Strategic Sourcing Manager

Role Purpose:

Strategic Sourcing Manager is responsible for designing and executing the procurement strategy for a specific category, ensuring timely sourcing of goods and services in alignment with technical specifications, cost targets, and organizational standards. This role manages vendor negotiations, oversees compliance with procurement policies, and collaborates with internal teams to ensure procurement supports project execution and creates synergies. The lead drives value through effective cost control, supplier performance, and long-term procurement planning within the category.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Category Strategy Formulation:

Design and implement category-specific procurement strategies that ensure alignment with project needs, specification standardizations, synergies, cost targets, technical specifications, and delivery timelines.

Ensure the timely conduct of Research & Market intelligence including keeping track of Govt. policies and factors influencing supplies and prices i.e. Supply market analysis, Pricing factor analysis, Benchmarking, Spend analysis, Supply Chain Risk analysis.

RFx Management & Technical Alignment:

Coordinate with internal stakeholders such as engineering, planning, and QA/QC teams to ensure that specifications, BOQs, and technical requirements are reflected accurately in RFQs and contracts.

Review and finalize the Request for Proposal (RFP) document to be sent to the shortlisted bidders (covering techno-commercial, Occupational Health and Environmental Services (OHES), Quality system considering principles of Total Cost of Ownership and Supply Chain Risk Management models).

Contracting & Negotiation:

Lead end-to-end negotiations with vendors for long-term rates, framework agreements, and performance guarantees.

Prepare strategies for e-auction and prepare commercial bid comparisons and award recommendations.

Vendor Development & Compliance:

Identify potential suppliers who meet the requirements (analysing supplier database, Supply market analysis, supplier identification)

Develop and manage vendor relationships by assessing capabilities, ensuring prequalification, conducting audits, and negotiating long-term agreements with a focus on performance and compliance.

Prepare supplier segmentation matrix, Supplier performance evaluation criteria and frequency for each supplier segment, and supplier scorecards.

Delivery & Risk Monitoring:

Track category-wise procurement performance through dashboards and reports, ensuring timely resolution of issues related to delivery, pricing, quality, or scope.

Resolve disputes or escalate issues for resolution.

Provide guidance in preparing responses to Category-specific audit queries to ensure adherence to defined governance protocols at team level.

Stakeholder Coordination:

Liaise with Project, Planning, QA/QC, Contracts, and Finance teams for smooth procurement execution and align category procurement with project schedules and cash flow targets.

Handle resolution and re-allocation of queries raised by suppliers / service providers or from other internal stakeholders, during expediting the delivery.

Identify and implement cost-saving opportunities by leveraging volume bundling, value engineering, benchmarking, and market intelligence to drive better commercial outcomes.

Data Management & Performance Reviews:

Collate and analyse data related to various procurement activities (e.g. commodity analysis, supplier debugging, etc.) for respective categories.

Generate category-wise performance reports, procurement dashboards, and deviation analysis.

Lead monthly reviews with team and Head - GCP on progress and challenges.

Educational Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Engineering in Civil / Electrical / Mechanical / Instrumentation. Masters Degree in SCM / Project Management / Operations Management is preferred

Work Experience:

12+ years of category-specific procurement experience in infrastructure, EPC, or industrial projects

Deep understanding of various bidding process (TBCB, limited tender, open tender, conventional, any specific strategy etc.), prepare vendor selection approach and vendor evaluation criteria depending on the nature of the Sub-category

Proficiency in category strategy, Logistics, Supply Chain and Material Management, vendor management, and working knowledge of SAP, SLM, ARIBA, or equivalent e-Auction platforms