Contracting & Procurement Buyers Asset Focal at Shell Petroleum Development Company

Ref No: 93083BR
Loaction: Lagos

Job Purpose

• To create rapid order fulfilment in the supply of goods, services and materials to the business primarily through the timely conversion of SAP (an Enterprise software application) Purchase Requisitions to SAP Purchase Orders.  In this process the Buyer must issue quotations to suppliers and potentially seek to negotiate the best possible commercial outcome.
• The Buyer Asset Focal is the first point of contact for all procurement for a given asset and acts as contributor and advisor to the integrated activity planning for that asset.  To make meaningful contributions to planning, the Buyer Asset Focal takes insights on supplier and purchasing performance related to a planned activity and assesses whether the plan is achievable.
• The Buyer Asset Focal manages a large quantity and diversity in demand in the type of goods and materials, the quality of specification, and business drivers (schedule, cost, quality, technical integrity). The Buyer has to execute the most practical process solution to meet immediate business needs and assess and organise the optimum contract and system solution to meet future business needs.

Dimensions:

• Up to 60 requests for materials or services per month
• 2 operating Companies supported – Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
• 4 Assets
• High volume of potential suppliers to source from.

Principal Accountabilities

• Monitor purchasing activity for an asset.  Resolve any bottlenecks in procurement or delivery adversely impacting the Asset and ensure that stakeholders are well informed.
• Represent the purchasing function at Asset integrated activity planning and scheduling meetings.
• Provide quality and timely insights into risks and threats to delivery or execution of the plan.
• Ensuring that the specification of the goods or services being requested is of a sufficient standard to approach the external market via a Request for Quotation.
• Ensuring that Requests for Quotation and Purchase Orders are free from errors which could expose Shell to Commercial or Technical Risk – common examples include incorrect unit of measurements, decimal point errors, date format errors and mistyping of serial or part numbers.
• Managing the quotation process and evaluation of suppliers in accordance with Shell’s General Business Principles.
• Advising technical counterparts of estimated delivery lead times and freight or customs clearance issues.
• Maintaining information related to supplier performance in adhering to delivery commitments and competitiveness of pricing.

Key Challenges:

• Managing high volumes of demand whilst balancing the need to ensure price competitiveness and ethical buying principles.
• Understanding technical specifications.
• Prioritising processing of requisitions to align with the Company’s agreed activity plans.
• Being firm on governance and compliance where you see the potential for breaches of Shell or Nigerian purchasing standards.
• Negotiating with vendors to reduce prices and deliver faster
• Speaking up in front of senior stakeholders where planning assumptions are unrealistic or have changed.

Requirements
Job Knowledge:

• The Buyer role requires knowledge of how requests for goods and services are purchased from the market and subsequently, the conditions that enable the suppliers to be paid. In Shell this is known as the Requisition to Pay process. Candidates for the Buyer role should be familiar with the principles of ethical purchasing and should possess basic appreciation of the risks that arise from bribery and corruption, money laundering, trade controls, anti-competition and conflict of interest.

Skills and Experience:

• Strong academic background with Minimum of 3 years’ experience in purchasing, inventory management or similar type role.
• Basic negotiation skills.
• Familiarity with purchasing software systems – candidates with experience in SAP are highly desirable.
• High degree of organisational and administrative skill.
• Strong interpersonal and teamwork skills and courage to speak up.