Contracting Specialist, Senior

Job Description

Your Role

The Global Business Services (GBS) department is responsible for delivering strategic and category supplier sourcing, contracting and governance excellence at Blue Shield of California.

The Contracting Specialist, Senior will report to the Manager, Procurement Contracting. This role is responsible for every phase of contract development from integrating relevant legal and compliance terms to negotiating the terms with BSC suppliers and finalizing the agreement documents. They may collaborate with a legal team or work independently to evaluate bids and draft documents. Contracting specialists are also responsible for assisting clients to terminate and where necessary transition contracts on favorable terms for BSC. This role executes and delivers value through strategic, operational and transactional contracting initiatives working in partnership with the Blue Shield business unit(s) and stakeholder teams.

Your Work

In this role, you will:

• Prepare contractual agreements using current practices, researching relevant background materials and informed knowledge of a business unit's needs and ability to fulfill its requirements
• Ensure that the contractual agreements include all necessary terms in language that is legally binding and in accordance with Law department guidelines
• Collaborate with Business, Sourcing, Legal and other enterprise stakeholders through the Contracting process
• Review contract terms and conditions to verify that they are in compliance with company policies and all applicable federal and state regulations
• Promote small, disadvantaged, and minority-owned businesses through a supplier diversity program
• Proofread, edit, and fact-check legal documents for accuracy and consistency, according to a style guide if provided by the client
• Provide escalation point within Global Business Services (GBS)
• Manage relationship with the business
• Write and negotiate contracts and statements of work by utilizing contract templates and create contract documents that fully encompass the business requirements and provide protections
• Facilitate vendor risk management, due diligence and onboarding activities
• Lead, structure and guide business partners through the contracting process on complex contracts and initiatives
• Assist the business in maintaining compliance with all Blue Shield policies regarding contracting and purchasing
• Present status and issue identification/resolution effectively to management
• Assist the business to resolve supplier management issues such as supplier disputes and/or supplier termination

Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in a sourcing, contracting, and negotiations role
• Legal or paralegal experience preferred, preferably working directly with commercial contracts
• Experience working in the healthcare, pharmacy services or related services industry preferred
• Contracting Expertise: Understand the key components of basic agreements and how legal terms impact business terms and vice versa. Be able to articulate high-level understanding of the issues with confidence to the legal team as relates to both client contract requirements and supplier edits
• Contract Writing and Negotiation: Ability to understand how clauses relate to one another, including all exhibits and schedules. Ability to write clearly and concisely while adapting templates to fit the services being procured in accordance with client's expectations. Ability to review statements of work and/or requirements provided by a business partner, identify risks, apply best practices and improve the quality of the work product
• Communication Skill: Ability to conduct meetings professionally and clearly, establishing rapport and building positive business relationships. Ability to timely update status reports, in various formats. Ability to accept and apply as well as deliver constructive feedback. Ability to ask detailed questions relating to services being procured to understand all nuances and apply procurement process and procedure accordingly. Exhibit strong awareness of audience and targets communications accordingly. Display excellent verbal and written communication, planning and organization skills
• Data Analysis: Ability to utilize procurement and financial data to understand spending trends within a business, and to leverage that information to identify procurement insights that result in process efficiencies or cost savings for the client
• Sourcing Project Management: Experience of managing sourcing projects from start to finish; strong ability to practice and apply time management skills to balance and manage the requirements of workload without missing deadlines
• Microsoft Office: Strong knowledge and proficiency of Microsoft Office suite. Ability to efficiently and accurately analyze procurement data using Microsoft Excel, and to build client-ready presentations using Microsoft PowerPoint
• Procurement Knowledge: Knowledge of procurement methods, technologies and processes. Ability to analyze and recommend improvements to a client's procurement organization

Pay Range: The pay range for this role is $87,230.00 to $130,900.00 for California. Out of California range is $79,300 to $119,000.

Note: Please note that this range represents the pay range for this and many other positions at Blue Shield that fall into this pay grade. Blue Shield salaries are based on a variety of factors, including the candidate's experience, location (California, Bay area, or outside California), and current employee salaries for similar roles.

About the Team

Blue Shield of California's mission is to ensure all Californians have access to high-quality health care at a sustainably affordable price. We are transforming health care in a way that genuinely serves our nonprofit mission by lowering costs, improving quality, and enhancing the member and physician experience.

To fulfill our mission, we must ensure a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where all employees can be their authentic selves and fully contribute to meet the needs of the multifaceted communities we serve. Our continued commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion upholds our values and advances our goal of creating a healthcare system that is worthy of our family and friends while addressing health disparities, promoting social justice, and integrating health equity through our products, business practices, and presence as a corporate citizen.

Blue Shield has received awards and recognition for being a certified Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work, Military Friendly Employer, People Companies that Care, a Leading Disability Employer, and one of California's top companies in volunteering and giving. Here at Blue Shield, we strive to make a positive change across our industry and communities - join us!

Our Values:

• Honest. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical and integrity standards. We build trust by doing what we say we're going to do and by acknowledging and correcting where we fall short.
• Human. We strive to be our authentic selves, listening and communicating effectively, and showing empathy towards others by walking in their shoes.
• Courageous. We stand up for what we believe in and are committed to the hard work necessary to achieve our ambitious goals.

Our Workplace Model:

Blue Shield of California is dedicated to making work-life balance a reality. Whether you prefer to work in an office or from home, we understand flexibility is more important than ever. That's why Blue Shield is a hybrid company, offering you the opportunity to decide where you can do your best and most meaningful work.

Two ways of working: Hybrid (our default) and office

• Hybrid - In a business unit approved office a few times per year to 3 days per week, on average

• Office - In a business unit approved office 4+ days a week, on average. If the role you're applying for is deemed an "Essential Role," the company has determined that the role can only be performed in a Blue Shield office or in the field and would require your to meet the office worker classification.

Physical Requirements:

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Due to the current public health emergency in California, Blue Shield employees are almost all working remotely. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest records and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, State and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.