Procurement Lead (Nigeria)

Company Overview

Jaza is a solar energy start-up working to power Sub-Saharan Africa. We build solar-powered shops which charge batteries customers use to power their homes. In 2022, we achieved over 1.5 million battery swaps, providing approximately 186,000 people access to clean, affordable energy. We employ women from each community (known as Jaza Stars) to run the service, empowering our team to become leaders, entrepreneurs and drivers of economic growth within their communities. For more information on what we are building, check out www.jazaenergy.com and watch the video the BBC made about Jaza here. Weve already successfully entered the Nigerian market, piloted several sites here and will grow to hundreds of locations over the next year. To support this expansion, were planning to hire over 100 people over the next 6 months.

Job Summary

The Technical Procurement Manager provides end to end procurement processing of technical bids, such as Civil works, telecommunication equipment, operations and maintenance etc. He/She provides competitive market analysis; supplier identification and relationship management; Suppliers evaluation; execution of the RFI/RFP/RFQ process; contract and price negotiations, managing purchasing documents, materials and responding to purchasing inquiries from requesting units and maintaining vendor/source data.

Key Reporting Relationships:

Internal: Supply Chain Lead and Finance Team, and Country-level management and staff.

External: Company lawyers, company secretary, and key vendors/suppliers within and outside Nigeria.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

• Preparing formal bid documents for Technical procurement, and administering the tender process in accordance with best practice/Jaza process and procedure.
• Analysis of supply markets to identify potential suppliers and market trends.
• Identification of internal and external cost drivers within Technical procurement.
• Development of savings opportunities and benchmarking (including existing price books) with industry standards and practices to identify quick win opportunities.
• Negotiate contractual agreements with suppliers to ensure that service, quality, added value, total costs are, security of supply are favorable to Jaza while mindful of a win-win situation.
• Manage and develop supplier relationships, for technical procurement and other subcategories, using leading practice procurement tools (such as cost trend analysis, price change analysis and supplier performance reviews) to deliver breakthrough performance in cost, service and quality while keeping internal customers informed and involved in ongoing supplier management.
• Effective selection and management of suppliers/vendors to achieve the Jaza strategic objectives.
• Forecast demand or create supply plans that ensure availability of materials or products.
• Participate in the coordination of engineering changes, product line extensions, or new product launches to ensure orderly and timely transitions in material or production flow.
• Ensuring that goods/services procured are in compliance with all Jaza procurement policy.
• Informs other staff and vendors regarding procedural requirements (e.g. ordering and purchasing procedures.) for facilitating the purchasing process with established practices.
• Maintains purchasing documents, files and records (e.g. Requests for Proposal, vendor files, etc.) for ensuring the availability of documentation and compliance with established policies and regulatory guidelines.
• Processes requisitions into approved purchase orders for updating and distributing information and/or acquiring resources in compliance with established guidelines.
• Responds to inquiries of staff and administration regarding purchasing procedures for providing information, direction and/or referral for addressing inquiry.
• Reviews documents and data (e.g. incoming requisitions, past purchases, reconciliations, POs, inventories, etc.) for ensuring completeness and accuracy of the purchasing process.
• Processes suppliers invoices for payment, matching POs against invoices and Goods receipt notes.
• Reconciliation of open POs monthly.
  

General Operations

• The employee shall comply with the provisions of health, safety and environment legislation in Nigeria, and shall also comply with Jaza Nigeria's policies and procedures including occupational health and safety and wellness policies, and any modifications to any policy that may be introduced from time to time.
• All employees must live Jaza Core Principles and work proactively in a customer-related way in accordance with adopted procedures and best practice.
• To work cooperatively with colleagues and external stakeholders to promote Jaza Nigerias overall business objectives.
• To ensure that confidentiality is respected and maintained always.
• To perform any other duty as directed by line management.

Compliance management

Understand all Nigeria regulatory requirements that apply to the importation of goods and locally sourced services.

Ensure vendors adhere to standards as detailed by Jaza.
Ensure adherence of company-wide purchases to the budget.
Ensure the procurement of assets and services are done in a cost-effective manner.
Recommend process and systems improvement to enhance quality and efficiency within the business;
Prepare periodic (weekly, monthly, quarterly etc.) management and ad hoc reports.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Minimum of 5 years relevant work experience in end to end service procurement Energy, Telecommunication, Oil and gas, engineering, FMCG industry.
• Minimum of first degree in any sciences, engineering or social sciences.
• Experience with computerized procurement processes is an advantage
• Experience in preparing budgets
• Knowledge of the end to end RFP process for services is a must.
  

Required Competencies

• Thorough knowledge of procurement procedures and principles
• Proven problem solving and analytical skills
• Ability to develop good relationships with vendors, staff, and customers.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and work under the highest level of ethical standards per Jaza Code of Conduct and strict adherence to the Anti-Bribery Policy.
• Ability to work with functional groups and different level of employees throughout the Jazaverse to effectively and professionally achieve business results.
• Strong follow-up skills; ability to organize applicable department timelines and follow up with internal and external customer needs as needed.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present ideas and suggestions clearly and effectively
• Strong organizational skills; ability to accomplish multiple tasks within the agreed upon timeframes through effective prioritization of duties and functions in a fast-paced environment
• Strong track record of building and maintaining solid relationships with both internal and external customers and vendors
• Self-motivated, able to work both independently to complete tasks and respond to department requests as well as collaborating with others to utilize resources and knowledge in identifying high quality solutions
• Strong IT skills for presentation, analysis, as well as internet search skills
  

Job Type: Full-time

Location: Lagos (Required)