National Senior Purchasing Specialist

National Senior Purchasing Specialist (NSPS), Houston TX Shea Homes Houston The National Senior Purchasing Specialist (NSPS) is responsible for the procurement of assigned vertical trade categories. The NSPS will serve on a national category team where they will work with their peers to manage costs at a national level. This includes identifying new trades, performing due diligence and working with Division OPS leaders to pre-qualify, approve and onboard new Trades. The NSPS will be required to run a national category management team where they will work with their peers to manage costs at a national level or lead a Process Improvement Team (PIT) where they will improve a process. The NSPS is responsible for competitive bidding, analyzing, negotiating, and awarding contracts to Trades who are approved by both Purchasing and Division OPS leaders. In addition to procurement duties, the NSPS is responsible for assembling and maintaining budgets, preparing documents for inclusion into trade contract agreements, completing 30/60/90 day as well as 5-year inflation forecasts, tracking commodity cost drivers, managing supply chain risk and other duties related to the purchasing process. Purchasing Offices provide important services to the divisions; it is the NSPS's responsibility to respond timely to division needs and perform in keeping with established service standards and metrics. Summary of Position Requirements Purchasing Strategy Maintain a bidding workload schedule for all communities. Identify and recommend suppliers and trades to be approved by Operations to competitively bid new communities. Evaluate and recommend to competitively bid or re-price contracts for in-progress communities. Collaborate with Division OPS leaders to identify those trades critical to achieving operational objectives and engage in discussions (when the market conditions warrant) to secure necessary trade capacity (Strategic Trade Relationships STR) in order to achieve start, quality, service, safety and closing goals. Inform Division Business Leaders of the prevailing purchasing strategy and gain their concurrence. Evaluate bid awards based on combined plan and option frequency to minimize total costs and maximize total revenue. Specifying Research new products, features and amenities for cost effectiveness and marketability For each new community, collaborate with Division associates on the development of feature specifications commensurate with the competitive market requirements Prepare and confirm with NPO supervisor all specifications, amenities and options for a community or series of homes Whenever possible, participate in value engineering, preliminary architectural reviews, feature & specification meetings, and model walks Develop Product Specifications for the project Always pursue the objective of simplicity (good = base house, better = option level #1, best = option level #2) when specifying features, materials, etc. After the contract is awarded, assemble and distribute the product specifications to the Division Budgeting Assist in the preparation of the proforma direct construction cost estimate. Prepare the Pre-bid budget estimate at a cost code level. Provide cost and trade information to National Purchasing Administrator to maintain accurate budgets in E1 and report budget adjustments to the division or business unit. Review budgets and maintain a Revised Budget estimate (based on actual costs to date) compared to the Original Budget (at time of contract award) with the NPO supervisor and Division Business Leaders. Update monthly the Direct Construction Cost (DCC) report and provide a 30/60/90 cost outlook as well as a quarterly and 5-year inflation forecast for assigned trade categories. Bidding Maintain bid list with multiple pre-qualified bidders per trade category. Review qualified vendor list with OPS Leaders served by purchasing. OPS Leader to approve community/series bid list. Bid Strategy: propose, review, and obtain approval for the bid strategy for a new or in-process community from the NPO Supervisor and Division Business Leader(s) Establish and hold trades accountable for meeting bid due dates. Prepare and distribute all onsite bid sheets and packages, including latest architectural plans, consultant reports, cover letter with bid due date, standard trade requirements, list of options, specific trade requirements, material specifications and sequence sheet structural plans (if required), landscape plans (if required), etc. Obtain unitized pricing to include material quantities, SKU pricing, labor rates and standard labor hours to complete the scope of work when appropriate and available given market conditions Obtain written bids for all quotations including production, option and alternate pricing, bid concessions, model home discounts, and sales complex upgrades. Obtain, analyze and negotiate option costs before awarding base house contracts. Analyze, Qualify, Negotiate Spread and compare bids for the cost of base house and optional offerings using historical or projected product mix and option frequencies to determine weighted average costs associated with each bid. Identify and resolve bid discrepancies with each bidder. Review and consider proposed substitutions. Obtain Division approval for all substitutions, revise and update scopes and feature specifications to incorporate approved substitutions. Review all substitutions or scope of work changes with each bidder. Identify lowest qualified bidder and compare to pro-forma budget estimate at a cost code level. Identify a list of low cost providers at a plan and option level. Negotiate with Trades at a plan and option level to achieve costs that are at or below budget. Strive to achieve lowest total cost of ownership Award Contract Prepare bid analysis / award recommendation summarizing the final bids for each qualified bidder. Review award recommendations with the NPO supervisor. Approve and obtain NPO supervisor's approval to achieve the required two person sign off. Review award recommendations with Division and secure approvals in keeping with Shea's Award Approval Process Reconcile Division feedback and receive approved and signed award recommendation. If Division chooses to deviate from the recommended bidder, receive written documentation from the division supporting their decision to do so. Receive single bidder award approval and approval for any company who has been in business less than 5-years from the General Manager and VP of National Purchasing prior to awarding any contracts. Advise successful trade of award decision, notify all other bidders of award decision. A conversation with the non-awarded bidders is highly recommended. Transmit complete and accurate award package to the National Purchasing Administrator in SmartSheet for processing Review accuracy of all contract documents Ensure all suppliers and trades have a complete signed contract before they start work. Confirm all suppliers and trades have met Shea's insurance requirements before they start work. Change Order Management Validate cost increases by using should cost models, comparative cost models, data received during the bidding event, costs from other Shea markets, intel from other trades who did not receive the bid award, etc. to prevent trade contractor margin creep at Shea's expense. Assemble required information to process contract change orders for substitutions, scope of work changes, code updates, etc. Transmit complete and accurate change order package to National Purchasing Administrator in SmartSheet for processing Contract Management Validate cost increases by using should cost models, comparative cost models, data received during the bidding event, costs from other Shea markets, intel from other trades who did not receive the bid award, etc. to prevent trade contractor margin creep at Shea's expense. Assemble required information to process contract change orders for substitutions, scope of work changes, code updates, etc. Transmit complete and accurate change order package to National Purchasing Administrator in SmartSheet for processing Cost Reduction / Management Track costs for needed building materials, services, prevailing labor rates, and other related cost components for each assigned trade contract category. Update bid sheet to accurately reflect the cost components of each assigned trade contract category. Evaluate and compare bids to current and prevailing prices (for the items outlined in #1 above) for the region and across the company. Qualify and negotiate trade costs based upon prevailing prices. When specifying, review and apply all appropriate national account pricing and rebate programs Advise NPO supervisor immediately of substantive changes or variation from the approved Direct Construction Cost budget. Leverage Knowledge Participate in regularly scheduled National Category calls Share knowledge and experience and ask for advice on National Category Team's

Created: 2026-03-04