SCM Contracts Agent - Power Delivery

Southern Company • Birmingham, AL

12d • Hybrid

About The Position

This position provides daily contracting and sourcing support—including requests for proposals, contract development, negotiations, risk mitigation, tracking, and analysis—to meet the service and material sourcing needs of our Power Delivery business partners. The position also works closely with category management teams to support system-wide contracting requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance, Law or other relevant technical disciplines preferred.
• Experience in contract sourcing and development, including direct experience with negotiating contract terms and conditions for services contracts, strongly preferred.
• Experience in contract drafting, contract language and law is preferred.
• Experience with Maximo, GEP, and other SCM technology is preferred.
• Knowledge and understanding of contracts, contract preparation and negotiation.
• Thorough understanding of contract procurement and administration controls.
• Must be able to negotiate contracts that maximize business financial results, minimize business risk, and achieve internal client satisfaction.
• Self-motivated and ability to work with minimal supervision.
• Strong customer focus with ability to build and maintain relationships with internal customers, suppliers, contractors and other key stakeholders.
• Effectively handle tight deadlines, large workloads, and multiple projects with positive enthusiasm.
• Superior written and oral communication skills, to successfully negotiate contract terms and write such contracts in a clear, logical and concise manner.
• Ability and determination to support multiple projects under tight deadlines.
• Effective influencing and consensus-building skills.
• Strategic focus on problem-solving.
• Excellent organizational skills required to plan and manage assigned workload and customer expectations effectively to meet internal business unit requirements.
• Ability to think strategically and apply broad seasoned judgment to decisions.
• Highly Effective Communications skills.
• Strong Customer Service skills.
• Analytical and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to effectively work and participate in cross-functional and cross-company teams at all levels in the organization to ensure buy-in by multiple companies when working on system projects.
• Knowledge of company structure and organizations with general understanding of business unit operations.
• Attention to detail is critical.
• Must demonstrate behaviors consistent with the Southern Company values of Safety First, Intentional Inclusion, Act with Integrity, and Superior Performance.
• Self-motivated.
• Proactive.
• Strategic Problem Solver.
• Customer focused.
• Strong work ethic.
• Exhibits a strong sense of urgency.
• Promotes teamwork.
• Practices ethical behavior.
• Displays creativity, initiative, and flexibility.
• Learns from and utilizes experience.
• Available to travel (occasionally) as needed which may require an overnight stay.
• Candidate must have a valid driver’s license.

Responsibilities

• Provide daily support for all sourcing & contracting activities from cradle to grave, including advising customers on Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) preparation, leading pre-bid meetings, reviewing offers, cost & price analysis, negotiations, risk assessment, preparing contract documents and agreements; assisting in contract administration, incorporation of changes, expediting & follow-up, disposition of claims, and contract closeout.
• Champion the adoption of AI and other digital technologies within the contracting function by promoting best practices, identifying process improvement opportunities, and applying AI-enabled solutions to reduce manual effort, enhance contract lifecycle management, improve data quality, and support strategic sourcing and supplier management objectives.
• Lead sourcing projects, assist in developing and implementing strategic programs for the procurement of Equipment and Services.
• Develop the sourcing strategy for low to high-risk services, supporting approximately 20-25 active projects concurrently with defined turnaround parameters for all contract-related documents (RFPs, Master Agreements, Non-Disclosure, Amendments, Statements of Work, etc.) throughout the year.
• Manage relationships with the company’s vendors and ensure efficient and transparent contracting and negotiation processes to reduce costs, improve commercial terms, and reduce duplication of efforts.
• Work cross-functionally to improve and streamline processes.
• Ensure that overall risk is properly controlled and mitigated.
• Develop a detailed knowledge of the Southern Company and Operating Company procurement policies/procedures and become a Subject Matter Expert (SME).
• Build and maintain a detailed knowledge and understanding of essential legal provisions, contract common law, contract formation issues, data security issues, remedies, liquidated damages, litigation avoidance, and dispute resolution.
• Ensure all required terms and conditions are included in procurement documents and work with legal, risk management, and financial services (accounting) to resolve contractor exceptions and issues in a timely manner.
• Draft contract language, including special conditions for complex, non-standard purchases.
• Identify and evaluate new sources of supply, domestic and globally, when necessary to meet customer needs, including performing market research and analysis.
• Build and maintain a fundamental to proficient knowledge of contracting systems utilized in daily support.
• Engage in conflict resolution to fix identified issues.
• Maintain the primary interface with contractors in an ethical and respectful manner while protecting the company's interests.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary
• Annual incentive awards for eligible employees
• Health, welfare and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being
• Additional compensation, such as an incentive program, may be available

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level