Sourcing Specialist for Concerts, Venues & Festivals

This is a Full Time Job

Sourcing Specialist - Concerts, Venues & Festivals (CV&F)

THE ROLE

The Sourcing Specialist for Concerts, Venues & Festivals (CV&F) is responsible for the sourcing and procurement of a wide variety of goods and services needed to operate our diverse portfolio of iconic live performance venues and produce our one-of-a-kind festival experiences. The Sourcing Specialist for CV&F reports to the Sr. Sourcing Category Manager of Concerts, Venues & Festivals for the Global Procurement team. The Sourcing Specialist for CV&F is broadly responsible for supporting stakeholders' overarching strategic and operational objectives, while reducing cost structurally and permanently, where possible. This hands-on role is individually responsible for procurement-related activities for stakeholders' highest priority projects that fall under the CV&F umbrella. The Specialist also has responsibility for supporting strategic supplier management for relevant suppliers.

WHAT THIS ROLE WILL DO
• With Stakeholders
• Builds and nurtures open, collaborative relationships with stakeholders; responsible for advising stakeholders, in consultation with business leaders, on supplier contracting and negotiations, supplier qualification, and establishing quality processes/resolving quality issues.
• In accordance with team standards and practices, and with limited supervision, delivers consistent, high-quality procurement support to stakeholders across Live Nation, globally and enterprise-wide, for the company's CV&F capital and operating expenses, including categories as diverse as F&B, FF&E, Facilities and MRO.
• Leads, with appropriate guidance, multiple, simultaneous full-lifecycle strategic sourcing initiatives and direct negotiations, in close collaboration with Global Procurement leadership and a cross-functional array of stakeholders in a non-mandated environment.
• Builds and nurtures relationships with manufacturers, distributors, and other suppliers to properly maintain supply chain, create efficiencies, manage through recalls, and drive both financial and operational value for the business
• With limited guidance, collaboratively scopes, drives, executes, and captures significant and permanent cost reduction, cost avoidance, and other value-generating opportunities in CV&F spend across Live Nation's divisions and functions.
• With minimal guidance, develops and facilitates Requests for Proposals (RFPs), supplier productivity projects, and negotiations for one-time and longer-term agreements, using all available resources, to drive savings, efficiencies, and supplier performance improvements.
• Analyzes business, financial, and legal risks and, in coordination with the business leads, Category Managers, and Legal team members, develops and communicates creative solutions and mitigation strategies for key negotiation points; Participates in approval process to assist stakeholders in making data-driven procurement decisions.
• In the context of supporting procurement efforts, identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness of Global Procurement policies and procedures.
• Interfaces with stakeholders and members of Operations, IT, Legal, Finance & Accounting, Compliance, and other teams, as necessary, to bring deals to closure.
• Within the Global Procurement team
• As a collaborative member of the Global Procurement team, leads by example in the execution of sourcing and procurement engagements, maintains a clear understanding of team priorities and expectations, and demonstrates a commitment to high quality results and client service.
• Uses, and where applicable manages CV&F usage of, current and future procurement-related applications, such as Oracle Procurement Cloud, Airtable, and others, to streamline collaboration and executive reporting.
• Demonstrates a commitment to skill building and to helping build the skills of less experienced team members in sourcing, negotiation, and contracting fundamentals.
• Supports the efforts of category and team leaders and the Procurement Operations team to streamline and, where feasible, automate processes in support of day-to-day Global Procurement team activities.
• Works in a highly collaborative manner, in a matrixed environment, to represent Global Procurement with stakeholders and executives from Live Nation's suppliers; promotes collaboration within the CV&F team and between CV&F and other procurement teams.
• Where applicable, contributes to the development, population, and ongoing use of an enterprise-wide contract repository and online resources to facilitate stakeholders' strategic and operational procurement efforts.
• Provides rigorous analysis of spend data and industry dynamics to identify and prioritize potential procurement opportunities; Monitors and improves existing prices and service levels, where and when possible; supports efforts to identify and drive process improvements.
• Provides timely and accurate updates to internal project and value tracking repository and supports other administrative obligations, as requested.
• With Suppliers
• Leads, with appropriate guidance from key stakeholders and Global Procurement leadership, commercial and operational contracting process for procurement transactions, and coordinates Live Nation's Legal team's involvement, as needed, ensuring appropriate contractual language to reflect the business interests and policies of Live Nation.
• Responds to stakeholders' supplier service and/or quality issues to mitigate negative impact on the company.
• Responsible for encouraging and, where applicable, supporting supplier innovation and other strategic supplier development activities with Live Nation's suppliers.
• Creates, executes, and maintains purchase orders, where applicable.
• Contributes to ongoing supplier performance management efforts, where applicable.

WHAT THIS PERSON WILL BRING
• Typically, 3-5 years of dedicated sourcing and/or procurement experience required, or related experience in a Venue Operations, Restaurant, Retail or Facilities Management role, or other position involving direct interaction with customers or suppliers (e.g., business development, product management, etc.); experience with competitive bidding or other competitive negotiations among multiple suppliers; top-tier consulting experience preferred
• Knowledge of one or more relevant categories, such as Food & Beverage (F&B), Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment (FF&E), Facilities, or Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO); familiarity with standard commercial terms and conditions for typical product and service agreements strongly preferred
• Solid negotiation and quantitative analytical skills, with proven track record of generating value from procurement projects, preferably in a non-mandated procurement environment; Proficiency in standard contract terminology, contract drafting, procurement methodologies, financial analysis, and contract valuations
• Ability to work self-directed in fast paced, matrixed, collaborative environment; Self-motivated, proactive, independent, and responsive, requiring limited guidance once expectations are established for a project; Excellent multi-tasking and prioritization skills; Highly attentive to details
• Experience performing market and supplier research
• Process-oriented with ability to identify improvements and to implement changes to realize efficiencies
• Demonstrated project management skills with experience

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