Job Description
The Associate Director of Commercial Strategic Sourcing will lead and manage all aspects of the commercial strategic sourcing and procurement services operations. The Associate Director of Commercial Strategic Sourcing has overall ownership of the Sourcing process at Otsuka for Media Planning & Buying, Marketing Agencies, Trade Shows, Market Research, Patient Support and Promotions. This position will partner with the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), Business Owners, and delegated functional sourcing teams to drive the greatest value possible for the organization as we buy goods and services. This role is responsible for the development and execution of the company’s overall Sourcing Strategy and Category Management practice in these categories. This role will provide insight and input into all policies, processes, and systems related to Strategic Sourcing in OAPI/OPDC, and partners with other key Sourcing stakeholders in Corporate Services, Supply Chain, R&D, Regional (OAI), and with our parent company in Japan. The Associate Director of Commercial Strategic Sourcing will also partner with the FP&A teams to understand the future investment plans from the business and identify cost optimization opportunities through strategic sourcing and leading category management practices, maximizing value and minimizing risks for Otsuka.

Job Description

The Associate Director of Commercial Strategic Sourcing leads a team of ~1-2 individuals focused on driving an efficient and effective Sourcing process. Responsibilities include the following areas:

Overall Responsibility

• Partners with Executive Leadership to create a Sourcing vision and strategy that align with the needs of the business while meeting financial and operational control objectives for Commercial.
• Develops and manage relationships with key vendors, building a path to strategic partnerships that enables operational continuous improvements and innovation.
• Ownership of Category Management and Strategic Sourcing policies, processes, and systems.
• Track and monitor sourcing policies and process compliance, ensure any exceptions and deviations are reported.
• Builds and develops high performing Strategic Sourcing team; creates excellence through consistent, high-quality outcomes.
• Identify continuous improvement opportunities based on the status of macroeconomy, latest industry trends, and new technology.
• Accountable for driving 10-15% annual savings within in-scope spend areas.
• Point person for significant sourcing activities including negotiation of contracts with highest value / highest impact to the company. Several of these contracts will be more than $100M.

Strategic Sourcing Vision, Strategy, and Objectives

• Executes against a common vision and strategy for Strategic Sourcing at Otsuka. Partners with Business leaders and other key stakeholders to gain their perspectives and endorsement of the vision and strategy.
• Develops strategic objectives for the sourcing organization based on the vision; what needs to happen by when; where will the impact be felt; how success will be measured.
• Establishes measurements of success (KPIs) and appropriate processes to capture, consolidate and report on sourcing performance and outcome versus objectives.
• Provides regular reporting of overall sourcing initiatives and their progress, including issues, risks, and other important observations to ELT, Business Leaders, and Stakeholders.
• Lead the team of Category Managers to ensure all sourcing strategy and contract negotiations are aligned to Otsuka’s Strategic Vision.

Strategic Sourcing Process and Policy

• Maintains sourcing policies and processes that enable achievement of the Strategic Sourcing vision.
• Ensures sourcing policies and processes that have a “business first” focus, providing efficiency and effectiveness that makes it easier to source goods and services with more consistent, reliable results.
• Drives appropriate training across the organization on the importance of Sourcing policies and processes.
• Ensures appropriate controls are in place to meet regulatory requirements (i.e. J-sox, Third Party Risk Management, etc.)
• Ensure best practices in Sourcing including accurate spend analysis, usage of RFx tools and templates, contract management, establishment of Preferred Supplier Programs, and ensuring all sourcing savings are realized into the financials.

Strategic Sourcing Execution

• Oversees the team’s daily activities related to sourcing projects including the development of RFx strategy and on-going contract negotiations.
• Develops and owns overall sourcing project pipeline, creating visibility into financial value driven by the Sourcing team.
• Develops and implements operational metrics to ensure continuous monitoring and process improvement across all sourcing projects.
• Ensure all sourcing projects have clear objectives including financial and operational benefits, aligned with business stakeholders.
• Partners with Business Owners and Financial Operations, and other key process owners to ensure Sourcing model is meeting the operational needs of the organization.

Organizational Design and Development

• Develops the key skillsets and subject matter expertise needed to be a successful member of the Sourcing team using benchmarking, best practices, and feedback from the business customers.
• Creates and maintains capability matrix for sourcing team roles and ensures hiring and training practices are aligned with required capabilities.
• Ensure all sourcing team job descriptions are up to date with responsibilities and requirements aligned to Sourcing capability matrix.
• Develops a career ladder for team with specific capabilities required at each level.
• Supervises and mentors team members, provides continuous coaching, feedback, and individual development plans for direct reports.

Qualifications/ Required

Knowledge/ Experience and Skills:

Qualifications

 

Knowledge

• Robust knowledge of Sourcing and sourcing strategies within the Pharmaceutical Commercial categories; demonstrated expertise in the discipline.
• Experience supervising a strategic sourcing team.
• Experience interacting with senior level clients and vendors; able to evaluate situations from multiple angles and sensitive to stakeholders needs while maintaining focus on bringing the best value to the organization.
• Evaluating and developing procurement strategies to maximize efficiency and minimize cost.
• Expert on practices for negotiating supplier contracts that lead to the greatest value for money for the organization.
• Establishing a best for Otsuka management organization model and metrics
• Launching and managing financial KPI's for Sourcing, such as deflation, productivity, and working capital optimization
• Deep knowledge of key Pharmaceutical spend categories.
• Demonstrated understanding and experience with multiple business areas on developing sourcing category strategies.
• Understands key financial and operational controls needed to run a Sourcing organization in the Pharmaceutical industry.

Skills and Experience
Minimum of 5-7+ years experience in Strategic Sourcing roles including the ability to lead a transformation of a sourcing organization.

• Executive presence and influence with demonstrated ability to tell a story and influence the direction of the organization including at the most senior levels of the organization
• Strategic thinker able to anticipate trends, understand implication and create actionable plans to prepare for future needs.
• Familiar with emerging Procurement technologies.
• Outstanding communication skills, ability to speak to the business and simplify complex technical sourcing aspects into concepts the business can understand, assess, and ultimately use to make decisions.
• Strong customer service focus and ability to think, plan and act at the enterprise versus functional level. Experience listening to client needs and partnering to deliver results that are mutually beneficial for the client and the organization.
• Specific experience in leading large, complex sourcing projects and supporting Senior Leadership on development of the sourcing strategy, management of risks and issues and the execution of the project to deliver the greatest value for money for the organization.
• Demonstrated ability to design, develop, and implement a robust Sourcing process and high performing Sourcing team in support of this process. 
• Effective influencing and negotiating skills, both external and internal, and ability to flex influence with various levels of the organization.
• Superior analytical skills, able to rapidly understand and synthesize disparate data into meaningful information to support critical business decisions.
• Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical industry and the Sales and Marketing of new drugs.
• #LI-PG1

 
Education
Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, or relevant technical expertise. Advanced degree (MBA/MS) preferred.