Commodity Buyer

Discovery Corporate Services – Group Procurement

Commodity Buyer: ICT

About Discovery

Discovery’s core purpose is to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. We seek out and invest in exceptional individuals who understand and support our core purpose, and whose own values align with those of Discovery. Our fast-paced and dynamic environment enables smart, self-driven people to be their best. As global thought leaders, Discovery is passionate about innovating in order to not only achieve financial success, but to ignite positive and meaningful change within our society.

About (Group Procurement)

Discovery conducts a centre-led Procurement department which has three strategic objectives, namely optimising cost efficiency, supplier partnering to create shared value and transformation through preferential procurement. These are underpinned by the principles of proper governance and good corporate citizenship.

Key Purpose

The main purpose of Commodity Buyer is to support the implementation of strategic and tactical sourcing strategies for ICT products and services that will drive the objectives of increased savings and inclusive procurement while adhering to governance and managing the objectives of internal business stakeholders. The buyer will assist the Category Management Team in managing the assigned portfolio and departmental objectives. An important aspect of this role is to optimize cost efficiencies, improve compliance, manage supplier performance and support Discovery’s business plans.

Areas of responsibility may include but not limited to

Strategic and Tactical

• Support the Category Management Team and Procurement Manager with implementing sourcing strategies based on existing and forecased spend.
• Assist with optimising the ICT category through spend analysis and optimisation with a total cost of ownership approach.
• Participate in cross-functional teams to ensure that Discovery is leveraging spend and driving best value.
• Support internal customers for the sourcing of tactical goods and services by following established and approved procurement policies and procedures in order to provide the lowest cost consistent with quality and service requirements while maintaining good supplier relations.
• Optimise procurement savings.
• Maintain effective working relationships with external customers and/or suppliers with a view to assess or improve the quality of procurement and purchasing practices.
• Work with cross functional team with the aim to increase contract coverage and process efficiency
• Assist with preparation of monthly reports for exco and recommend areas of improvement for the procurement division.

Administration

• Attending the weekly IT Procurement Forum (ITPF) which reviews procurement requests for purchase orders.
• Request competitive quotes and proposals and ensure the implementation of the 3-quote system for tactical orders coming through the ITPF.
• Review planned orders and renewals, create requisitions for orders and assign these for approval, send the approved purchase orders to suppliers.
• Facilitate interactions with suppliers and internal business stakeholders on a daily basis to resolve transactional issues and gather critical information (open orders, account statements, invoices, tracking info, tax docs etc.).
• Validate contract pricing for all purchase requests under category management.
• Matching and receipting orders for payment to ensure payments are made within the required payment terms.
• Creating catalogues for service providers against which they can purchase items within the portfolio (where applicable).

B-BBEE

• Assist Category Management Team to engage vendors that do not meet the minimum B-BBEE requirements to agree on a plan to improve their B-BBEE levels in order to protect Discovery’s B-BBEE status.
• Scanning the market to identify vendors that we could onboard to help us reach our B-BBEE shortfalls.
• Recommending B-BBEE vendors to take part in RFx processes.

Contract Management

• Work with internal business stakeholders to achieve 80% of addressable spend under contract management.
• Engaging with the Cross Functional Team and suppliers to finalise contract renewals prior to expiration.

Managed Spend under procurement

• Meeting with business areas to see how we can influence and increase spend under procurement management (S-UPM) for the ICT commodity.
• Sharing and discussing the procurement policy and processes with internal business stakeholders to increase compliance.

Savings

• Implementing category strategies established by the Category Management Team that will assist in reaching the required savings targets.
• Recording savings achieved into the savings register for approval and signed off by the business and following up to ensure that these are finalised.
• Meeting with vendors to see how we can reduce our overall costs and Total cost of ownership (TCO) linked to ICT purchases.

Supplier Relationship Management

• Attend Quarterly Business Reviews (QBR) with the Category Management Team and strategic suppliers to identify changes in the environment that could impact Discovery.

Reporting

• Assist the category Management Team with the development and generation of monthly, weekly and adhoc reports for the Procurement Management Team and ICT leadership team.

Personal Attributes and Skills

• Must be able to operate independently.
• Must be able to work under pressure.
• Able to perform multiple concurrent tasks and responsibilities and to deal with changing priorities while maintaining personal effectiveness.
• Good negotiation skills.
• Understanding of contract management and risk mitigation factors.
• Ability to communicate (orally and in writing) and be responsive to internal customer requirements.
• Decisive and deadline driven.
• Willing to challenge ideas and provide suggestions which are in the best interests of Discovery.
• Ability to work collaboratively with internal customers and the wider procurement team.
• Must exhibit sound interpersonal skills involving interfacing, coordinating and negotiating with internal customers and suppliers.

Education and Experience

• Qualification or working towards a qualification in Purchasing and/or Supply Chain Management, preferably CIPS.
• 1-3 years procurement experience,at a Buyer level.
• Experience in implementing sourcing strategies and engaging in tactical sourcing activities that deliver on cost, quality, and service objectives.

Employment Equity  

The Company’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY   
                             
The Company’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.