Procurement Manager, EMEA

ABOUT VANTAGE DATA CENTERS

Vantage is committed to being a workplace of inclusion, equity, respect and acceptance. We celebrate diversity and intentionally seek out opportunities to learn from one another’s experience.

Vantage Data Centers powers, cools, protects and connects the technology of the world’s well-known hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. Developing and operating across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Vantage has evolved data center design in innovative ways to deliver dramatic gains in reliability, efficiency and sustainability in flexible environments that can scale as quickly as the market demands.

Procurement Department

Vantage is looking for a Procurement Manager for OFCI in EMEA, to join our expanding team.

The Procurement team leads the purchasing of Design, Construction and owner furnished contractor installed equipment (OFCI) contracts across Vantage’s portfolio in Europe, Middle East and Africa. This includes strategic management of vendors and inventory, vendor management and long term negotiated pricing, architecting / management of process / ERP

As a Procurement Manager for OFCI, your responsibilities will be to drive cost and time efficiencies through sourcing from different vendors and countries. You will be expected to maintain constant communication and relationship with suppliers, obtaining product specifications, challenging supplier costs and keeping the sourcing under budget. You will  be working with Engineering to ensure specifications are adhered to and are in accordance with our Customer requirements.

You will also be liaising with the Construction teams to ensure that equipment is delivered to construction sites in accordance with programme, and that any issues on site are captured and lessons learnt are shared across different teams.

Regular collaboration and coordination is required with multiple stakeholders, whether internal such as Engineering, Operations, as well as multi-jurisdictional Construction Management Teams, or external such as the General Contractor, the Design Consultant(s), Commissioning agents, and others as necessary.

Travel will be necessary to various factories for factory witness testing, audits, and on-boarding of new vendors. 

As Vantage continues to expand, you will work with internal groups focused on cost and schedule reduction to integrate change management and product optimisation int new and ongoing projects, while providing lessons learned into the overall feedback loop for analysis and modification.

Responsibilities

• Driving equipment submittals from cradle to grave, with the ability to manage multiple single line diagrams, product specifications and driving OFCI Equipment submittals to closure (approval).
• Managing RFIs and RFQs for the sourcing of equipment for low voltage switchgear, medium switchgear, transformers, electrical skids, CRAH’s, chillers, generators, UPS’s and other data center equipment systems as needed
• Serve as a liaison between our supply chain partners to manage change orders, lead-times and costs are managed and communicated properly.
• Analyse project schedules for on-site equipment delivery dates
• Obtaining and analyse vendors quotes, change order and submittals
• Support Finance / Accounting with invoicing issues
• Drive project-level tasks and milestones assigned by the project management team
• Scheduling start-up and commissioning support services from the vendors
• Maintain and develop supplier relationships
• Work with operation personnel of the Vantage buildings to ensure the proper spare parts and service programs are properly in place.
• Assure the performance of the suppliers from a cost, quality and delivery perspective

Duties

• Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure clarity of the specifications and operational requirements
• Work with the Finance to ensure all purchases have appropriately been costed to a project
• Coordinate the approval and release of the necessary equipment per construction schedule
• Negotiate best-landed price with primary and secondary vendors, as applicable
• Support the negotiation of complex requests for equipment and services from suppliers and subcontractors
• Manage and support equipment inventory planning efforts and forecasting

Required Skills

• Aptitude to learn quickly and drive things to closure is required
• Self-starter and autonomous in their work
• Strong business acumen with a good commercial background is required
• Ability to work in a cross-multicultural company, and within multi-disciplinary teams.
• Looking for continuous improvement, adaptable with high level of attention to detail.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor or Master of Science in supply chain management, logistics, business administration, Engineering or related field
• 5+ years of experience as a Procurement Manager ideally within Datacentres, or similar Mission Critical facilities, or Heavy Civil / Infrastructure related projects, with a focus on industrial equipment.
• Be technically strong and proficient user of Microsoft Office Packages
• Expected travel is around 50%, but may grow and evolve over time
• Fluent in English and another European language (preferably German or Italian)

We operate with No Ego and No Arrogance. We work to build each other up and support one another, appreciating each other’s strengths and respecting each other’s weaknesses. We find joy in our work and each other, actively seeking opportunities to inject fun into what we do. Our hard and efficient work is rewarded with an above-market total compensation package. We offer a comprehensive suite of health and welfare, retirement, and paid leave benefits exceeding local expectations.

Throughout the year, the advantage of being part of the Vantage team is evident with an array of benefits, recognition, training and development, and the knowledge that your contribution adds value to the company and our community.

Don't meet all the requirements? Please still apply if you think you are the right person for the position. We are always keen to speak to people who connect with our mission and values.

Vantage Data Centers is an Equal Opportunity Employer