Full-Time Principal Sourcing & Vendor Manager

About Blue Cross

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is one of the most recognized and trusted health care brands in the world with 2.5 million members. We’re committed to reinventing health care to improve health for our members and the community. We hope you'll join us.

How Is This Role Important to Our Work?

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Sourcing and Vendor Management professional to join our team. As a key member of our Business Partnerships and Negotiations department, you will be responsible for sourcing, contracting, vendor management, negotiations, and encouraging collaboration between our vendors and business partners. Your expertise in these areas will be essential in ensuring efficient procurement processes, cost savings, and maintaining strong relationships with our vendors. This individual will work with business units to establish and monitor vendor scorecards, as well as quantitative and qualitative measures of performance against contracted Service Level Agreements (SLA). They will align to an assigned business portfolio of vendors under the guidance of Business Partnerships and Negotiations Leadership.

Sourcing

A Day in the Life:

• Identify and evaluate potential suppliers based on quality, cost, reliability, and other relevant factors.
• Conduct market research and gain knowledge to become an expert in the specific vendor category, staying informed about industry trends and standard processes.
• Collaborate with internal partners to understand their requirements and provide procurement support.

Contracting

• Lead and facilitate most complex RFx events on behalf of Business Partnerships and Negotiations team in collaboration with business leadership.
• Draft, review, and negotiate contracts with varying complexity, purchase orders, and service level agreements with suppliers.
• Ensure that contract terms and conditions are favorable and aligned with organizational goals.
• Mitigate contractual risks and ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.

Vendor Management

• Create and maintain strong relationships with vendors, fostering effective communication and collaboration.
• Monitor vendor performance, conduct regular reviews, and address any issues or concerns.
• Find opportunities for performance improvement and cost reduction through vendor optimization.
• Works closely with business partners to ensure SLAs, results, compliance requirements and expectations are adequately incorporated into RFXs and vendor contracts to facilitate the management of vendor performance.
• Communicates with assigned business partners to ensure they are properly educated on Blue Cross expectations throughout the lifecycle of the relationship.
• Works closely with Business Partnerships and Negotiations Leadership to ensure Relationship Managers understand their contractual requirements for any engagement.
• Establish and monitor vendor scorecards (quantitative and qualitative measures of performance against selected SLAs and metrics) to monitor and manage vendor performance based on a defined set of criteria.
• Provides ongoing vendor scorecard reporting and analysis to Relationship Managers and Performance Managers to facilitate their ability to adequately monitor, review and act on vendors operational performance.
• Leads the execution of various vendor management programs, such as quarterly business reviews, semi-annual business portfolio reviews, vendor scorecards, as well as other performance management activities and reporting as required.
• Facilitate regular business reviews with assigned portfolio of vendors to discuss vendor performance reporting, SLAs, results, compliance requirements, other contract expectations, relationship health and improvement plans.
• Provides support to business Executive Leadership, Relationship Managers, and Compliance Managers for problem resolution with assigned Program portfolio vendors.
• Under the guidance of the Business Partnerships and Negotiations Leadership, works closely with Business partners to diagnose poor vendor performance and assists to put in place "get well" plans. Jointly with the Leadership facilitates the resolution of raised vendor-related issues.

Negotiations

• Partner with Executive Leadership to develop negotiation strategies and execution as well as drive cost savings.
• Lead negotiations with suppliers to secure favorable pricing, terms, and conditions!
• Collaborate with partners to understand their needs and align outcomes with organizational objectives.

Collaboration

• Work closely with cross-functional teams such as operations, finance, compliance, security and legal to ensure flawless procurement processes.
• Collaborate with internal partners to develop and implement procurement strategies that align with business objectives.
• Facilitate effective communication and collaboration between internal teams and external suppliers.

Nice To Have

• Bachelors degree in Business or related field

Required Skills And Experiences

• 7+ years of related professional experience. All relevant experience including work, education, transferable skills, and military experience will be considered.
• Prior experience related to health plans, vendor management, sourcing, and contracting activities.
• Ability to create and maintain relationships with leadership across the organization.
• Ability to work independently or on a team.
• Strong problem-solving skills, conflict resolution, facilitation and consensus building skills.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, including presentations.
• Demonstrated experience communicating with diverse internal and external audiences.
• Relationship management skills with internal and external partners.
• Able to influence internal and external partners to achieve desired outcomes.
• Ability to proactively identify and resolve problems.
• Highly organized with a track record of delivering a high level of customer service in a timely manner!

Make A Difference

Blue Cross is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer that values diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, and will not be discriminated against based on race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Reasonable Accommodation for Job Seekers with a Disability: If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquiries to talent.acquisition@bluecrossmn.com.

All roles require a high school diploma (or equivalency) and legal authorization to work in the U.S.

Blue Cross® and Blue Shield® of Minnesota and Blue Plus® are nonprofit independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.