Sr. Associate, Procurement

Who are we?

Sidewalk Labs is an urban innovation company that tackles cities' greatest challenges. We create products and solutions, invest in new companies, and help developers build more sustainable, innovative, and equitable places around the world. Our ambitious vision requires us to push ourselves beyond conventional thinking, and we work hard in pursuit of our mission. Our cross-disciplinary team consists of experts from real estate, urban planning, government, finance, technology, and engineering, among other backgrounds.

Our urban innovations include Delve (a generative design product that empowers real estate teams to design better, faster, with less risk), Mesa (an easy-install kit for commercial buildings that cuts energy costs, improves tenant comfort, and simplifies building operations), Pebble (a low-cost vehicle sensor to help manage parking and curb space), and Affordable Electrification (a new way to manage home energy use to meet a customer’s monthly budget). We're also developing an offsite construction company that can deliver high-quality mass timber buildings for more sustainable living and working.

With the potential to radically improve quality of life in cities for all, our work is both exciting and complex. We are working to achieve something unprecedented — help us build it!

As an integral member of the Procurement team reporting to our Director of Procurement, Alex Love, your primary focus will be owning and managing the Professional Services and SAAS Category. We are looking to scale our Procurement function as our business scales, and to develop a best-in-class source-to-pay process. You will be an integral part of this evolution as well as working closely with our product teams in ensuring the delivery of efficient procurement support across multiple product lines and sidewalk services.

This role has been designed for growth. You will initially be supporting both process improvement related projects and product focused initiatives under the guidance of the Director of Procurement. You will have both a strategic outlook and be able to react at the tactical level when needed. As a high growth company, we must maintain an agile and nimble way of working - this is key to both your and our success.

• Support in developing and delivering against the long term procurement strategy, specific to your category.
  • Own and manage all suppliers within the Professional Services category. This includes SAAS and Software products, Consulting Engagements, Marketing, Communications and Research and Insights vendors.
• Support business stakeholders in utilizing the procurement process and ensuring a positive impact on their work.
  • Identify savings and value opportunities through regular assessment of our supplier base.
  • Advocate and support in driving procurement standards, controls, policies, procedures, and monitor performance metrics to identify improvement areas.
• Lead rigorous and objective supplier contract negotiations with key internal stakeholders, legal department and support groups.
• Conduct monthly Professional Services steering committee meetings with key stakeholders to assess risk, review future strategies, share market innovations, and identify potential cost savings opportunities.
• Define, prioritize and manage, all sourcing projects and other initiatives that come out of the steering committee meetings.
• Support in developing an internal sourcing function to work with the product teams on strategy development for new innovations, technologies and markets as Sidewalk’s business requirements dictate.

After 3 months, you will:

• Have met with key stakeholders and have a full understanding of the current Procurement policies, processes, procedures and systems in place at Sidewalk Labs.
• Have started to understand the scope of the Professional Services Category and its supplier base.

After 6 months, you will:

• Own the management of the category and are actively supporting the business.
• Have control over the supplier base and have started actively assessing savings opportunities, process changes and implementing controls for managing service requests.
• The teams know who you are and know where to go for support in relation to Professional services.

After 12 months, you will have implemented:

• Developed a preferred supplier program and reduced the total number of suppliers within your category.
• Achieved savings according to fair targets set between yourself and the DP.
• Have built successful and trusted relationships with the various business teams
• Are an active strategic sourcing specialist with ever growing vendor knowledge and expertise in your category.

What We Expect

• Expertise in strategic sourcing, Professional Services category management, supplier relationship management, and related fields
  • Minimum 4 - 6 years work experience in strategic sourcing or a related field, preferably in a high growth technology environment
  • Solid strategic sourcing, financial and business opportunity analytics skills comfort with legal frameworks and contract negotiation skills (development, supply, licensing, and service agreements)
  • Excellent communication skills with ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders, including C-level, engineering, legal, finance, product, and design
  • Demonstrated ability to identify business process issues and drive process improvement
• Strong business acumen and collaboration skills
  • Contributes to the company strategy and aligns the strategic priorities of its own area with the direction and strategic priorities of the broader organization
  • Applies analytical thinking by gathering relevant information, identifying key issues, and comparing data sources to come to a solution
  • Values teamwork & collaboration by facilitating collaboration and actively engaging and making joint decisions and share best practices
  • Values customer centricity by anticipating evolving customer needs and determining ways to address them, doing the right thing in the right way
• Care
  • You care about cities, solving hard problems, and our team’s success.
  • You are committed to creating more equitable and inclusive outcomes both in the workplace and in the work you do.

Bonus qualifications

• Related certifications, for example CPSM, APICS, etc.
• Change Management experience
• Familiar with Procure-to-Pay (Coupa preferred) and ERP systems (Netsuite preferred)

We are very excited to hear from you.

Sidewalk Labs is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We actively seek applicants from underrepresented communities. Even if you are not 100% sure you are right for the role, please apply and we will be happy to consider your application. All employment is based on merit and business need, and we respond to each application we receive.