Purchasing (Contract Specialist II)

King County•Seattle, WA

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking career procurement professionals to become part of a growing world class organization. We are looking for enthusiastic, forward thinking, agile, and customer service driven employees to add to our great team. Our current opening is for multiple Contract Specialist II positions on the Goods & Services team. About Procurement & Payables: Our value stream begins with purposeful procurement planning, incorporates strategic sourcing, a streamlined solicitation process, and post award metrics to ensure that our contracts are providing the quality, cost, delivery, and service we expect. We leverage people, process, and technology to achieve these outcomes. Our Goods and Services staff is responsible for procuring materials, supplies, equipment, and services in support of King County's operational needs. About King County: King County is the largest County in Washington State and the 11th most populous in the United States. King County is striving to be the best-run government in the United States and focused on many key initiatives, such as Equity and Social Justice and sustainability. It is the financial, economic, and industrial center of the Pacific Northwest region. The County provides a broad range of services, including public transportation, road construction and maintenance, wastewater treatment, agricultural services, parks and recreation facilities, law enforcement, criminal detention, rehabilitative services, court services, tax assessments and collections, land use planning and permitting, zoning, public healthcare, emergency medical services, election services, animal control, and the disposal of solid waste. We seek employees whose behavior is in alignment with our division's core values: Respect, Teamwork, Results, and Innovation. We are looking for staff members who exhibit a strong sense of team-oriented camaraderie and who understand and wholly embrace the value and importance of providing outstanding customer service to both internal and external customers. We need employees who aren't afraid to bring creative ideas and suggestions to the workplace and have a keen ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with their customers and co-workers.

Requirements

Ability to perform research, analyze and solve problems
Ability to work individually and collaboratively as a team member
Ability to think differently, are eager to try new things and challenge yourself to improve processes
Ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, contract terms, policies, and procedures
Have critical thinking skills and bring techniques to reduce waste and increase efficiency
Strong communication, interpersonal, writing and customer service skills
Intermediate level of technology proficiency using MS Office Productivity tools in your daily work
Ability to manage your time and adapt to changing priorities, work on multiple priorities and projects simultaneously, meet quick deadlines, and produce timely and quality work products.

Nice To Haves

Oracle EBS, Oracle Cloud or related experience utilizing procurement technology
Procurement Certification(s) such as CPPB (Certified Professional Public Buyer), CPSM (Certified Professional in Supply Management) and/or CPSD (Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity)
Experience with LEAN processes and principles
Experience with SharePoint, MS Teams and other collaborative online tools

Responsibilities

Interact closely with agency staff throughout King County, and work with suppliers and contractors to ensure that county business is conducted openly, inclusively, and provides the best value
Develop alternative contracting methods and appropriate procurement and contract documents
Exercise independent judgment and initiative when working on issues where established guidelines or procedures may not exist
Determine bidding requirements, selection criteria and general terms and conditions
Develop scope of work and specifications with clients
Facilitate contract negotiations and prepare contract terms and conditions for execution
Hold evaluation meetings, interviews, proprietary meetings, and debriefs with consultants and County staff
Support spend analysis and benchmarking for best practices at the category level
Support proactive procurement forecasting in conjunction with our agencies
Ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, contract terms, policies, and procedures
Prioritize work by identifying critical issues and creating focus, and demonstrate effective and efficient time management
Read situations quickly, negotiate solutions and resolve conflict through focused listening and the identification of common ground
Provide excellent customer service, and establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders
Build rapport with people from diverse backgrounds through active, attentive listening and respect for differing points of view
Use analysis to solve difficult problems with effective solutions and identify problems that may not be initially obvious