Strategic Supplier Engagement Specialist

About Us Here at National Grid, we connect homes and businesses to power, making sure supply and demand match each other. We make sure the lights are on in schools, operating theatres, and sporting arenas; we’re thousands of people working on behalf of millions of people. And whatever your role, wherever you work with us, you’ll help us hit stretching targets and achieve our far-reaching goal: to secure, clean energy that supports our world far into the future. Here, you will be at the heart of energy.

At National Grid, we work towards the highest standards in everything we do, including how we support, value, and develop our people. Our aim is to encourage and support employees to thrive and be the best they can be. We celebrate the difference people can bring into our organization, and welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences and backgrounds, and offer flexible and tailored support, at home and in the office.

Our function covers a diverse range of categories from Indirect, IT & Digital, Network Operations (Maintenance & Repair), Gas equipment and Services to large scale Construction and Network Equipment, with a clear mission: to enable a clean, fair, and affordable energy future through commercial, responsible and innovative supply chain leadership. 

The Opportunity

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Strategic Supplier Engagement (SSE) Specialist to join our team on a Full Time, Permanent basis!

The SSE specialist is responsible for supporting National Grid to becomes a customer of choice for our suppliers, to ensure that we better leverage supplier relationships to support our strategic objectives. They will play an active role in developing the process for ongoing engagement, supporting the management of relationships with our most strategic suppliers, work with category managers and Business Unit Leads to drive engagement, initiatives, and innovations on behalf of the Group to become a client of choice and securing our supply chain for the next five to ten years.

National Grid is leading the charge towards a Net Zero future in the UK and NE of USA. We recognize that decarbonizing our electric and gas systems will require resolving many questions and seeking new partnerships, technologies and transformative investments.  Over the next 5 years, we will be investing over £60bn across our UK and US businesses – nearly double the investment over the past 5 years.  This is an exciting time for our industry that is creating significant opportunities for National Grid; this is not just a moment in time; it’s a game-changing era that will shape National Grid’s success for decades to come.

Given this backdrop, our supply chains are facing an unprecedented set of challenges and are at the forefront of our plans, placing National Grid Procurement at the center of our Net Zero goals. We have set out an ambitious transformation plan, focused on becoming a client of choice for our supply partners whilst ensuring outstanding outcomes for our Business Units (BUs).  Our strategy revolves around significant changes in three core areas:

• Partnering: We are forging closer ties with our supply chain, aligning ourselves more closely with each NG Group Business Unit (BU).
• Scale: We are leveraging the immense scale of our group to unlock even greater potential. By harnessing our collective strength, we can achieve remarkable things.
• Operational Transformation: We are revolutionizing the way we work as a team. Embracing new approaches and technologies, we are streamlining processes and making the day-to-day job simpler and more efficient.

What You’ll Do

• Support the Strategic Supplier Engagement Manager to execute the National Grid Supplier Relationship Management strategy in partnership with executive sponsors, strategic business partners, category teams and Business Unit leads.
• Support the Strategic Supplier Manager to drive the engagement, initiative review and delivery, with identified Suppliers and relevant stakeholders from across the NG group, ensuring engagement and initiatives are followed through.
• Support the development of materials required to facilitate supplier engagements.
• Support the wider coordination of team activities, tracking progress and planning activity.
• Support the facilitation, mediation, and provision of recommendations on way forward when category/Business Unit priorities conflict – including escalating to relevant stakeholders within Procurement.
• Coordinate & facilitate stakeholder engagements (e.g., forums, workshops) with strategic suppliers across Business Units and category teams.
• Engage with Market Supplier Development Team to guide efforts to access new markets/suppliers.
• Contribute to the re-assessment and update supplier segmentation ensuring that our approach evolves as the supplier dynamics evolve.
• Support category teams in adopting appropriate commercial strategies, assessing contract risks, executing mitigation plans and building effective partnerships with vendors that ensures opportunities to drive value are leveraged.
• Support the development of Strategic Supplier Engagement Program awareness and capability across the function by advocating awareness and delivery of training.
• Contribute to ‘Voice of the Supplier’ surveys, insight generation and use as the basis for appropriate action planning to continuously improve the perception of National Grid in the market with the goal of becoming a ‘Client of Choice’.

Requirements

• Procurement / Supply Chain experience of Supplier Engagement or Management.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to simplify complex information and present insights concisely to diverse audiences.
• Proficient and demonstrable experience of building and maintaining internal and external relationships.
• Ability to work independently to meet business goals and deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to translate complex issues into simplified outputs.
• Ability to deal with ambiguity to make decisions or recommendations on incomplete information.
• Ability to manage programs of work with high numbers of stakeholder interfaces to drive for results.
• Analytical mindset, capable of taking information and presenting as insight using appropriate tools and systems, such as MS PowerPoint and other Microsoft Office tools

Your Rewards

Rewarding work and a collaborative, team-oriented culture is just the beginning. Review our digital benefit guide at ngbenefitslivebrighter.com for full details and descriptions.

Additional Information

This role is offered on a Full-Time, Permanent basis.

We are also offering hybrid / flexible working where travel to the office will be as per business need.

This role can be located: Waltham, MA

Waltham: $83,000- $ 98,000 a year

This role closes on 9/2/24. However, we strongly encourage candidates to submit their application as early as possible, as applications will be actively reviewed and processed prior to the deadline

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

National Grid is an equal opportunity employer that values a broad diversity of talent, knowledge, experience and expertise. We foster a culture of inclusion that drives employee engagement to deliver superior performance to the communities we serve. National Grid is proud to be an affirmative action employer. We encourage minorities, women, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans to join the National Grid team.