirements

Completion of a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Management, Commerce, or Supply Chain Management and four (4) years of relevant full-time work experience, which include a minimum of three (3) years in a procurement environment performing end to end procurement responsibilities OR Completion of a two-year post-secondary diploma or associate degree in a related discipline such as public administration, public policy, supply chain management, business, or project management and six (6) years of relevant full-time work experience, which include a minimum of three (3) years in a procurement environment performing end to end procurement responsibilities
Excellent business and strategic goal setting, critical thinking, decision-making, problem solving, and analytical skills
Excellent listening, verbal, and written communication skills to deliver presentations, facilitate meetings, and build strong professional relationships
Excellent organization and time management skills to work under tight timeframes and balance competing priorities
Ability to perform work with a high degree of accuracy and completeness of documentation
Ability to adapt to rapidly changing situations and conflicting priorities while maintaining a high degree of professionalism
Ability to work highly independently, take initiative, and be resourceful
Strong ability to identify risks and mitigation strategies in procurement processes
Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of procurement practices, policies, procedures, tender and contract law, trade agreements, and sourcing strategies
Comprehensive knowledge of category management methodology, contract management, and supplier relationship management
Knowledgeable in data analytics methodologies and techniques
Strong leadership skills required to provide coaching, oversight, and guidance to team members
Ability to plan and lead contract negotiation processes
Ability to determine appropriate procurement strategies and identify where non-standard processes should apply
Ability to develop and maintain effective and professional working relationships with City Administrators, colleagues, internal collaborators, and suppliers
Commitment to ensuring all strategies, frameworks, and decisions support the City vision and consider the impact to other organizations and business units
Alignment to our Cultural Commitments and Leadership Competencies
Embracing a culture of equity, diversity, reconciliation, and inclusion
Valid Alberta Class 5 driver's licence (or provincial equivalent)
Compliance with the City of Edmonton's safety standards for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Satisfactory Criminal Records Check (CRC) security clearance

Nice To Haves

Completion of a Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP) designation from the Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA) or a Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO) certification from the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council (UPPCC) or equivalent designation is considered an asset
Experience in public sector procurement, tender/contract law, and trade agreement compliance
Experience working with ERP systems (specifically SAP and SAP Ariba) and data analytics tools

Responsibilities

Conduct regular on-site operational reviews, facility visits, and face-to-face consultations with maintenance teams across our 22+ locations to observe inventory workflows and identify service gaps first-hand
Coordinate the day-to-day administrative activities of the VMI program, serving as the central point of contact for the various customer groups, and monitoring ongoing supplier adherence to the contract
Review relationships with internal collaborators and interested or affected parties to define clear roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authority for the various aspects of the program moving forward
Document and standardize end-to-end workflows, establishing clear rules for how items are evaluated, approved, and managed within the program with existing resources
Set up structured communication channels and centralized information repositories to ensure information and program documentation are easily accessible for users
Use insights gained from daily operations, market research, and data analysis to provide recommendations to streamline, optimize, and improve service levels of the VMI program
Identify opportunities, seeking potential cost savings/avoidance, value increase, customer service improvement, operational efficiencies, optimizations, and additional value to be created across the organization
Establish the category objectives, strategies, KPI targets and supplier management strategies
Collaborate with internal customer teams and interested or affected parties to define business requirements, assessing priorities, demand and forecasting
Support the development and maintenance of databases, analytical tools, techniques and systems to analyze and interpret information in support of procurement and sourcing planning as well as decision-making
Perform market research and cost modelling analysis to inform sourcing and negotiation strategies
Develop and provide reports to support effective management of supplier performance and to track and report on program improvements
Work with internal customer teams to compose RFx documents, develop evaluation criteria, weightings, process, strategies, submission and contractual requirements for the RFx process
Manage and maintain internal customer relationships and supplier relationships and contracts
Liaise and consult with internal customer teams to proactively plan ahead for anticipated procurement activities
Consult with and work in conjunction with other subject matter experts such as Law, Information Technology, Finance
Provide advice to internal customer teams on procurement procedures, methods, and approaches
Advise internal customer teams on procurement principles and practices, trade agreements, and contract/tender law
Serve as initial escalation point
Identify improvement opportunities and actively participate in change and improvement initiatives
Perform other related duties as required