Director, Spend Management Services

Title: Director, Spend Management Services
Department: Ariba Consulting Spend Management Services Group
Location: North America


Job Description Overview:
The Ariba Strategic Sourcing Director is charged with customer focused delivery, Ariba solution expertise, and people development responsibilities. The Director oversees diagnostic and assessment efforts, assists with strategic realignments, is familiar with the appropriate application of the Ariba Spend Management suite in tandem with Ariba’s varied service offerings, and helps sales by identifying possible opportunities. The Director brings exceptional sourcing expertise to the table while delivering sound engagements. The Director is also expected to actively deliver while maneuvering around organizational, strategic, and Director is focused on the rapid transformation of client organizations into world-class managers of spend, through innovative, high-quality, global, Spend Management Solutions that create sustainable bottom-line results.

Core to these skill sets is emotional intelligence, as well as the ability to manage, mentor, and motivate people into delivering world-class service on a consistent basis.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Leadership
• Per the SOW, manages internal and external resources to optimize client impact within project budget, timeline and deliverables.
• Manages customer expectations to optimize productivity and increase impact of solutions.
• Ensures clients are satisfied and recognize the value of Ariba’s work.
• Assists in identifying opportunities for expanding usage spend management and obtains customer advocacy.
• Effectively manages complex projects in ambiguous environments.
• Effectively manages difficult situations, whether they be client- or team-related.
• Recognized for substantial experience and thought leadership within the spend management arena; combines functional with industry-specific expertise for solution development and guidance.
• Communicates complex ideas succinctly and in an easy to understand manner.

Customer Focus
• Uses knowledge of customer’s business and industry to assess findings and shape solutions.
• Displays a strong understanding of best practice business process related to spend management.
• Influences the opinions and decisions of clients using understanding of client’s organizational processes and structure.
• 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).
• Displays proactive communication (i.e., face-to-face meetings and phone calls are more frequent than emails).
• Speaks to and manages opportunities and accounts as needed.
• Knows customer problems and anticipates their needs.
• Recognizes the service needs associated with a client-focused business model.
• Deciphers organizational politics, decision drivers, and key stakeholders.
• Dedicated to delivering exceptional results.
• 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.

Ariba Solution Expertise
• Builds solution, customer, and industry knowledge by leveraging the appropriate resources (internally at Ariba and externally at the client).
• Identifies opportunities to refine existing or develop new intellectual property and methodology, frameworks and tools (e.g., questionnaires, presentations, implementation methodology, performance management) based on project experience, research, and analysis.
• Synthesizes learnings into a logical story using quantitative/qualitative data and/or sound reasoning.
• Communicates to effectively resolve problems or issues.
• Applies a broad knowledge of spend management applications/solutions.
• Establishes credibility as a solutions expert with customers (e.g., positive customer feedback) and within Ariba (e.g., is asked many internal questions).
• Quickly learns new ESM solutions in order to present them credibly and confidently to clients and Ariba consultants.
• Familiar with the full spectrum of Ariba’s sourcing-related services, as well as associated differentiators between Ariba’s and the competition’s offerings.
• Conversant with the features, functionality, and applicability of the Ariba ESM suite.
• Identifies key requirements associated with coordinating a successful project, as well as warning signs for those situations where additional effort may be required.
• Identifies key requirements associated with coordinating a successful project, as well as warning signs for those situations where additional effort may be required.
• Use analytical and conceptual skills, to structure, develop, execute and oversee sophisticated hypothesis-driven analyses.

Sales and Marketing
• Engages with clients at the upper management level.
• Serves as a trusted advisor to clients.
• Able to identify client issues and approaches for determining potential solutions.
• Assists SMS sales team through scoping and definition efforts during the proposal process.
• Develop senior client relationships and Services sales opportunities.

Practice Development
• Identifies opportunities to refine existing or develop new intellectual property and methodology, frameworks and tools (e.g., questionnaires, presentations, implementation methodology, performance management) based on project experience, research, and analysis.
• Actively contributes to knowledge capital.
• Helps develop and lead trainings.

People Development
• Manages direct reports and/or project team and supports professional development.
• Proactively mentors junior resources through coordination of skillset development, areas of professional interest, and company needs.
• Coaches project resources in content, technique, approach, and tools on an as-needed basis.
• Actively creates an environment for effective teamwork.
• Responsible for team based and organizational communication.
• Provides honest and open feedback to both team members and management.
• Actively participates with employee review processes, both at the project and company levels.
• Works with HR to conduct interviews; assesses candidates’ abilities to succeed based on capability profiles for successful Consultants and screens out unqualified candidates.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Consulting experience at manager level or above a plus (either at a Big 5-type or boutique firm).
• Demonstrated experience in project and client management.
• Strong analytical and organizational talent.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Industry expertise a plus (automotive, financial services, technology, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, retail, services, etc).
• Specific commodity expertise a plus.
• CPM or APICS certification a plus.
• Exposure to multicultural scenarios / international work experience a plus.
• Ability to successfully facilitate lasting change in client organization.
• Ability to travel 80%+.

Basic Minimum Qualifications:
• Five to Seven years of functional sourcing experience preferably at a manager level in industry, and / or.
• Bachelor Degree preferably in Business Administration or Masters in Business.

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=3267