Sourcing & Contracting Senior Director

Discover Your Career at Emory University

Emory University is a leading research university that fosters excellence and attracts world-class talent to innovate today and prepare leaders for the future. We welcome candidates who can contribute to the excellence of our academic community.

Description

The Senior Director of Sourcing & Contracting leads a high-performing team responsible for strategic sourcing, supplier management, and contracting across Emory University. This role drives enterprise value through category strategy development, cost optimization, risk mitigation, and supplier innovation while strengthening stakeholder partnerships and enhancing the overall procurement function.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Leads, coaches, and develops a team of sourcing and contracting professionals, fostering a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and collaboration.
• Sets clear performance expectations; provides ongoing feedback, mentoring, and career development opportunities.
• Builds organizational capability in strategic sourcing, negotiation, analytics, and supplier relationship management (SRM).
• Oversees category management strategies aligned with University priorities, focusing on value creation, total cost of ownership (TCO), risk management, and supplier diversity.
• Partners with stakeholders to understand business needs, define requirements, and develop multi-year sourcing strategies.
• Identifies and executes opportunities for cost savings, demand management, and process efficiencies.
• Leads complex negotiations and contracting efforts to achieve optimal commercial, legal, and operational outcomes.
• Establishes and maintains standardized contract templates, terms, and playbooks in partnership with the Office of General Counsel.
• Ensures contracts reflect best practices in risk mitigation, compliance, and performance management.
• Develops and manages supplier segmentation strategies, including strategic and preferred suppliers.
• Implements supplier performance management frameworks with defined KPIs and governance routines.
• Drives supplier innovation and continuous improvement initiatives aligned with University goals.
• Serves as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders across the University.
• Enhances the procurement organization's reputation through responsiveness, transparency, and value delivery.
• Leads change management initiatives to drive adoption of sourcing strategies and procurement best practices.
• Leads ongoing improvements to sourcing processes, policies, and systems.
• Leverages digital tools (eSourcing, contract lifecycle management, spend analytics) to enable data-driven decision-making.
• Ensures data integrity and maintain centralized repositories for contracts and sourcing documentation.
• Designs and delivers training programs to improve procurement literacy and adoption of sourcing processes across the University.
• Promotes best practices in sourcing, contracting, and supplier management.
• Performs additional duties as assigned in support of departmental and institutional objectives. 

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance, or a related field and 10 years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing, category management, and contracting within a complex organization.
• Demonstrated leadership experience managing and developing high-performing teams. Proven expertise in sourcing strategy development, complex negotiations, and contract management across multiple spend categories (e.g., IT, professional services, facilities, and indirect goods/services).
• Strong understanding of procurement technologies (eSourcing platforms, spend analytics tools, procure-to-pay systems, and contract lifecycle management systems).
• Knowledge of modern strategic sourcing methodologies, including category management, supplier segmentation, and total cost of ownership analysis.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to drive alignment across diverse groups. 
• Experience leading change initiatives and driving process improvement in a dynamic environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Preferred qualifications include an MBA or other master's degree and professional certifications such as CPSM (Certified Professional in Supply Management), CIPS, or equivalent.
• Experience in higher education or similarly complex, decentralized organizations.

NOTE: This role will be granted the opportunity to work from home regularly but must be able to commute to Emory University on a flexible weekly schedule based upon business needs.  Schedule is based on agreed upon guidelines of department. This role requires residency in the state of GA. Emory reserves the right to change remote work status with notice to employee.

Additional Details

Emory is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by state or federal law. Emory University does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training. Students, faculty, and staff are assured of participation in university programs and in the use of facilities without such discrimination. Emory University complies with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Assistance Act, and applicable executive orders, federal and state regulations regarding nondiscrimination, equal opportunity, and affirmative action (for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities). Inquiries regarding this policy should be directed to the Emory University Department of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance, 201 Dowman Drive, Administration Building, Atlanta, GA 30322. Telephone: 404-727-9867 (V) | 404-712-2049 (TDD).Emory University is committed to ensuring equal access and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to seek a reasonable accommodation, please contact the Department of Accessibility Services at [email protected] or call 404-727-9877 (Voice) | 404-712-2049 (TDD). We kindly ask that requests be made at least seven business days in advance to allow adequate time for coordination.