Senior Procurement Specialist

At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow, and learn, care for yourself and your family, be your true self, and live a full life. You’ll also have access to:

• Career development with an international company where you can grow the career you dream of.

• Employees can qualify for free medical coverage in our Health Investment Plan (HIP) PPO medical plan in the next calendar year.

• An excellent retirement savings plan with a high employer contribution

• Tuition reimbursement, the Freedom 2 Save student debt program, and FreeU education benefit - an affordable and convenient path to getting a bachelor’s degree.

• A company recognized as a great place to work in dozens of countries worldwide and named one of the most admired companies in the world by Fortune.

• A company that is recognized as one of the best big companies to work for as well as the best place to work for diversity, working mothers, female executives, and scientists.

Our Plymouth, MN location is looking for an experience Senior Specialist in strategic procurement who will be responsible for the management of direct procurement category in support of our Structural Heart Division. 

• Proactively identifies areas of opportunity for new business opportunities, process improvement, and cost efficiencies.

• Provides insight to the business unit on how to best develop and leverage Component manufacturers capabilities for the organization(s).

• Develops and implements global commodity/sourcing strategies to support objectives (cost, quality, service, risk mitigation, favorable terms) in the area of direct material commodities, providing the division with a competitive advantage

• Locates, analyzes, and develops a consolidated supplier base that meets current and future commodity needs as communicated by the division

• Understands, tracks, and forecasts the key cost drivers and market factors for assigned commodities

• Compiles market condition information regarding commodities and suppliers and suggests/implements business strategy changes

• Develops cost reduction projects and works with the relevant stakeholders and business units to implement it successfully

• Directs the negotiation and management of contracts/agreements for assigned commodities

• Provides guidance and overall direction to the purchasing/commodity team regarding contract management, agreements, policy development, art of negotiation and other supply chain activities in the spirit of providing mentoring and coaching to develop the teams knowledge, skills and abilities

• Develops risk management strategies and recommends short and long terms strategies with defined risk/benefit strategies to relevant stakeholders

• Identifies alternate sources as necessary to ensure a steady flow of materials and cost competitiveness

• Maintains and promotes sound relationships with both internal and external customers

• Develops cross-functional commodity teams to understand division-wide needs and evaluate suppliers

• Partner with corporate procurement lead and support electronics category procurement strategy for EP and align with overall corporate strategy.

• Bachelor's degree in Business degree, Engineering, or related field

• 5+ years of Procurement and /or Category experience.

• Robust people skills that include developing strong relationships and solving problems

• Strong use Microsoft Office Suite / spreadsheet programs

• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)

• Excellent interdisciplinary, intercultural, influence, and networking skills. International experience

• Ability to develop actionable implementation plans.

• Relevant business process knowledge, as related to Procurement and Category Management.

• Knowledge of category technologies and products

• Good negotiating skills

• Ability to travel approximately up to 5%