Educational & Institutional Cooperative Services, Inc., (E&I) is seeking motivated, passionate individuals interested in working for a member-owned, mission-driven organization. E&I proudly offers a high-performance and high-engagement culture that fosters personal and professional growth. We are a national procurement cooperative solely dedicated to meeting the needs of our membership community including 5,800 higher education institutions and K-12 school districts. Our goal is to provide strategic sourcing solutions that enable our members to maximize their spend and reallocate resources back to their institutions to create an effective educational environment for all students. We accomplish this by offering impactful solutions and education-specific contracts that provide advantageous pricing on a wide range of products and services.

E&I has an exciting opportunity for a Category Analyst, in our Innovation & Insights department. The Category Analyst will be responsible for leading the execution of quantitative analyses in support of the Sourcing and Member Engagement teams and select member institutions.

The Category Analyst will drive analytical efforts by conducting spend analyses, developing cost baselines, building competitive solicitation market basket item lists, performing contract benchmarking, and all other types of quantitative analyses required in the sourcing process for a broad range of spend categories. Additionally, the Category Analyst will provide dashboards and operational metrics to assess supplier and contract performance.

The Category Analyst is expected to work either at the direction of the Sourcing Insights & Analytics Director, independently with minimal direction, or at times in tandem on a range of different projects.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide quantitative leadership, expertise and support to any and all objectives related to spend analysis and strategic sourcing. Objectives will range in complexity and vary from project to project but will broadly include performing spend analysis at various levels of detail, creating bid lists/item market baskets, and measuring cost savings.
• Lead and execute the procurement data collection and data management process for various analytics initiatives. Procurement data can include contract documents, AP payment data, PO data, supplier usage and external benchmarks. Initiatives can include price comparison of E&I contract vs members contract, RFP/Contract development, or contract benchmarking. The process will include facilitating requests for specific information from member institutions and/or business partners, researching and identifying available relevant external data sources, or extracting data directly by means of a detailed source document review.

For each initiative, the Category Analyst will be responsible to:

• Determine the amount of data preparation work needed
• Decide the sufficient data work and analysis needed to accomplish the objective set
• Determine the applicability of the approach used in data collection as well as to assess the data constraints presented
• Consolidate, normalize, cleanse, and manage all the data collected
• Develop, create, and visualize analyses using the data collected and prepared, in accordance with the agreed objectives
• Analyze, summarize, document, report, and present findings, in detail and summary levels, as well as be available to address any follow-up questions from E&I Staff and Member Institutions.
• Execute contract benchmarking and all other types of quantitative analyses required in the sourcing process for a broad range of spend categories
• Participate in RFP and Contract Business Review meetings, assist in identifying appropriate questions and decisions on RFP pricing strategy, and address any follow-up questions from E&I Staff and Member Institutions.
• Develop, maintain, and publish dashboards and operational metrics to assess supplier and contract performance.
• Collaborate with supplier partners and others to understand and incorporate custom contract pricing into analyses related to specific assignments.
• The Category Analyst will support 'Strategic Spend Assessments' by:
• Assisting the Member Engagement Team with member requests for annual spend data
• Implementing all required steps to capture, cleanse, enrich, and categorize client’s spend data
• Developing and presenting spend profile and cost savings opportunity reports
• Facilitating review of data analytics with Member Engagement Team
• Leading all data analytics discussions during member engagements
• Conducting internal price analyses, as necessary, and managing data transfer/results capture during Business Partner-led price analyses


EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Statistics, or Applied Mathematics is highly desired
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in a business-related field requiring quantitative skills
• Work experience in procurement or strategic sourcing related job highly preferred
• Must have a mastery of Microsoft Excel software
• Must be proficient with Tableau, Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, and Access
• Spend Management and Solutions/Tools/Application experience highly preferred
• Must understand data sampling, analysis, and visualization techniques and approaches
• Must exhibit excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Demonstrated ability to work with others both internally and externally
• Requires a working knowledge of the procurement function
• Ability to multitask and prioritize
• Requires 15% travel

E&I offers a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package which include Medical, Dental, Vision, Life & AD&D Insurance, LTD, STD, FSA, 401(k) plus an employer contribution and other company sponsored benefits. In addition, E&I offers a flexible work schedule.

Interested applicants, please attach your resume, along with a cover letter, indicating salary requirements and apply through the “Apply Now” button on our careers page. All responses will be viewed with the strictest of confidence.

E&I is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal opportunities for employment and advancement without regard to an individual’s race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, or any characteristic protected by local, state, or federal law.