Summary

Under the direction of the Executive Director and Associate Vice President of Business Development, the Director of Procurement, Contracts & Risk Management is responsible for directing all aspects of the Corporation’s procurement and contracting processes. Will be responsible for leading and managing the department, strategic planning, Corporation, university and community partnership, functional oversight management and direct supervision of the Contracts & Procurement Analyst position. Responsible for the governance and management necessary to identify, evaluate, mitigate, and monitor operational and strategic risk. Develops Risk Management tools, practices, and policies to analyze and report enterprise risks, and to manage risks according to an enterprise risk management framework. Ensures the organization’s risk management policies and strategies are in compliance with applicable regulations, standards, and strategic imperatives of the organization.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES (% of Time):

1. Leadership/Management 15%
2. Strategic Planning 15%
3. Corporation/University/Community Partnership 20%
4. Risk Management 20%
5. Functional Oversight Management 30%

LISTS OF TASKS FOR EACH MAJOR RESPONSIBILITY:

1. Leadership/Management:

Acts as a change champion. Leads courageously by addressing difficult issues. Works to resolve issues at the peer level and takes measures to mitigate future issues. Supports and moves new initiatives forward. Identifies current and future challenges and proposes effective solutions. Understands what issues require a “sense of urgency” and handles accordingly. Ensures confidentiality around sensitive issues. Facilitates an environment that motivates, empowers, and inspires commitment from employees. Assumes good intent with one another and work on the premise of trust. Demonstrates commitment to creating and sustaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. Provides clear direction. Communicates effectively and with purpose. Creates and implements methods for improving individual and team performance. Builds effective teams committed to organizational goals. Works with a spirit of collaboration, inclusion, respect and collegiality. Takes ownership of issues and demonstrates accountability. Creates an environment in which employees are recognized for their accomplishments and contributions to the success of the team. Builds competence in others through effective coaching, performance management and mentoring. Supports and encourages professional and career development for employees. Fosters a culture of support and success for new hires by utilizing effective onboarding methods. Understands the Corporation’s mission and vision and how the department/division work activities and goals support the mission. Ensures cross-divisional support and participation. Recognizes, understands, and appreciates different roles across the institution. Identifies and calls advocacy behavior. Speaks and advocates with one common voice. Determines, effectively allocates, and coordinates resources.

2. Strategic Planning:

As a strategic partner, recommends, creates, and implements long- and short-term strategic plan goals and operational plans and procedures for Procurement & Contracts that aligns with and supports the overall mission of the university. Motivates and encourages commitment to achievement of strategic plans. Effectively communicates the strategic initiatives. Accomplishes strategic goals for Procurement & Contracts.

3. Corporation/University/Community Partnership:

As a member of the campus community, ensures a community-focused strategy to support the university's mission. Identifies and anticipates community needs. Builds effective strategic alliances internally and externally. Collaborates with business partners in the achievement of Corporation goals that support the university’s mission. Initiates and develops strong working relationships with the community. Recognizes the importance of collective strength, knowledge, and information. Actively solicits and acts upon feedback. Develops and implements solutions. Successfully negotiates through persuasion. Gains support and commitment from others. Works to find common ground and group consensus. Takes the necessary measures to solicit and influence internal and external support. Demonstrates commitment to diversity.

4. Risk Management:

Works in coordination with various Corporation departments along with university Safety, Health, & Sustainability (SH&S), Corporation Human Resources, and other university groups to identify, manage, and monitor risk. Leads the process of identifying, measuring, and managing insurable risks, developing reports and plans, and analyzing problems and defining and/or overseeing the implementation of risk solutions and controls that help optimize operations. Oversees the purchase of all property, casualty, Workers’ Compensation, and specialty insurance programs and coordinating coverage for the programs in which the Corporation participates. Mitigates exposure to risk by formulating, developing, and coordinating all claims-related activities, as well as resolving bona fide claims at the least possible costs through various risk transfer and control techniques. Ensures the proper and efficient handling of claims, gathering data on claims for both record keeping and loss forecasting purposes, and along with the Associate Executive Director of Finance & Business Operations monitors the financial value of claims in coordination with Third-Party Administrators (TPA). Assists with the preparation of loss analyses and budgets, identifying exposures, recommending solutions, implementing approved programs, promoting loss prevention, updating and monitoring compliance with insurance procedures and managing risk management communications.

5. Functional Oversight/Management:

Provides Leadership/Management and Strategic Planning for Procurement & Contracts. Builds and fosters internal relationships with the campus community, and externally with suppliers, regulatory agencies, the Chancellor’s Office and other campuses to deliver strategic support to the Corporation and campus community. Identify and integrate creative solutions in the areas of “procure to pay” (P2P), strategic sourcing, eProcurement, contract management, as well as vendor management in partnership with the Accounts Payable department.

Utilizes comprehensive campus and market data to identify strategic opportunities, value-added solutions, and manage strategic priorities.

Develops, interprets and applies policies, guidelines, and procedures and ensures compliance with all standards and regulations of the Corporation, CSU and State of California. Works to streamline and improve the end-user experience. Works closely with campus procurement and risk management to identify opportunities to mitigate risk and maintain compliance while allowing for operational flexibility and need.

The Director is responsible for knowledge and application of Public Contract Code, Corporation Policy, CSU Policy, state policy, public works policy, regulation, and processes, P3, leases, international agreements, MOUs, risk assessments, documentation of decisions that increase Corporation liability and insurance programs. The Director oversees and implements continuous improvement initiatives.

Supervision

This position will supervise the Contracts & Procurement Analyst.

Latitude and Judgment

• Will work and make decisions independently with minimal supervision – planning, organizing, coordinating, and executing day-to-day tasks, as well as complex, long-range projects, exercising judgment and discretion to accomplish a broad range of procurement functions.
• Will exercise judgement and latitude over immediate responsibilities, time and resource management, and communicate with various Corporation managers and administrative support staff.
• Poor judgment in performance of duties of the Director of Procurement, Contracts & Risk Management could result in missed deadlines and a negative impact for the Corporation in terms of employee relations, campus community relations, and/or re-work.

Work Environment

• The work environment will include normal office conditions and use of a computer.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.
• Participation in activities, meetings, and retreats on an off campus, including occasional evening and weekend work, may be required.
• Occasional overnight travel may be required.

Qualifications

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Accounting, Public Administration, or related field plus seven (7) years of experience providing leadership and strategic planning for Procurement & Contracts
• Must have technical experience in Procurement & Contracts, contract development and management, strategic sourcing, and eProcurement
• Computer literacy and knowledge of windows-based computer software systems, including Microsoft Office (Word and Excel required); literacy and knowledge of PeopleSoft or integrated financial system (preferred)
• Certified Purchasing certification and master’s degree preferred
• Public Works experience strongly preferred
• Auxiliary Services work experience and/or work experience in an academic setting, ideally Public Higher Education preferred

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

Leadership/Vision:

• Commitment to CSUSM Corporation’s mission and goals in support of a student-centered university dedicated to teaching excellence and active learning with a university-first perspective and a customer-focused strategy.
• Ability to establish a clear and understandable vision for Procurement & Contracts, engage the university community in the implementation of the vision, and build the operational components to execute the vision.
• Ability to lead and enable groups of people to face challenges and achieve results in complex conditions.
• Demonstrated commitment and ability to advance the Corporation’s goals in the areas of diversity and inclusive excellence.

Management/Conflict Resolution/Problem Resolution/Initiative/Continuous Improvement:

• Successful experience managing within a complex organization.
• Experience building and managing an effective world-class team dedicated to organizational goals and high performance.
• Experience with directing, supervising, motivating and inspiring others; measuring the performance of people, teams and organizations, and assessing performance and progress.
• Familiarity with collective bargaining and administering corrective action as appropriate in a collective bargaining environment preferred.
• Ability to develop and support on-going learning and professional development for staff, managers, and emerging leaders.
• Ability to lead courageously by addressing difficult issues.
• Ability to prioritize and handle issues based on a sense of urgency and importance of the issues.
• Ability to ensure confidentiality around sensitive issues.
• Ability to initiate and support innovation with creativity, openness to change, flexibility, responsiveness, and future focus.
• Ability to apply quality management techniques of continuous improvement and employee involvement to assess and improve services, promote campus culture, and build teams.
• Ability to identify current and future challenges and propose and implement effective solutions.
• Experience making effective decisions with sound analytical ability, good judgment and strong operational focus.

Communication:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively and with purpose to a variety of audiences.
• Successful negotiation and persuasion skills.

Strategic Planning/Goal Setting:

• Experience in strategically supporting growth and/or change.
• Experience creating and implementing long- and short-term goals.
• Experience in determining and coordinating resource allocations.
• Ability to collaborate with multiple entities to plan and accomplish the objectives set forth in the Corporation’s and university’s strategic master plan, coordinating ongoing multiple large and complex projects from conception to completion in a centralized and highly regulated environment.
• Ability to find solutions that result in prudent decisions, to promote mutual satisfaction and positive action, and to develop imaginative approaches to achieve individual, unit and institutional strategic initiatives.
• Ability to apply forward-thinking and creative thought with high ethical standards to develop strategic vision.

Teamwork/Collaboration:

• The ability to work effectively and build strong alliances internally and externally with a broad range of individuals to bring the Corporation community together around shared goals.
• Ability to recognize, understand, and appreciate different roles across the institution.

Functional Area Expertise:

• Experience in the development and execution of long-range strategic plans and goals, including the ability to effectively lead and direct action of staff and others to develop and accomplish strategic planning objectives.
• This position requires the background and experience to perform in-depth legal and contractual research and analysis for decision-making as well as the ability to make independent decisions and apply analytical skills requiring a high level of creativity in problem solving.
• Ability to develop and implement new procurement initiatives.
• Ability to independently research and interpret applicable law and policies, and apply accordingly to the business situation, and contract or agreement, which binds the Corporation financially or otherwise.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills to provide leadership and vision for Procurement, Contracts & Risk Management and foster relationships to plan and implement new programs that strategically support Corporation growth.
• Demonstrated customer service experience requiring a very high level of diplomacy and professionalism.
• Ability to use tact and diplomacy to handle a broad range of high-level and sensitive interpersonal situations with diverse personalities, and to respond appropriately to conflicts and problems.
• Experience coaching, mentoring, and establishing professional development plans.
• Ability to develop and interpret contracts and specification bid proposals and make decisions in accordance with laws, ordinances, rules, regulations, and policies governing the purchase and contracting of commodities and services for the Corporation.
• Demonstrates expertise in independently drafting and analyzing contracts, business documents and/or other agreements while assuring compliance with applicable laws, guidelines, and prime contract terms.
• Serves as primary liaison with university’s and Chancellor’s Office Procurement and Contracts, Risk Management, and Capital Planning Design and Construction.

Other Employment Requirements:

The person holding this position is considered a “mandated reporter” under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and is required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order 1083 Revised July 21, 2017 as a condition of employment.

Mandated Reporter Classification = Limited Reporter

This position is subject to a background check including, but not limited to, employment verification, education verification, reference checks and criminal record checks. Failure to satisfactorily complete the background check may affect the application status of applicants or continued employment of current CSUSM Corporation employees who apply for the position.

Must participate in CSUSM Corporation, CSU, and university-wide trainings as required.

About CSUSM Corporation

As an auxiliary organization of California State University San Marcos, CSUSM Corporation plays an important role in the campus community, existing to provide support, advance the purposes and goals, and meet the evolving needs of the University. CSUSM Corporation is a self-supporting auxiliary and does not receive funding from state sources.

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