Senior Global Supply Manager - Travel

Rivian•Normal, IL

12d•Onsite

About The Position

The Rivian Supply Chain team is looking for highly motivated and exceptional purchasing professionals to drive value across our indirect spend categories. As a Senior Global Supply Manager, you will serve as a key individual contributor responsible for creating and driving category strategies that support Rivian’s strategic initiatives. You will concurrently lead multiple sourcing projects of medium to large spend and complexity, strategically driving competitive bid processes with minimal leadership oversight. In this role, you will proactively engage stakeholders to align on contract renewals and extensions while providing detailed forecasting to support long-term business plans. You are expected to negotiate most commercial terms of a contract, leveraging market intelligence to secure competitive pricing and optimized contract timing. This role offers the opportunity to identify and manage strategic supplier relationships that provide long-term value to the organization. This position is based onsite in Plymouth, MI / Irvine, CA / Palo Alto, CA / Normal, IL / Atlanta, GA and reports to the Manager, Global Supply Management, Professional Services.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, or Engineering and a minimum of 3 years of procurement experience.
Proven ability to create and drive category strategies that support strategic initiatives.
Deep and wide expertise sourcing and managing global travel categories, including Travel Management Companies (TMCs), airlines, private aviation, hotel chains, ground transportation (car rental agencies & rideshare providers), corporate card programs, UATP cards, relocation programs, and more.
This individual will work with hotel chain account managers to run RFP’s for preferred hotels in addition to managing group blocks of all sizes.
Experience sourcing group blocks, managing event travel, handling travel payments, and working closely with internal stakeholders across departments.
Support specific events that involve travel through researching and comparing available travel and hotel accommodations to identify the best available options and negotiating preferred rates and terms.
Proven track record of analyzing large data sets and optimizing corporate travel policies, driving online booking tool (OBT) adoption, and balancing cost-savings with traveler safety and experience.
Strong understanding of travel-specific pricing models, dynamic global market trends, and industry-standard KPIs (e.g., advance purchase behavior, Hotel CNR %, traveler satisfaction, policy compliance).
Develop strong internal working relationships with all departments, especially Executive Assistants, Marketing, internal security teams, and talent mobility.
Proficient in using required systems to conduct RFI/RFP/RFQs timely and accurately.
Strong distributor of information; able to engage larger groups and align information across working groups.
Independently implements solutions for familiar problems and prioritizes risks effectively.
Operates with moderate autonomy to drive results within an assigned scope or commodity.

Nice To Haves

Strategic management of at least $30M in annual travel spend preferred.

Responsibilities

Concurrently lead multiple projects with medium to large spend and complexity while driving the competitive bid process strategically with minimal leadership oversight.
Proactively identify and provide feedback on enterprise system functionality and efficiency to drive process improvement and support the onboarding of new team members.
Lead supplier prospecting and drive a category strategy while understanding changing economic, political, and technology landscapes to prevent risks.
Negotiate most commercial terms of a contract with some legal involvement, leveraging industry expertise and market intelligence to secure competitive pricing and terms.
Navigate the supply market to gather a real-time understanding of changes and optimize contract timing to best support long-term value for Rivian.
Inform appropriate teams to provide detailed forecasting and costs to support long-term plans, contributing commercial perspectives to business cases.
Drive the project plan for sourcing initiatives, identifying and communicating risk in a timely manner while holding stakeholders accountable for deliverables.
Translate complex datasets into an easily understood manner for executives and stakeholders not familiar with the category.