Senior Specialist

The organization is a flagship gigaproject under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative, aiming to create a world-class entertainment, cultural and lifestyle destination. As a multibillion-dollar project, it will encompass vast infrastructure development, hospitality, retail and service sectors, requiring robust strategic procurement management.

The Senior Specialist will support activities for development and execution of procurement strategies across key categories such as building materials, design consultants, contractor services, FF&E, OS&E, etc., ensuring alignment with the gigaproject’s strategic goals. This role is pivotal in aligning category strategies with business objectives and ensuring strategic and operational procurement excellence across critical categories. The Senior Specialist will also support the Strategic Procurement team in cross-functional engagements with development & procurement teams for strategic procurement planning, supplier relationship management, and operational execution for assigned categories.

**1. Category Strategy Development**
- Support development and implementation of category strategies aligned with the gigaproject’s procurement objectives, focusing on cost optimization, quality, supply security, and supplier performance.
- Conduct detailed analyses of appropriate levers across categories to extract maximum value from the procurement spend, including non-commercial levers such as specification improvement, partnerships, etc., identifying opportunities for strategic sourcing, supplier consolidation, volume purchasing and value engineering.
- Support market analyses to identify trends, cost-saving opportunities, and strategic negotiation levers.
- Support category demand analyses to ensure category plans meet project and operational needs.

**2. Supplier Management**
- Conduct activities supporting supplier relationship management with critical suppliers, e.g., maintaining communications, organizing meetings, gathering and providing shared data.
- Conduct supporting analyses to develop long-term framework agreements with suppliers.
- Support development of supplier performance monitoring frameworks and ensure adherence to quality and delivery standards.

**3. Operational Excellence**
- Provide support to Business Unit (BU) procurement teams on operational procurement needs.
- Track and report on category performance metrics, identifying areas for improvement.

**4. Stakeholder Collaboration**:

- Support the Manager in cross-functional engagements with business unit teams on category topics
- Provide intelligence on category-related matters across Central Development Unit (CDU) and BU teams.
- Support in building relationships with local suppliers and contractors, driving localization efforts that meet Local Content and Government Procurement Authority (LCGPA) requirements and ensure that procurement activities support local economic development.
- Help identify suitable international suppliers to secure competitive pricing, strategic innovation partnerships and cutting-edge technologies for key project components.
- Support BU teams in execution of category strategy as needed.

**Requirements**:

- 3+ years of experience in strategic procurement or category management in large-scale projects, ideally in construction, real estate, or urban development.
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Engineering, or related fields.
- Preferred: CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply), CPSM (Certified Professional in Supply Management), or CSCP (Certified Supply Chain Professional).
- Proven expertise in managing categories such as building materials, FF&E, OS&E, site preparation, etc., within KSA, as well as strong negotiation skills.
- Proven track record of working in cross-collaborative environments and ensuring differing goals and needs align with overarching organizational strategy.
- Fluency in English is required, with proficiency in Arabic highly desirable.