Client Services & Procurement Specialist

Organization description

The Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) strengthens, develops, and manages secure, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable global supply chains to improve the health and well-being of people in low- and middle-income countries through increased access to quality and affordable health products. We help governments, non-profit organizations, and humanitarian agencies to achieve their public health goals through cost-saving procurement, efficient logistics, pharma-grade storage, last-mile delivery solutions, and real-time data tracking. PFSCM demonstrates its commitment to customer satisfaction and service excellence by upholding an ISO 9001:2015 certified Quality Management System that underpins all our processes, systems, and services.

PFSCM is a subsidiary of one of the leading international health consultancy organizations in the US — JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI). In addition to our project management headquarters in Washington D.C., in the U.S., and our operational facility in Woerden, in the Netherlands, we have access to 50 other JSI offices around the world.

Within PFSCM’s global structure, approximately 120 seconded staff members from more than 50 countries contribute to the impact achieved through PFSCM’s services. PFSCM’s diversity of thought and culture allows us to engage fully with our clients and each other. We believe we can achieve our mission by upholding our purpose- and results-driven cultural style. We do this by creating an environment where staff can demonstrate our cultural values of collaboration, learning, proactivity, problem solving, and outcome orientation on a daily basis.

Overall responsibilities

The Client Services & Procurement Specialist is expected to serve as the procurement and order fulfilment expert for assigned product category within the Client Services Unit and utilize vendor technical expertise for various pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products. The Specialist is responsible for managing the smooth procurement or ordering process of quality-assured, health-related commodities. The Specialist is expected to ensure compliance with PFSCM, funder and/or client requirements and is expected to define corrective actions in cases of irregularities.

The Client Services & Procurement Specialist is responsible to manage the smooth implementation of daily ordering and procurement operations. The Specialist is the funders/clients and vendor’s point of contact for order and related communications and is expected to provide customer service excellence to all stakeholders, including other product category teams. The Specialist is expected to provide regular status updates on orders and address questions, concerns and/or change requests that the client or principal recipient may have in coordination with Client Services and Strategic Supply Chain Units, project director, and other stakeholders as needed.

The Client Services & Procurement Specialist is also responsible for maintaining data accuracy from the request to the of purchase order confirmation from the vendor; and for working with the Logistics Unit to ensure the supply chain is established and executed to PFSCM and the funder/client’s key performance indicators (KPIs). PFSCM procurement activities are carried out as per standard operating procedures (SOPs), either in-house SOPs and/or those determined by the funder or client.

Specific responsibilities

Procurement and Order Administration:

• Ensure that all timely ordered commodities meet the funder/client’s procurement and quality policy on product, availability, and other product’s quality consideration.
• Manage the procurement and order fulfilment processes, as appropriate per project or category, including screening, developing price estimates and purchase orders.
• Coordinate and monitor order management with vendors, including responsiveness to quotations, and contribute to the continuous review of vendor’s operational order management performance.
• Proactively identify issues with day-to-day ordering processes and resolve and/or communicate the issues to management in a timely manner, as needed.
• Lead the troubleshooting of procurement and/or order-related challenges define and implement corrective action in case of irregularities working closely with the Category Lead.
• Coordinate team functions and performance as required.

Client Relationship Management:

• Provide proactive customer service while acting as primary point of contact for procurement and order fulfilment, including request for quotations, with the client, principal recipients, vendors and other stakeholders.
• Work collaboratively with the funder/client, internal and external units, vendors, and partner organisations on procurement and order fulfilment issues.
• Proactively identify procurement and/or order fulfilment activities potentially impacting PFSCM’s and/or the project’s ability to perform its duties and advise the necessary stakeholders.
• Handle procurement and/or order fulfilment related incidents; log incidents into PFSCM Incident Management System, provide inputs for incident investigation and contribute to the resolution within incident set timelines.

Administration:

• Maintain system-related changes required on requisitions, price quotes and/or purchase orders throughout the procurement or order fulfilment process in coordination with funder/client and/ or Sourcing & Procurement, Client Services & Procurement, and Logistics Specialists.
• Maintain and update the ERP system at an order level to ensure internal data accuracy and external reporting are optimal.
• Adhere to established procurement policies and standard operating procedures, identify opportunities for continuous improvement, and provide backup coverage as needed.
• Perform procurement and order fulfilment duties in a transparent and ethical
• Seek opportunities for improvements in the operational processes and daily activities.
• Contribute to the development of work-instructions and standard operating procedures.
• Document and share all relevant information concerning order fulfilment knowledge.

Qualifications

Professional and Technical Knowledge

• Bachelor’s Degree in procurement, public health, or other related area or equivalent experience.
• 3+years of procurement or order fulfilment experience required.
• Experience with ERP or other supply chain management system required.
• Experience in the international, public health sector is preferred.
• Previous experience working with international donor agencies, preferred.
• Experience working in a developing country a plus.
• Ability to work comfortably with Microsoft Office software, specifically Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Preferably advanced user level of Excel.
• Willingness and availability to travel, and perform other duties as needed.
• Must be eligible to work in the Netherlands.

Interpersonal skills/Communication

• Previous client relations or customer service experience required.
• Fluency in English is required, other languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese) a plus.
• Excellent written/verbal communication and interpersonal skills with strong sense of customer service.

Priority Setting, Problem Solving, & Detail Orientation

• Ability to manage multiple tasks within tight deadlines and prioritize effectively, while delivering high quality work.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities, and work in a team with diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Solution oriented with a high sense of quality, attention to detail, accuracy, efficiency, and meeting tight deadlines.
• Team player who is also able to work independently and handle conflicting priorities while maintaining consistent, quality performance standards.