Senior Procurement Manager, Procurement of Medical, WASH and NFI Commodities at International Rescue Committee

Job Overview:

• The Senior Manager, Procurement of Medical, WASH and NFI Commodities is responsible for the global procurement of medical commodities including pharmaceuticals, medical consumables, medical equipment, laboratory items nutrition commodities, as well as the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) commodities and non-food items (NFI) categories. The position is also the operator for any global emergency pre-positioned stock. Across these categories the scope of the role includes strategic sourcing, negotiation, and effective vendor management considering the total spend of the organization. The role establishes and maintains strong external partnerships with vendors and other organizations and develops and implements critical initiatives within the medical commodity category and WASH and NFI categories. Finally, the role has substantial scope to troubleshoot issues for Country Programs (CPs) and support emergency response.

Major Responsibilities:

Key Responsibilities: Procurement of Medical, Nutrition, WASH and NFI Commodities

• Collaborate with internal requestors such as program leads, country programs and the wider GSC team to align procurement strategies with organizational goals. Collaborate with them to develop and maintain an up-to-date procurement plan with all quantities, quality and delivery requirements for health products and services.
• Responsible for strategic sourcing of medical, nutrition, WASH and NFI commodities, including market research, cost estimates, solicitation documents, bidding process facilitation, supplier identification and research, quality and availability of goods assessment, negotiation, contract/purchase order and other documents preparation. Communicate with other procurement staff and various program and operations units to coordinate and track goods/services delivery and receipt and keep everyone informed of the status. Collect information to confirm that goods/services delivered are what have been ordered in the correct quantities and quality, they arrive on schedule and at the right cost.
• Ensure compliance with IRC procurement policies and procedures, regulatory requirements and industry and donor standards for the procurement of medical, nutrition, WASH and NFI commodities Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with vendors and internal requestors, particularly Pharma/Health Technical Advisors, fostering teamwork and resolving issues promptly.
• Analyze and report global and country spend data on an agreed regular basis.
• Conduct regular market research, analyze trends, and forecast demand for medical commodities to optimize procurement strategies.
• Ensure that Essential Drug Lists and lists of waived additional items are communicated to Global vendors.
• Collaborate with Master Data Management to maintain accurate master data within Integra.
• Work diligently and proactively with IRCs AP department and CP staff to ensure payments are made on time to vendors.
• Play an active role in emergency procurement in support of emergency responses.
• Accountable for transparency within the procurement department through ensuring a complete, accurate and up-to-date document trail of each procurement’s lifecycle as defined by IRC policy and procedure. Prepare reports, procurement files and facilitate document retrieval when requested.

Key Responsibilities: Capacity Building and Subject Matter Expertise

• Support the country procurement teams during country program led procurements.
• Serve as subject matter specialist to HQ and Country Program Supply Chain staff on pharmaceutical regulations, donor compliance, importation, and sourcing from Global vendors.
• Represent IRC GSC in external forums as required.
• Provide procurement advice and capacity building to both procurement and non-procurement staff at HQ and in country programs. Travel to various country program locations worldwide to support joint learning, relationship building to continuously improve the procurement lifecycle.
• Provide support in the development and delivery of procurement trainings to close identified gaps.

Key Responsibilities: Emergency Pre-Positioned Stock

• Strategic sourcing of supplies for stocks required for Emergency response in these named categories.
• Assist the organization’s pre-positioning stock strategy.

Job Requirements:

Essential Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in supply chain management, pharmacy, business administration or other related degree, or equivalent additional experience.
• Minimum 6 years of experience working in public procurement for an international organization. At least 2 of these years need to be working in the category of health or medical commodities.
• Demonstrated understanding of donor procurement regulations, particularly USAID, ECHO, FCDO, and
• Proficient in MS Office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Ability to speak French, Arabic or Spanish is not required but a plus.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of medical logistics and pharmaceutical supply chain systems in developing contexts as well as developments and trends within pharmaceuticals industry
• Knowledge of pharmaceutical management processes, such as vendor prequalification, quality assurance and control, cold chain storage, distribution, and pharmacovigilance.
• Good planning and coordination skills and ability to prioritize competing priorities effectively.
• Good analytical skills with ability to make independent judgments and decisions.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented with focus on meeting requestor needs. Proven interpersonal and relationship management skills with requestors and vendors alike.
• Ethical conduct in accordance with recognized professional and organizational codes of ethics.
• Good negotiation, communication, and relationship management skills.

Preferred Qualifications and Skills

• Professional certification in a related field
• Experience operating in a business system.
• Experience using Power BI or related data visualization software.
• Extensive knowledge of pharmaceuticals related quality systems such as GDP, GMP, and ISO 9000 series

Closing date

7 Oct 2024