Strategic Sourcing Assistant / Specialist

🎯 We're Hiring: Strategic Sourcing Assistant / Specialist📍 Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)🕒 Employment Type: Full-Time💼 Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior🌐 Work Arrangement: Fully RemoteAbout UsWe are a commercially focused organization committed to building resilient, competitive, and sustainable supply networks through strategic sourcing, supplier development, cost optimization, risk management, and long-term supplier partnerships.Our distributed teams collaborate across Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, Purchasing, Commercial, Finance, Operations, Logistics, Inventory, Project Management, Engineering, Quality, Legal, and Executive Leadership to develop sourcing strategies that improve cost, quality, service, supply continuity, and overall business value.The RoleWe are seeking an analytical and commercially minded Strategic Sourcing Assistant / Specialist to support strategic sourcing initiatives, supplier strategy, market intelligence, competitive bidding, cost analysis, supplier evaluation, negotiations, risk management, and procurement optimization.The ideal candidate will support the full strategic sourcing lifecycle, from category and market analysis through supplier identification, competitive sourcing, commercial negotiation, supplier selection, contract implementation, and ongoing performance management.Key ResponsibilitiesSupport the development and execution of strategic sourcing strategies aligned with business objectives, category requirements, cost targets, quality standards, and supply-chain priorities.Conduct market intelligence and supplier-market research to identify sourcing opportunities, emerging suppliers, market trends, cost drivers, and supply risks.Develop and maintain strategic supplier databases covering supplier capabilities, geographic coverage, product categories, capacity, certifications, pricing, lead times, and performance.Identify, evaluate, and qualify potential strategic suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and service providers.Analyze current supplier portfolios and identify opportunities for supplier consolidation, diversification, localization, dual sourcing, and alternative sourcing.Prepare and manage RFQs, RFPs, RFIs, tenders, competitive bidding events, and other strategic sourcing exercises.Develop sourcing comparison models covering total cost, pricing, specifications, quality, payment terms, logistics, lead times, capacity, warranties, and service levels.Conduct total-cost-of-ownership and cost-structure analysis to support sourcing and supplier-selection decisions.Assist with commercial negotiations covering pricing, payment terms, minimum order quantities, lead times, rebates, warranties, service levels, volume commitments, and other strategic terms.Support the development of supplier negotiation strategies, negotiation plans, and commercial recommendations.Collaborate with Procurement, Purchasing, Finance, Commercial, Operations, Logistics, Inventory, Engineering, Quality, Project Management, and other stakeholders to understand business requirements and sourcing priorities.Support supplier-selection decisions using structured evaluation criteria covering cost, quality, capability, reliability, innovation, sustainability, risk, and overall value.Assist with supplier onboarding, due diligence, qualification, compliance checks, and documentation.Monitor supplier financial, operational, quality, delivery, capacity, and geopolitical risks and escalate material concerns to management.Support the development of supplier-risk mitigation plans, including alternative suppliers, dual sourcing, contingency planning, and supply continuity strategies.Monitor market pricing, commodity movements, foreign-exchange impacts, transportation costs, labor costs, capacity constraints, and other factors affecting sourcing economics.Identify cost-reduction and value-creation opportunities through competitive sourcing, specification optimization, supplier development, volume consolidation, and process improvement.Support strategic supplier relationship management and periodic supplier business reviews.Monitor supplier performance against agreed KPIs, service levels, quality requirements, delivery commitments, cost targets, and commercial agreements.Prepare supplier-performance reports and support corrective-action plans for underperforming suppliers.Maintain accurate sourcing documentation including sourcing pipelines, supplier databases, RFQ/RFP records, bid comparisons, negotiation summaries, supplier evaluations, savings trackers, and risk registers.Support the development and maintenance of category strategies, sourcing roadmaps, supplier segmentation, and annual sourcing plans.Assist with spend analysis and identify areas of purchasing spend that may benefit from strategic sourcing initiatives.Track sourcing savings, cost avoidance, negotiated benefits, supplier improvements, and strategic sourcing outcomes.Prepare market intelligence reports, sourcing analyses, supplier presentations, executive summaries, dashboards, and management recommendations.Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) including realized savings, cost avoidance, sourcing-cycle time, supplier performance, supplier-risk exposure, competitive-bid coverage, contract compliance, and supply continuity.Identify opportunities to improve sourcing processes through data analytics, automation, digital sourcing platforms, supplier portals, and procurement technology.Ensure strategic sourcing activities comply with internal procurement policies, ethical standards, governance requirements, contractual obligations, and applicable organizational procedures.Provide analytical, commercial, and operational support to Strategic Sourcing Managers, Procurement Managers, Category Managers, Commercial Managers, and senior leadership.Ideal CandidateThe successful candidate should have experience in strategic sourcing, procurement, category management, supplier management, purchasing, supply-chain management, commercial analysis, or vendor development, preferably within construction, engineering, manufacturing, retail, infrastructure, real estate, technology, energy, consumer products, or other complex supply environments.The candidate should demonstrate:Strong understanding of strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier-management, and category-management principles.Experience with RFQs, RFPs, tenders, competitive bidding, supplier evaluation, and commercial negotiations.Strong analytical and financial skills with the ability to assess pricing, cost structures, spend, savings, and total cost of ownership.Good understanding of supplier segmentation, supplier-risk management, dual sourcing, supply continuity, and strategic supplier development.Strong market-research and business-intelligence capabilities.Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including PivotTables, lookups, formulas, data analysis, and financial modeling.Familiarity with ERP, e-procurement, sourcing, spend-analysis, supplier-management, or procurement platforms.Strong negotiation, communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills.Excellent attention to detail and ability to work with complex commercial and supplier data.Ability to translate market intelligence and data analysis into practical sourcing strategies and recommendations.Strong commercial awareness and understanding of cost, quality, service, risk, and supply considerations.Ability to manage multiple sourcing projects, categories, suppliers, negotiations, and deadlines simultaneously.Strong written and verbal communication skills in English; Arabic is an advantage.Ability to work independently in a fully remote and internationally distributed environment.High level of integrity, professionalism, confidentiality, and ethical judgment.Strong strategic-thinking, problem-solving, negotiation, and continuous-improvement mindset.