One of our major oil and gas clients is seeking a Contract Specialist to work on a 12 - month assignment in their facilities in Houston, TX.

Summary: Provides specialist advice and executes Contracting activities in line with specified guidelines and business requirements to maximize value, and ensure surety of supply at a tolerable risk for the business. Reporting to a Wells Contracting Manager, the Contracts Specialist will be responsible for goods and services relating to drilling activities, including but not limited to OCTG, ROV and associated goods and services. Contracts Specialist will act as an interface with key suppliers and internal stakeholders to develop and execute sourcing plans and category strategies.
Responsibilities:

Procurement Applies Contracts & Procurement processes in alignment with corporate guidelines, and local jurisdictional requirements. Develops effective relationships with internal business leaders to understand business requirements, to forecast demand, and to verify established contracts are effective. Develops collaborative relationships with suppliers to ensure optimum delivery quality and sustained performance in line with business objectives. Supports Contracts & Procurement Leadership teams to provide insight into the current activities and initiatives. Identifies and implements Contracts improvement initiatives Work collaboratively across Supply Chain (Region, Global and across sub-functions) and operational stakeholders to develop and execute category strategies Deliver sustainable unit cost reduction through developing and executing category strategies Ensure category strategy alignment to strategies for categories monitored at a global level Drive collaboration across the region to identify and execute opportunities to reduce external spend through demand, price and productivity (technology) levers
Sourcing Strategy and Planning Develops and executes sourcing activities contributing to the Supply Sourcing Plan. Collects requirements and analyses key data inputs from multiple sources (internal and external) to build robust category and sourcing strategies with a near, mid- and long-term outlook. Develops category strategies that minimise supply risk to the business, optimise cost and contribute to process automation. Validates category strategies and contract coverage to support the Business Strategies and budget. Plans and executes portfolio of sourcing projects enabling category strategies and manage on-time delivery minimising disruption to the business operations. Executes activities that contribute to National content commitments. Develops sourcing and negotiation strategies using market intelligence and best practice tools such as should cost modelling, e-Auctions, TCO analysis Negotiates with suppliers & executing tenders of strategic subcategories to reduce total cost to the business Ensures integration of the category strategy across Supply (Purchasing, inventory and warehousing) to ensure lowest inbound supply chain cost
Tender and Contract Management Develops, publishes and manages tenders and their commercial evaluation in line with sourcing projects. Coordinates the technical and any other non-commercial evaluation of tenders prior to negotiation. Conducts and leads negotiations with suppliers post tender evaluation. Creates, manages and monitors contracts. Performs contract variations in line with business requirements. Develops cost optimisation strategies that deliver cost savings.
Supplier Management Manages assigned portfolio of suppliers supporting the business ensuring optimal usage. Performs supplier selection, qualification & on-boarding in line with local requirements and regulation. Executes supplier performance reviews to track performance with contract and business requirements. Designs and implements supplier development and recognition programs to maintain effective value-based relationships. Collaborates with Inventory Analysis and Optimisation to maintain accurate lead times with Suppliers. Resolves supplier performance issues and escalations. Requirements: Bachelor’s degree – multiple fields such as Supply chain, Business Administration, Engineering, Chemistry. A Masters degree in the above fields or an MBA is desirable. Knowledge of Excel at an intermediate level (e.g., pivot tables & charts, multiple criteria lookups, nested logical/IF formulas, data cleansing, array formulas, etc.). Relevant industry experience with a focus on Supply Chain Management or Drilling and Completion services such as OCTG, ROV and associated goods and services. Experience with ERP systems (SAP) Bi-lingual preferred (English-Spanish) Strong communication skills Advanced strategic thinking skills Advanced problem-solving skills Experience with stakeholder engagement and management Strong business acumen Ability to operate in uncertainty and make strategic decisions based on the situation Proven experience in strategic sourcing, negotiation preparation and execution, category strategy analysis and formulation Proven experience in financial acumen and analysis Proven ability to influence across functions Competency (commercial, technical) in specified category Sound understanding of oil gas industry preferred Ability to analyze complex business processes, risk factors and control systems Risk management skills