Procurement Officer Kenyan Job in Nairobi

Bridge International Academies is looking for a Procurement Officer who will be responsible for managing the day to day procurement activities and coordinating with heads of departments to ensure timely purchase of required items for Headquarters and school support.

The holder of this position will deliver high quality professional procurement administration services and support the Procurement Manager in the development and implementation of tools, processes, policies and practices covering

Position: Procurement Officer

Location: Nairobi

About Bridge International Academies

Bridge International Academies was conceived in 2007 out of the belief that giving every child access to a high quality education would have the greatest impact on reducing poverty worldwide. With that guiding insight, Bridge International developed a strategy that would enable it to launch a large-scale network of high-quality, ultra low-cost, for-profit primary schools.

Operating a network of schools supported by a strong central headquarters gives Bridge International the scale, experience, and capacity to invest in systems of management, support, training, and innovation that allows individual schools to dramatically increase their effectiveness. Using this model, Bridge International is able to profitably deliver high-quality education for $4 per child per month.

This ensures that its academies will continue to successfully serve its communities as long as parents value the educational service provided. The first Bridge International Academy launched successfully in Kenya in 2009 and 60 academies will be operating in Kenya in January 2012. Through rapid and strategic expansion, Bridge International will provide a quality education to over a million students in the coming years.

About this position

Bridge International Academies is looking for a Procurement Officer who will be responsible for managing the day to day procurement activities and coordinating with heads of departments to ensure timely purchase of required items for Headquarters and school support.

The holder of this position will deliver high quality professional procurement administration services and support the Procurement Manager in the development and implementation of tools, processes, policies and practices covering all aspects of the procurement chain.

Ability to deal with hands on issues, creation of practical solutions as well as participate in strategic thinking will be key to success in this position. This is a key position within the company’s Finance and Administration function but with key linkages with all other departments.

Responsibilities of the Procurement Officer

More specifically:

• For the first 3 months work on secondment to the School operations department in taking up all procurement and logistics roles in support of existing and new school requirements. These include purchasing and printing tasks as will be agreed with the department senior management
• Introduce a formalized approach in the School Operations department to guide all procurement activities for both goods and services
• Developing and implementing a detailed procurement manual, handbooks, process flows, policies, procedures, tools and guidelines to ensure effective and efficient procurement processes in the School Operations department and to assure seamless procurement services as the department procurement demand grows
• Developing and maintaining strong working relationships with suppliers, printers, contractors and other partners within the procurement services chain to create a partnership that adds value to School Operations and Bridge International Academies
• Negotiation of prices, lead times and other contractual terms with suppliers in Kenya and other parts of the world as may be required
• Reviewing and embedding with user other departments the technical specifications for production materials required for school operations but also support headquarter procurement needs until the Procurement Manager comes on board
• Closely monitor and oversee the acquisition of materials needed for production of learning and training requirements, general supplies for office and schools support team while ensuring visibility of the process at each stage.
• Leveraging online procurement resources to identify and use appropriate channels within the vast e-commerce environment both locally and internationally
• Creating and fostering relationships with diverse logistics and purchasing professional associations to ensure gainful experience and knowledge sharing
• Seek, evaluate and recommend reliable vendors or suppliers to provide quality goods or services at reasonable prices
• Determining quantity and timing of deliveries and keeping up to date schedules to track lead times throughout the procurement process
• Working with department managers and other staff to forecast demand of procurement services and to ascertain that goods are received as ordered and payments processed only for certified confirmations of deliveries or service
• Providing Budget support and cash flow projections, reporting and analysis of procurement costs for the school operations department to ensure high visibility and control of procurement related expenses
• Weekly, monthly and quarterly reporting of procurement activities and projects within the school operations department in particular but occasionally for the headquarter procurement function as required
• Training and developing of best practice procurement knowledge within the Headquarter administration and School operations team
• Supervision of procurement support staff in other departments to ensure efficiency, standard practice and knowledge transfer.
• Working internally and with external legal support to ensure suitable agreements that would ensure appropriate terms of engagement with suppliers of high value equipment such as capital items, and warranty covered purchases
• Support School Operations, Technology, Land and Construction departments and other functions in legal and contractual processes for their procurement needs.
• Advise management on required areas of improvement to enhance procurement processes

About You

• Minimum of 3-5 years experience in procurement administration preferably for a large fast growing service or trading or service organization with multiple procurement requirements
• An expert level of knowledge in procurement including, but not limited to sourcing, pricing, contracts, relationship management and due diligence on suppliers and contractors
• Experience with procurement management of educational services firms in a large scale environment where both formal and informal vendors operate will be a definite advantage.
• Hands on knowledge of warehousing, distribution, inventory management and dealing with printers for multiple jobs is desirable
• Professional qualifications in purchasing and supplies management is essential
• Bachelors Degree in business, economics or other Social Science or related discipline
• Must be able to manage competing demands, accept criticism and constructive feedback, while being extremely efficient, adaptable and flexible
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills are required
• Ability to present procurement feedback, policies and procedures to senior managers.
• Demonstrated ability to organize large volumes of procurement and delivery requirements for a broad range of office and operational needs. Must have the ability to quickly learn and improve systems
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information appropriately
• Strong initiative and solid judgment skills and abilities
• High level of integrity and ethical behaviour
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office suite applications.

In order to be considered for this position all candidates must register and upload their CV’s on our website at www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

Visit http://myjobtube.blogspot.com/ for more Kenyan Jobs