It Vendor Management Specialist

Plains All American is an industry-leading transportation and midstream provider specializing in transportation, storage, processing and marketing solutions for crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs). We own an extensive network of pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage and gathering assets in key crude oil and NGL producing basins and transportation corridors and at major market hubs in the United States and Canada. On average, Plains handles more than 6 million barrels per day of crude oil and NGL in its Transportation segment. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

We are looking for highly-motivated individuals who enjoy working as part of a team in a dynamic and entrepreneurial work environment.

The Specialist, Strategic Vendor Management plays a key role in delivering against this multi-year Enterprise Technology Plan (ETP) via vendor sourcing and vendor management engagement on behalf of the Information Systems (IS) Department to realize maximum value from our strategic vendor relationships. A strong candidate would further expand our community with their reliable team contributions.

• Information Services, in partnership with business stakeholders, is embarking upon a multi-year effort to address legacy system risk, modernize systems, and rationalize our technology landscape
• This effort has Executive visibility and aims to deliver material value creation in the form of significant risk mitigation, improved user experience, and modernization that is captured within our Enterprise Technology Plan (ETP).

Plains offers a hybrid work environment in which working from home is combined with working in the office throughout each week.

Job Responsibilities

• The Specialist, Strategic Vendor Management is accountable for the sourcing and collaboration with other IS teams to manage Plains IS vendor relationships for a subset of our most strategic accounts.
• The role will work with senior leaders in IS, the business and with our strategic vendors to establish vendor governance, support vendor rationalization and IS cost optimization but also helping to realize value including enhancing technology utilization, sustainability and supplier innovation.
• The successful candidate will be able to understand and manage contractual, commercial and operational working relationships to ensure effective delivery of committed products and services.
• This role contributes to the ongoing success of the IS department across Plains North America by enabling continued informed decisions to ensure value is being realized from our strategic vendor relationships.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders (e.g., IS, SCM, etc.) to develop standards for vendor selection including assisting IS teams in vetting potential new vendors
• Execute sourcing activities related to streamlining approval process, including communication to senior IS leaders
• Support negotiations and ensure compliance of agreements to established vendor management policies and practices (e.g., articulation of service levels and deliverables, etc.)
• Establish and deliver on standards and processes for IS vendor interaction, in accordance with effective IS Vendor Governance within the overall IS Governance Model
• Oversite of vendor management tools, comprising of vendor tracking, analytics and performance management tools including 2-way scorecards
• Serve as the point of focus for both the strategic vendors and internal stakeholders
• Manage the data analysis and reporting on vendor contracts, including performance, capabilities, risk and relationships to key stakeholders
• Track vendor spend in collaboration with Finance and Procurement in order to make recommendations on optimizing spend and value with strategic vendors
• Rationalize and prioritize the portfolio so appropriate focus can be applied to the most strategically important relationships
• Partner with the IS Business Office to provide input into our IS departmental scorecard
• Recommend appropriate communication with vendors, to ensure that appropriate leverage is preserved.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in vendor sourcing and management
• A bachelor's degree in business, management or equivalent experience is required
• SCMP or Master of Business Administration (MBA)is preferred
• Broad knowledge of the IS industry and technology vendor offerings
• Extensive knowledge of contract management and supplier relationship management concepts
• Understanding of the vendor life cycle (sourcing, procurement, vendor management), and associated interaction of stakeholders
• Comfort interacting with senior leaders, both internal and external
• Ability to influence and collaborate without authority
• Ability to translate business concepts to technology needs and technology capabilities into business concepts/value
• Cleared criminal history (background) and satisfactory reference checks; and
• Compliance with the Company's drug and alcohol policy including pre-employment D&A testing.

At Plains, our employees are our most valuable asset. Hard work is rewarded with competitive compensation and a top-tier benefits program designed to keep our employees safe, healthy and happy. We work hard to deliver the best results to our stakeholders and we also respect our employees need for personal and family time, which is reflected in our benefits program.

We thank all candidates for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

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