DC Contracts - General Contractor Category Manager

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Date posted

Dec 29, 2024

Job number

1798092

Work site

Up to 50% work from home

Travel

25-50 %

Role type

Individual Contributor

Profession

Supply Chain

Discipline

Sourcing and Category Management

Employment type

Full-Time

Overview

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

​​​​​​​Microsoft Cloud Operations and Innovation (CO&I) is the team behind the cloud. Within CO&I, the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) team is responsible for delivering core datacenter infrastructure for Microsoft’s cloud business. The MS portfolio consists of complex, multi-disciplinary, large scale, multi-year datacenter construction and lease projects. We are looking for a passionate, high-energy individual to help build the cloud datacenters that power the world’s largest online services. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Required Qualifications

Master's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Supply Chain, Data Analytics, Business, Finance or related field AND 5+ years experience in Data Science/Analytics, Finance, Project Management, Supply Chain, and/or Operations OR Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Supply Chain, Data Analytics, Business, Finance or related field AND 6+ years experience in Data Science/Analytics, Finance, Project Management, Supply Chain, and/or Operations OR equivalent experience

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in industry like Data Center / Infrastructure / Power / Oil & Gas industry managing large capital projects with Contractors & Equipment supplier management.

Experience in Supply Chain Management, Commercial Negotiations/Contracting and external Supplier/contractor Management across multiple projects spread across different locations.

Benefits Statement

#EPCCareers
#COICareers

Role Summary

The General Contractor Category Manager will lead category strategy for Datacenter construction contracts across APAC to improve availability, velocity, capability and scalability in Capex construction supply chain. This role involves developing and implementing multi-year sourcing strategies for General Contractors and the lower tier suppliers including M&E subcons, steel structures and precast works, leading supplier qualification and onboarding in collaboration with cross-functional project teams, driving negotiation of framework agreements, and establishing supplier performance standards to achieve project excellence. The individual will collaborate with the sub-regional contract teams and other contract stakeholders to ensure awareness of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and/or defined milestones and deliverables, and drive timeliness and consistency across supply chain requests. He/she will drive early business engagements for highly complex business areas or purchasing categories, manage supplier activity and progress, and develop and execute supplier account plans detailing mutual priorities and focus for the supplier relationship for the upcoming period.

Responsibilities

Compliance

• Collaborates with the sub-regional contract teams and other contract stakeholders to ensure awareness of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and/or defined milestones and deliverables, and to drive timeliness, accuracy, quality, and consistency across supply chain requests. Serves as subject matter expert on the SLA, milestones, and/or deliverables, and manages any escalations related to policy non-compliance. Leverages data to anticipate and mitigate risk and negative business impacts by ensuring compliance with agreed-upon terms, communicating delay potential to stakeholders, and driving the execution of contingency plans cross-functionally and/or cross-regionally as needed.

• Applies an end-to-end understanding of procurement processes and policies, and the trade-offs between Microsoft and key suppliers to drive business impact by applying market intelligence to define, develop, and influence the adoption of channel strategies cross-functionally and/or cross-regionally that enable scalable execution with consistency, accuracy, quality, and timeliness of delivery. Leads decision making around the execution and evolution of various workstream processes, identifies and seeks solutions to compliance areas/gaps, and influences leadership to drive change internally and/or externally.

• Ensures adherence to policy, educates stakeholders and suppliers on policy compliance, and drives the remediation and resolution of sourcing issues. Influences current and future policy direction as needed to mitigate risks across business units and enable suppliers to meet business requirements.

Contracts & Supplier Management

• Creates, maintains, and executes on multi-year sourcing strategy for construction projects across APAC, optimizing costs, ensuring continuity of supply and/or services, and driving benchmarking and alignment across Microsoft. Works cross functionally with senior stakeholders and consults with other industry experts to inform strategy with a global view. Leverages end-to-end sourcing and procurement expertise and benchmark data to identify, revise, and influence the definition of business requirements, manage conflicting priorities and trade-offs, and resolve escalations to execute on sourcing strategies and solutions.

• Integrates business specifications and sourcing strategies for several complex purchasing areas into request for information (RFI) and/or request for proposal (RFP) processes, models operationally efficient supplier management practices, and is accountable for strategic oversight of multi-tier supplier selection. Manages, and improves upon supplier evaluation frameworks, identifies gaps or trends across supplier strategic business and performance reviews, and drives corrective actions. Partners with suppliers to drive innovation and improvement, transform operational capabilities, and proactively identify and manage risk. Evaluates procedural, operational, and/or environmental factors across categories, accounting for key stakeholder relationships and dependencies, analyzing root causes of issues, linking insights to improvement strategies, and influencing the adoption of needed improvements.

• Leads contract and price negotiation activities for one or more purchasing categories cross-functionally and ensures that price, capacity, and strategic business needs are met, while also reflecting Microsoft's cross-functional engagements with suppliers. Identifies systematic and long-term cost reduction opportunities and works across stakeholder teams to drive cost competitiveness.

• Identifies issues related to procurement requests and collaborates with business partners to proactively drive process and system improvements. Engages the supply base to process price validation and deliver accurate pricing to relevant team(s) for purchase order creation. Oversees price and procurement requests via workflow process or technology as applicable in support of product and service requirements, ensuring procedural compliance, and managing the resolution of highly complex pricing issues raised by other sourcing personnel.

• Provides support in the creation and delivery of contract administration plans, assisting in the definition of control processes and approaches that ensure alignment with business requirements and promote continuous improvements in contract administration across organizations. Acts as a primary point of contact for supporting teams in identifying and resolving internal and/or external contract delivery and execution risks. Offers guidance on monitoring the impact of complex change orders to the underlying business case, and works cross-functionally to adjust impact models. Assists in the management of claims, supporting teams in addressing contract disputes and ensuring they are resolved in a timely and effective manner, in line with contract terms. Supports the proper management of contract notices, helping ensure that all required notifications, amendments, and correspondence are documented accurately and communicated promptly to relevant stakeholders.

​​​​​​​Stakeholder Collaboration

• Drives early business engagements for highly complex and/or undefined business areas or purchasing categories with cross functional leadership including product design, quality, and business teams, to share best practices, influence decision-makers, drive action, and optimize sourcing strategies, business requirements, spend, and short- and long-term priorities. Facilitates industry and ecosystem engagements and provides expert consultation with leadership teams on sourcing decisions and optimizations that can be deployed at scale.

• Develops and leads pricing and negotiation strategies for several complex purchasing categories, ensures that strategies clearly articulate tradeoffs, roles, and responsibilities across parties, and gains leadership support for strategies both internally and externally. Anticipates negotiation setbacks, proactively drives action to mitigate contract disagreements, and coaches others on negotiation best practices across internal sourcing teams.

• Manages supplier activity and progress across multiple accounts and complex purchasing categories, developing and executing supplier account plans detailing mutual priorities and focus for the supplier relationship for the upcoming period. Trains external stakeholders during onboarding and identifies engagement programs to improve supplier performance to achieve business goals. ​​​​​​​

Behavioural Attributes

• Can create clarity, generate energy, and deliver success; always be planning for the future.

• Have high integrity – must be ethical and strong value-based individual focused on fairness and maintaining confidentiality.

• Bring high energy – a drive to achieve results in midst of ambiguity and a matrix organization.

• Be a high performer – be able to fit the Microsoft “culture” by effectively multi-tasking and managing priorities; have a “sense of urgency” regarding issue resolution.

• Team player & collaborative – Demonstrates an ability to foster collaborations across teams and stakeholders, leveraging diverse perspectives to achieve common goals. Actively participates in and drives cross-functional initiatives, balancing individual contributions with group success.