Associate Consultant

Title: Associate Consultant
Business Unit: Ariba Consulting Spend Management Services Group
Reports To: Manager or Senior Manager

Job Description Overview:
Ariba is the recognized leader in spend management because it is our exclusive focus. With global operations in 21 countries, we incorporate over 400 full-time sourcing experts and 700 spend management experts into one of the largest sourcing organizations in the world. Our experience managing spend for a variety of organizations has enabled us to resolve our clients' typical obstacles to success, particularly lack of resources or difficulty obtaining executive buy-in. As a result, we enrich over $60 billion in spend annually and help companies achieve measurable, sustainable benefits, quarter after quarter.
Ariba’s Spend Management Services (SMS) practice is focused on transforming our clients into world-class spend management organizations. We work with our clients to provide customized solutions to their specific spend management challenges including:

• Procurement strategy and transformation
• Procurement process and organizational improvement
• Detailed commodity assessments and strategies
• Customized sourcing programs

The Ariba Associate Consultant is charged with customer focused delivery and Ariba solution expertise. The Consultant is responsible for delivering sound, quality tasks and deliverables on time and within budget.

Core to these skill sets are strong analytical capabilities, strong written and verbal communication skills, flexibility, exceptional problem solving skills, structured as well as innovative thinking and, most importantly, the ability work within the delivery team to provide the client with world-class service on a consistent basis.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Customer Focus
• Proven ability to deliver customize solutions to clients unstructured spend management challenges
• Uses knowledge of customer’s business and industry to assess findings and shape solutions.
• Makes the client successful within the realm and scope of the Statement of Work (SOW).
• Speaks to a variety of customers from different departments, at different levels, and in large or small groups (e.g. client project manager, technical team).
• Knows customer problems and anticipates their needs.
• Assists with identifying client issues.
• Recognizes the service needs associated with a client-focused business model.
• Dedicated to delivering exceptional results.
• Develops positive relationships with the client team while delivering tasks.
• Interacts effectively with all team members.
• Assist customers in developing and implementing spend management processes and procedures.

Ariba Solution Expertise
• Builds solution, customer, and industry knowledge by leveraging the appropriate resources (internally at Ariba and externally at the client).
• Synthesizes learnings into a logical story using quantitative/qualitative data and/or sound reasoning.
• Communicates to effectively resolve problems or issues.
• Solves client problems by using ESM solutions.
• Quickly learns new ESM solutions in order to present them credibly and confidently to clients and Ariba consultants.
• Conversant with the features, functionality, and applicability of discrete areas of the Ariba ESM suite.
• Identifies the appropriate Ariba ESM tools to complete the task at hand.
• Assist customers in successfully facilitating decision making based on delivery of Spend Management Assessment, Category Planning, performance Management, Process Effectiveness and Supply Chain Integration offerings.

Teamwork
• Maintains regular communication with team members (e.g., face-to-face, via voicemails, emails).
• Proactively collaborates with teammates to anticipate and respond to issues that could impact solution delivery (e.g., change in scope, arising issues).
• Displays proactive communication with the client (i.e., face-to-face meetings and phone calls are more frequent than emails).
• Partners internal and external resources to optimize client impact.
• Proactively supports team members for the better good of the client engagement and Ariba.
• Works effectively with various teams across projects with exemplary track record in providing client satisfaction.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Strong analytical skills, and structured thinking and problem solving capability
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Industry expertise a plus (automotive, financial services, technology, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, retail, services, etc).
• Experience with process reengineering and design a plus.
• Experience with development and use of analytical models a plus.
• Specific commodity expertise a plus.
• CPM or APICS certification a plus.
• Ability to travel 80%+
• Exposure to multicultural scenarios / international work experience a plus.

Basic Minimum Qualifications:
• One to two years of functional sourcing or strategy experience as in industry, and / or beginning consulting experience (either at a Big 5-type or boutique firm).
• Bachelor Degree preferably in Business Administration or similar.


Ariba, Inc. is an EEO/Affirmative Action employer and does not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected category.

Apply online at:

http://ariba.recruitmax.com/ENG/candidates/default.cfm?szCategory=jobprofile&szOrderID=3277