Director of Procurement Contracts

The contract managers will align to and support Procurement’s category teams, which are themselves aligned to MassMutual’s business units.  Together, category managers, supplier managers and contract managers will form deal teams that will be accountable for negotiating procurement contracts of all types, across the enterprise.  To be successful, the ideal candidate will be required to understand the end-to-end process of Procurement.  This overall process guides the approach to everything from template selection to contact negotiation tactics.  This overall process includes the consideration of key areas such as: sourcing needs, category strategy alignment, supplier risk & performance management concerns, supplier diversity requirements, and the breadth of risk areas (Cybersecurity, Privacy, Criticality, etc).

Objectives of this role

On the MassMutual Procurement team, we have a goal to enable MassMutual’s mission and vision by providing the right supplier solution at the right time.  Our mission is to streamline the procurement process, align supplier partners to meet business needs and continuously increase the value provided to our policyholders.  We have embarked on an extensive maturity of our procurement operating model with a focus on standardization, implementing industry best practices and reducing supplier spend.

As a Contract Director you will provide leadership to contract managers to ensure the team develops flexible contracting strategies to support the needs of all addressable categories and subsidiaries. This includes having the ability to prioritize multiple projects requiring frequent communication, organization, time management, and problem-solving skills in the day to day while also managing and leading the team. This is a player-coach role, so the ideal candidate will have substantial experience in the drafting, redlining and interpretation of legal and procurement contract clauses and will also negotiate transactions.

Daily and monthly responsibilities

• Report to and collaborate with the Head of Contracts on contract negotiation status, progress, SLAs, KPIs, Quality Compliance and team collaboration, as well as help provide content for Senior and Executive Leadership updates.
• Be responsible for managing roughly 4-5 individual contributors and be supported by other outsourced and offshore resources across a wide range of projects from highly complex and urgent to lower complexity and therefore efficient/fast-moving. 
• Provide weekly progress reports of team activity.
• Serve as a principal subject matter expert in all internal contract standards, as well external contract variations (with support from QA and Legal).
• Negotiate, draft and understand in depth legal clauses in parent agreements (MSA/PSA, Saas, Licensing, etc.) as well as scopes of services (SOW, Work Orders) and related change orders, amendments, renewals, etc. 
• Use and improve desktop procedures and playbook guidelines established by the company as well as collaborating to prepare and deliver relevant training.
• Provide expert guidance on ideal structure of the end-to-end process from kickoff to execution, having a continuous improvement focus.
• Operate with autonomy and discretion in communicating the Business unit, Category Managers, Sourcing and Supplier Relationship Managers.

Skills and qualifications

• At least 7 years of procurement contract negotiation and drafting/redlining experience, with the primary responsibility of producing quality contracts based on procurement standards and regulations.
• Bachelors  Degree.  JD preferred.
• Extremely customer-focused, taking the time to understand the needs of the business and legal.
• Prior experience directly managing others.
• Experienced written and oral communicator, with strategic, analytical, and interpersonal skills to act as an effective change agent, unlocking barriers to quickly move contracts to closure.
• Knowledgeable in assessing contract risks and concisely explaining complex issues to both legal and non-legal professionals.
• Excellent communication skills and listening skills enabling stakeholders to understand and align with our procurement best practices.
• In-depth knowledge of strategic sourcing and procurement principles and industry best practices.
• Strong influencing skills to encourage leaders from across MassMutual towards positive negotiation and contracting results.
• Courage to influence across the organization for compliance with standards and escalate noncompliance when needed.
• Knowledgeable about procurement value stream industry best practices and proven track record implementing best practices across an enterprise.
• Prior experience in other areas of procurement such as sourcing, category management, supplier management or third party risk management.
• Extremely customer-focused, taking the time to understand the needs of the business and legal.
• Experienced working in a large, global, highly matrixed organization, ideally with prior experience in financial services or similarly regulated industry.
• Experienced working in a large, global, highly matrixed organization, ideally with prior experience in financial services or similarly regulated industry preferred.

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MassMutual is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer Minority/Female/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Individual with Disability/Protected Veteran. We welcome all persons to apply. Note: Veterans are welcome to apply, regardless of their discharge status.

If you need an accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us and share the specifics of the assistance you need.