Director of Procurement and Strategic Contracts

Auberge Resorts•Bethesda, MD

9d•$175,000 - $200,000

About The Position

Join our team as Director of Procurement and Strategic Contracting, reporting to the Auberge’s Chief Financial Officer. You will be responsible for driving strong financial performance while creating a culture of performance excellence and accountability within the management team. We look to the person in this position to deliver superior financial performance, ensure operational efficiencies, implement effective financial controls, implement practical, non-bureaucratic policies and procedures, and negotiate high-value enterprise-wide contracts. This role will be responsible for identifying opportunities and negotiating enterprise-wide strategic contracts to improve profitability, guest service, and brand value.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, and/or logistics within the hospitality industry. Experience in similar or parallel industries would also be considered.
A bachelor's degree in business, finance, or hospitality.
Possess a high level of proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and accounting software.
Ability to assemble, analyze, and understand integrated spreadsheets and complex technical information.
Strong qualitative and quantitative analytical skills; ability to take large volumes of complex information and present it in a clear and concise manner to senior management and owners
Deep experience with vendor-integrated procurement systems, policies and procedures, and management or operating agreements
Outstanding negotiating skills and ability to achieve organizational objectives in the contracting process.
Advanced knowledge of procurement technology platforms, e-sourcing tools, and analytics capabilities
Extensive experience negotiating and reviewing contracts and master service agreements.
Have a working knowledge of contract administration and law, and can effectively collaborate with legal counsel and operations leaders to negotiate contracts.
Ability to create and cultivate strong vendor relationships to maximize hotel and brand value.
Proven ability to lead and develop a high-performing team
Experience managing large-scale sourcing initiatives for hotel supply categories such as amenities, uniforms, AV, scent/music programs, and operational consumables
Have a proven record of initiating and executing cost-reduction/productivity-improvement programs.

Responsibilities

The Director will serve as the authority on developing and interpreting procurement guidelines, policies and procedures for a variety of procurement issues; providing advice to home office and hotel leaders to collaborate in the creation of procurement strategies.
Act as a procurement business partner to business disciplines, guiding products and category management, strategic sourcing, policy, and risk management.
Establish, continuously refine, and implement product category management and sourcing strategies for procurement across the enterprise, ensuring alignment with discipline partners and company objectives.
Stay abreast of demand patterns and category spend, cost benchmarks, and business trends to identify potential suppliers, advise on competitive dynamics, and proactively work with stakeholders to modify strategies to meet enterprise-wide requirements, manage risk, and optimize costs.
Identify and develop strategies to mitigate supply chain risks, ensuring business continuity and stability.
Develop strategies to manage and optimize supplier relationships, ensuring quality and cost-effectiveness.
Recommend new sourcing strategies, process improvements, and supplier relationships for the enterprise.
Provide thought leadership and end-to-end ownership of sourcing events for major initiatives.
Develop and implement effective internal tracking mechanisms and measurements to monitor the competitive bidding process.
Leverage strong analytical and communication skills to lead and assist others in managing all aspects of competitive bids, including analyzing and scoring multiple proposals, creating corresponding business cases (including financial reports), and presenting clear and concise summaries of recommended options.
Work collaboratively with cross-functional teams across the enterprise and within Global Procurement to achieve shared goals.
Define and monitor the group procurement performance plan with a focus on operational efficiency, cost reduction, high quality, and risk management
Manage global procurement processes, both tactical and strategic, continuously improving robustness, quality, speed, and cost effectiveness
Monitor comprehensive KPIs including financial performance, operational efficiency, and strategic objectives achievement
Work closely with relevant key stakeholders within Business Units to understand their needs and challenges and drive change where needed
Prepare and manage the procurement budget, including identifying future requirements to achieve Auberge procurement and strategic objectives
Ensure innovation in procurement operations and continuous improvement across all categories and regions
Ensure procurement strategies align with corporate sustainability goals, ethical sourcing standards, and supplier diversity initiatives.
Develop and implement an effective and efficient competitive bid process for home office and the hotels.
Develop and successfully implement a company-wide procurement strategy, policies, and procedures that align with Auberge’s service excellence goals and are optimized for profitability.
Successfully implement a global hotel procurement platform that maximizes profitability through leveraging integrated GPO relationships and effective internal controls.
Effectively manage the global hotel procurement platform as the subject matter expert and ensure compliance with the system's internal controls, while achieving the strategic objectives.
Deliver actionable performance insights to improve the effectiveness of the procurement processes and controls.
Roll out portfolio-wide analytics tools and benchmarking systems.
Equip finance and operational leaders with insights to improve margin performance without compromising guest experience.
Establish a scalable procurement framework that grows with the brand.
Deliver improved profitability through GPO participation, compliance, and strategic contract implementation.