As the Manager, Strategic Sourcing & Vendor Management, you will be responsible for mid-term and long-term strategic vendor partnerships, Information & Technology (IT) managed services and sourcing engagements. This includes vendor relationship management, management of vendor support agreements, and service level agreements. You will promote and maintain a disciplined centralized vendor management approach and framework with strategic partnerships and strong working relationships with leadership, corporate architecture, business architecture, the information security office and production support teams. 

You will also be responsible for the procurement and purchasing functions for the corporation, including the development of and managing the purchasing and supply chain management strategies, negotiating, corporate contracts, and performing complex analysis of tenders and requests for proposal documents. The role works closely with internal departments throughout projects and departmental planning processes to understand requirements and ensure that services, and the procurement of goods and services, are completed on a timely basis.

• Oversee and implement strategic procurement services corporate wide, delivering proactive processes and providing significant cost reductions and technological and operational service enhancements.
• Continuously assesses the corporation’s commodity and service requirements, overall spend, and the supply market to identify, develop and manage optimal strategic commercial relationships with vendors and business partners.
• Continually research, identify, analyze, and develop optimal sourcing strategies through collaboration with senior corporate staff and buying groups, to identify spend patterns, benchmarking, and total cost of ownership to lower overall costs.
• Manage, monitor, and report on vendor performance against agreed upon metrics and service levels.
• Implement and monitor metrics and performance measures to support strategic vendor management.
• Manage corporate tendering procedures to ensure compliance with corporate directives and purchasing procedures.
• Manage all contractual aspects of the corporations strategic and tactical vendor relationships.
• Lead the management of the contract life cycle and contract changes.
• Responsible for the activities of a manager, including management of an operating budget, participation in strategic planning, budgeting for special projects, and improvement initiatives.
• Responsible for hiring, performance management, and development planning of staff, including identifying training and development needs. Ensures technical expertise of the unit is maintained.
• Supervise, coach, and conduct performance management evaluation for direct reports.
• Foster a high-performance culture that is consistent with corporate vision, values, and leading practices.

Education:

• Degree in Business Administration or related discipline.
• Purchasing Association of Canada accreditation program.
• Centre for Outsourcing Research and Education (CORE) Accredited Outsourcing Professional (AOP) designation or equivalent industry certifications.

Experience:

• Eight years of experience including:
• • Progressive experience in purchasing and procurement working with a variety of commodities and services providers.
  • In the IT and Vendor Management industries, related to strategic vendor engagements, sourcing and technology and infrastructure managed services.
  • Five years in a leadership capacity.

Technical Knowledge and Skills:

• Project management competencies for strategic vendor engagements and IT infrastructure initiatives.
• Working knowledge in IT practices, audit and regulatory requirements and information security practices.
• Leads services staff of a medium-sized systems environment including, network, server, storage, operations, database, systems management, and data centres.
• Working knowledge of complex, multi-platform environments including SAAS and cloud technologies.
• Working knowledge of information frameworks, such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
• Working knowledge of the principles and best practices of Vendor Management.
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with managers and employees, both within and outside of the division.
• Working knowledge of client/server computing systems.
• Working knowledge of corporate purchasing directives and policies as well as applicable government legislation related to the procurement of material or services.
• Organizational skills with the flexibility to adapt to changing deadlines and business demands.
• Communication and interpersonal skills to negotiate with suppliers and present information effectively to various audiences.
• Compiles, analyzes, and provides data and reports.
• Working knowledge of purchasing systems.
• Operational analysis and decision-making skills to identify and resolve issues that represent the best overall interest of the corporation.
• Working knowledge of organizational functions and responsibilities as they relate to the Purchasing function.
• Organizes, evaluates, and implements work methods and practices, and performs complex analytical analysis.
• Integrity in handling confidential information and in dealing effectively with suppliers.
• Knowledge of the insurance industry is an asset.

• Candidate must have a valid driver’s licence.
• Candidate must have access to a personal vehicle.

Health benefits

We offer a comprehensive health benefits program that includes:

• flexible health, dental and vision plans
• health spending account
• travel health coverage
• other extended health benefits such as ambulance, massage and physiotherapy

Financial security

In an effort to support financial security, we offer:

• registered pension plan
• group, dependent, and optional life insurance coverage
• sick leave to cover short-term disability
• long-term disability

Wellness

We offer programs that focus on how to better achieve a balance between work and personal commitments, as well as maintain a healthy workplace culture. This includes:

• vacation entitlement
• maternity, parental and adoptive leaves
• bereavement and family responsibility leaves
• employee and family assistance program
• mental-health programming
• onsite employee gym facility (Cityplace)
• discounted gym memberships
• wellness account

Diversity and inclusion

Manitoba Public Insurance believes that diversity and inclusion strengthens us. We consider ourselves to be a barrier-free organization where individual values, beliefs and practices are respected and appreciated for the diversity they bring to our work life.

Employee recognition

It’s important to recognize our employees for their contributions. Not only do we recognize employees as they achieve milestone years in their careers, we also have several outlets for leaders and peers to reward each other for work well done.

Professional development

We want our employees to grow, which is why we offer support in keeping their skills up to date. We offer in-house training, professional development and an educational assistance program.

Safety and health

In an effort to encourage a safe and healthy work environment, we offer various safety, health and workplace policies and programs along with technical expertise and assistance to support employee activities in safety and health.