Strategic Procurement Manager

National Grid Renewables is seeking a Strategic Procurement Manager in Bloomington, MN, to lead procurement for utility-scale solar projects. The role involves category management, developing procurement strategies, collaborating with internal teams, and driving down costs. The candidate will engage with stakeholders, manage RFP processes, and ensure alignment with engineering and legal teams. The company focuses on community engagement and sustainable energy development.
National Grid Renewables is a leading North American renewable energy company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with satellite offices located in the regions where it develops, constructs, and operates renewable energy projects. As a farmer-friendly and community-focused company, National Grid Renewables develops projects for corporations and utilities that seek to repower America’s electricity grid by reigniting local economies and reinvesting in a sustainable future. National Grid Renewables is part of the competitive, unregulated Ventures division of National Grid. It has a portfolio of solar, wind, and energy storage projects throughout the United States in various stages of development, construction, and operation.

National Grid Renewables partners with communities, farmers, and landowners where we develop. This means it’s not just about projects but about the people we work with, both outside and inside our organization. National Grid Renewables Team Members embody our foundational culture of being entrepreneurial, creative, and nimble and take pride in supporting National Grid’s vision to be at the heart of a clean, fair, and affordable energy future for all.

The Senior Strategic Sourcing Specialist will drive strategic procurement of major PV and BESS equipment for utility scale solar projects and continue to drive down the overall CAPEX cost in support of the solar and storage development and construction pipeline by collaborating with internal Engineering, Construction, Operating, Legal, Finance, commercial, origination and development teams.

Responsibilities:

Category Management
• Subject Matter Expert with Category Management & Strategic Sourcing with a desire and ability to coach and teach Procurement staff and stakeholders in a consulting role
• Engage with Stakeholders to establish clear business needs, apply forward thinking skills to set near and long term E2E category strategies and a roadmap to continuous improvements and benefits
• Lead a multi-year commodity procurement strategy to support a 1GW/year solar pipeline
• Actively collaborate with internal technical teams and suppliers to continually drive down LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) ($/W)
• Utilize varied and complex data sets to identify new opportunities to drive benefits through the contracts E2E lifecycle
• Evaluate and apply the concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) and supplier and contract switching costs to support decision making options
• Manage the forecast and delivery of category savings targets in support of team and Procurement commitments and goals
• Develop and run competitive RFP processes to support major equipment, O&M and indirect services procurement
• Incorporate market intelligence and vendor inputs into the bid evaluation and contracting process
• Coordinate with Engineering to gather and maintain specifications, scopes of work, and standards to be followed for solar and storage projects
• Ensure timely and frequent engagement with development, legal, engineering, construction, operations and maintenance, and asset management on all issues related to equipment supply.
• Support and facilitate internal team resolution on material changes to agreements across both commercial and technical issues.
• Work with technical and finance teams to support bankability of new suppliers and technologies
• Support Project Management teams during project execution
• Ongoing contract administration for major equipment supply agreements, O&M and indirect services agreements

Commercial Negotiation
• Establishes structured negotiation plans in support of company needs with clarity of desired outcomes
• Understanding of supplier’s position, desired outcomes, and leverage points
• Able to involve stakeholders in negotiation preparations and events
• Provide support to team members in development of negotiation strategies
• Effectively support the negotiation of agreements for items related to scope, price, terms & conditions, delivery, and contract changes with suppliers
• Apply contracting abilities, editing of work scope, understanding of commercial terms and conditions, and accurate monitoring of commercial changes from award to delivery.
• Review cost proposals and actual cost reports from projects to establish standard summary data cost reports and variance analyses. Track and report on cost movement during negotiations.
• Ensure—through effective contract negotiation to meet objectives related to safety, cost, delivery performance, schedule and quality.
• Ensure that risks are mitigated through alignment across major project agreements (EPC agreement, Equipment supply, PPA, Warranty, etc.)

Supplier Relationship Management
• Identifies critical suppliers and creates appropriate engagement plans to ensure our Supply Chain risk profile and inputs to continuous improvement are proactively managed
• Demonstrates a collaborative approach with supply base and develops integrated plans to drive appropriate value for business and customer requirements
• Builds appropriate supplier performance measurements (KPIs) into contractual frameworks
• Holds suppliers to account for performance delivery using KPI data and strategic business reviews

Market and Supplier Development
• Develop and maintain relationships with module, inverter, tracker, SCADA, GSU, BESS suppliers and O&M and indirect service providers.
• Understanding of criteria for alternative country sourcing, associated risks and how its’ supply chain can contribute to our business needs
• Contribute to business case development to support alternate country sourcing initiatives
• Remain informed of latest technology trends and the government policies in the market and understand the implications of the procurement strategy and adjust accordingly

Procurement Process Management and Improvement
• Drive continuous improvement using lean techniques to identify and eliminate waste in the extended E2E Supply Chain

Systems and Analytics
• Demonstrates ability in working with multiple ERP systems: SAP, Procore, Ariba, Tableau, Spend Analytics
• Understands how to analyze large data sets and extract information for strategic decision making

Qualifications:
• 5 + years of experience in strategic sourcing functions, commodity management, contract negotiation and vendor management. Solar procurement experience is preferred
• Master’s degree in Engineering or MBA is preferred
• Project management skills working with large scale solar, wind, and/or storage development projects.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to explain complex concepts in a concise manner
• Detail-oriented with demonstrated ability for accuracy
• Demonstrated ability to successfully manage and execute multiple contracts on schedule, has experience negotiating large contracts
• Demonstrated ability to drive cross-functional initiatives
• Ability to influence internal and external stakeholders to drive mutually beneficial outcomes
• Should be proficient in planning, collaboration, and analysis.