Job Title: Outsourcing Strategic Sourcing & Commercial Lead
Location: Remote
Duration: 4 Months (till the end of year)
Shift: EST Business Hours
Job Description:

• The organization seeks an experienced Strategic Sourcing and Outsourcing professional to lead a large-scale Outsourcing evaluation, sourcing, commercial negotiation, and supplier selection initiative.
• This resource will serve as the primary commercial and sourcing lead responsible for developing the outsourcing strategy, managing the end-to-end competitive procurement process, evaluating business and financial impacts, negotiating commercial agreements, and supporting executive decision-making through contract execution and transition planning.
• The objective is to identify the optimal Outsourcing partner(s), deliver measurable cost and operational improvements, mitigate transition and delivery risk, and establish commercially advantageous agreements that support long-term business objectives.
• This role requires a highly experienced individual capable of operating independently while coordinating across HR, Procurement, Finance, Legal, IT, Security, Risk, and Executive Leadership.

Business Context
The organization is evaluating outsourcing opportunities across multiple functional areas, which may include:

• Shared Services Operations & Administration Services
• Employee or Member Services
• Workforce Administration
• Business Unit Technology Support
• Global Business Services Functions

The engagement is an in-flight structured market evaluation and sourcing process that will:

• Develop future-state service delivery options
• Evaluate outsourcing and hybrid delivery models
• Address a compelling business case
• Conduct a competitive sourcing process
• Negotiate commercial and contractual terms
• Support executive approval and implementation planning

Scope of Responsibilities
RFX Management & Competitive Sourcing
End-to-End Ownership

• Develop and manage RFI, RFP, and BAFO processes
• Build sourcing project plans and workstreams
• Develop supplier instructions and response requirements
• Manage bidder communications and clarification processes
• Coordinate proposal evaluations
• Facilitate supplier presentations and solution workshops
• Lead reference checks and due diligence activities
• Manage supplier down-selection process
• Maintain procurement project governance and reporting

Deliverables

• Supplier pricing templates
• Evaluation scorecards
• Governance materials
• Executive recommendations
• Supplier comparison analyses

Financial Analysis & Business Case Development
The resource will provide analytical support to evaluate outsourcing opportunities and support executive decisions.
Responsibilities include:

• Baseline current-state labor and operating costs
• Conduct Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis
• Develop outsourcing business cases
• Analyze supplier financial proposals
• Evaluate transformation investments and one-time costs
• Model transition costs
• Quantify cost savings opportunities
• Assess productivity improvements and service enhancements
• Develop ROI and payback analyses
• Create executive-level financial summaries

Financial Model Components

• Current-state costs
• Future-state operating costs
• One-time implementation investments
• Transition expenses
• Technology impacts
• Labor arbitrage opportunities
• Inflation assumptions
• Volume growth assumptions
• Expected savings realization

Commercial Negotiation Leadership
Serve as primary commercial negotiator throughout the engagement.
Responsibilities include:

• Define commercial negotiation strategy
• Lead pricing negotiations
• Negotiate rate cards and fee structures
• Negotiate service credits and performance mechanisms
• Negotiate benchmarking provisions
• Negotiate gain-share and incentive structures
• Address transition and transformation commitments
• Negotiate renewal and termination provisions
• Support contract redlining and issue resolution

Commercial areas of focus:

• Scope definition
• Service tower pricing
• Resource rate structures
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Governance requirements
• Volume commitments
• Change request processes
• Audit rights
• Liability provisions
• Transition assistance
• Exit management

Stakeholder Management & Executive Engagement
The resource must demonstrate exceptional stakeholder management capabilities.
Responsibilities include:

• Operate confidently with senior executives
• Build consensus across diverse stakeholder groups
• Facilitate steering committee meetings
• Present findings and recommendations to executives
• Manage disagreements and drive decisions
• Influence stakeholders through data-driven analyses
• Provide regular status updates and executive communications

Required stakeholders include:

• Business Leadership Team(s)
• Procurement Leadership
• Finance Leadership
• Legal
• Information Technology
• Cybersecurity
• Compliance
• Internal Audit
• Executive Sponsors

Governance & Program Management

• Establish sourcing governance structure
• Maintain project plans and milestones
• Manage risks, issues, and dependencies
• Coordinate cross-functional workstreams
• Facilitate decision-making forums
• Maintain action logs and executive reporting
• Drive accountability across internal stakeholders

Transition Planning Support
Although not responsible for implementation, the resource should support transition readiness activities including:

• Transition planning assumptions
• Knowledge transfer requirements
• Service migration planning
• Risk mitigation planning
• Resource transition considerations
• Separation and change management impacts
• Future-state governance recommendations

Expected Deliverables
Procurement Deliverables

• BAFO Package
• Evaluation Framework
• Supplier Scorecards
• Recommendation Documentation

Financial Deliverables

• Baseline Cost Model
• Total Cost of Ownership Analysis
• Savings Assessment
• Business Case
• Executive Financial Presentations

Commercial Deliverables

• Negotiation Strategy
• Commercial Issue Logs
• Pricing Analysis
• Contract Comparison Matrix
• Final Supplier Recommendation

Executive Deliverables

• Steering Committee Materials
• Executive Updates
• Board-Level Presentation Support
• Final Award Recommendation

Required Qualifications
Experience

• 4+ years Professional Services procurement experience and a minimum of 2+ years focused on Outsourcing
  • Running sourcing events, RFXs, end-to-end
  • Conducting financial analysis to support business case proposals
  • Negotiating with suppliers
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale Outsourcing, BPO, Shared Services, or Workforce Services sourcing initiatives
• Proven experience managing complex RFX processes end-to-end
• Experience negotiating multi-million-dollar outsourcing agreements
• Experience conducting business case and financial analysis
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, including assertiveness, courage, confidence and ability to influence others
• Business analysis and relationship management skills to drive and implement sourcing programs and services aligned with business partner strategies
• Ability to work in a team environment to collate and act upon feedback from all levels within the business and sourcing environments

Core Competencies

• Strategic Sourcing
• Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Expertise
• Financial Modeling
• Commercial Negotiation
• Supplier Management
• Business Case Development
• Executive Communication
• Stakeholder Management
• Project Management
• Risk Management

Personal Attributes

• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills
• Executive presence and confidence
• High degree of assertiveness and influence
• Courage to challenge assumptions and drive decisions
• Strong relationship management capabilities
• Excellent facilitation skills
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous environments
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
• Collaborative and team-oriented mindset

Working Requirements

• Must operate during Eastern Standard Time business hours
• Ability to lead and facilitate multiple meetings per week
• Ability to manage globally distributed stakeholders and suppliers
• Hybrid or remote engagement acceptable, depending on project requirements

Preferred Experience

• Shared Services transformations
• Workday ecosystem knowledge
• ServiceNow
• Global Business Services (GBS)
• Managed Services procurement
• BPO advisory consulting
• Multi-country outsourcing engagements
• Transition and transformation governance experience

Success Criteria
The engagement will be considered successful when the following outcomes are achieved:
Procurement Outcomes

• Completed competitive sourcing event with qualified supplier participation
• Comprehensive market evaluation completed
• Executive-approved supplier recommendation

Commercial Outcomes

• Commercially favorable agreement executed
• Target savings objectives achieved or exceeded
• Acceptable risk allocation negotiated

Financial Outcomes

• Executive-approved business case
• Validated TCO and ROI analysis
• Clearly defined savings realization plan

Program Outcomes

• Stakeholder alignment achieved
• Executive confidence established
• Transition-ready operating model defined
• Contract execution completed according to project timeline