• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Building: Studebaker
• Salary Range: $100,000 - $130,000

Position Summary

Reporting to the Director, Construction Sourcing, the Associate Director is responsible for the sourcing of goods and services as well as working as a liaison to the Facilities Department in order to meet the University's construction needs. 

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Strategic:

• Identifies sourcing opportunities for conversion from non-standard agreements to either Master Contracts or University-wide Purchasing Agreements (UwPA’s) based on analysis of university spending data;
• Acts as a liaison with other departments on purchasing matters related to Construction and Facilities commodities, services, and trades.
• Supports university leadership in achieving goals for product cost and availability, services, and MWBE-L utilization.
• Coordinates with Schools and Departments to effectively promote and manage University-wide Agreements;
• Participates in the development and implementation and promotion of the use of university agreement templates;
• Negotiates agreements (i.e., terms, scope, service level agreements, etc.);
• Assists and advises University departments in obtaining the best total value considering quality, service and cost on a timely basis;
• Develops effective working relationships with suppliers in order to negotiate the best possible value, ensure the quality of services (and some goods) purchased, and fully meet the needs of end-users;
• Identifies key supplier partnerships and creates alternate sourcing methods seeks out and identifies new suppliers/sources as necessary;
• Acts as the primary negotiator and the primary University Facilities contact for all indirect purchases on contracts;
• Effectively communicates with satellite Facilities departments, other internal stakeholders, Risk Management, and the University’s legal department to develop and finalize contracts for university-wide Task Orders, Service, Term Consultant, and Pricing Agreements;  
• Enforces SLAs and KPIs in University contracts;
• Ensures on-time delivery of products/services from suppliers;
• Monitors supplier performance and troubleshoots performance issues related to assigned trades and categories.

Transactional:  

• Enforces university purchasing policies and audits university transactions on an as-needed basis;
• Collects all documentation to ensure both compliance and completeness of University Purchase Order requirements in preparation for review by Procurement management; Tracks status of all agreements in the process;
• In conjunction with the customer, ensures that the Scope of Work and contract Terms & Conditions are complete and accurate;
• Interacts with the offices of Facilities, Risk Management, and the Office of the General Counsel;
• Ensures full compliance of all related transactions with university purchasing policies as well as federal and other applicable regulations;
• Facilitates, reviews, and tracks customer and/or supplier requests for waivers relative to university-accepted standard terms and conditions;
• Reviews and manages consultant/contract queue relative to outstanding customer requests and escalates as required;
• Reviews and manages expected and/or agreed deadlines and prioritizes accordingly; Develops, negotiates, awards and administers contracts, purchase orders, and change orders that take maximum advantage of the University’s spending leverage;
• Processes Purchase Requisitions/Change Orders/Contracts of up to $50,000 utilizing Purchasing systems and converts to appropriate Purchase Order.

Training, Communications, and Education:

• Assists the Director, Construction Sourcing in the ongoing development and refinement of related materials supporting the contracting process (i.e., user guides, on-site training, forms, etc.);
• Conducts education, communication, and training activities to promote increased competency within the University community;
• Represents the Purchasing Department at customer and supplier meetings;
• Provides assistance in the ongoing development and refinement of Purchasing website relative to contracting initiatives;
• Provides ongoing participation in the development of training and web-based documentation relative to contracts and consulting-type agreements.

Performs other related duties and special projects, as assigned. 

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree plus a minimum of five years of related purchasing experience in a contract management-related area, including experience with automated purchasing systems. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of the Design and Construction process; construction terminology, estimating, scheduling, bidding, and contracting, labor and material analysis, trade and union functions;
• Prior design and construction project management work experience;
• Experience with the development of agreements including familiarity with AIA and construction-related contracts and documents is strongly preferred; 
• Familiarity with unions, labor rates, and general construction knowledge;
• Ability to understand architectural and engineering drawings preferred.

Other Requirements

• Must have a general understanding of the laws, rules, and regulations related to UCC;
• Ability to review and understand policies and processes in order to facilitate improvements and standardization of material and services;
• Ability to analyze data to identify strategic sourcing opportunities;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) along with a demonstrated ability to prepare reports, summaries, and analyses and present findings and recommendations; 
• Demonstrated ability to collect and analyze data and evaluate information;
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational and problem-solving skills, and have the ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously; 
• Able to effectively manage high transaction volumes on an ongoing basis and multiple projects;
• A self-starter and capable of operating with minimal supervision; 
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, including active listening skills;
• Must be able to negotiate issues and resolve problems;
• Ability to work closely and effectively with a diverse group of university administrators, characterized by strong consensus-building and relationship-building skills;
• In addition, the successful candidate must be able to work well with all levels of management, both internally and externally, and be flexible in nature with sound judgment; 
• Must have a passion for excellent customer service and commitment to exceptional quality.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.