Job Description

Ashland LLC

Are you the kind of person that is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious, solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious?

Are you always solving?

Then wed like to meet you and bet youd like to meet us.

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Global Procurement Operations Manager/ Center of Excellence (CoE) Lead to join our Ashland LLC business at our Wilmington, Delaware location. This role could also be home based for the right candidate. The position will report to the Director Indirect Global Procurement.

This position will lead the global procurement operations and analytics team and will be responsible for driving strategic and operational elements of the business. The ideal candidate will be a strong people leader with high communication skills and can successfully lead operational/tactical teams and interface with internal senior executives.

The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:

* Responsible for the development and leadership of the Center of Excellence team, to support the Procurement activities at Ashland.
* Lead a team within the spend management/operations space and provide a high level of coaching, mentorship, and leadership.
* Responsible for identifying and driving high-impact opportunities to improve, develop, and implement procurement processes.
* Partner as a trusted advisor on a continuous basis with internal customers to understand evolving business objectives, expectations, and specific requirements.
* Supports and maintains the tools and processes for the procurement systems, cost modeling, master data, spend analytics and savings reporting.
* Maintains, updates and trains team and stakeholders on policies and procedures to ensure compliance and adherence to Global Procurement policy.
* Ensure team provides required research and analytical support to Category and Sourcing team.
* Partners with Procurement team and stakeholders to drive synergies and improve overall performance of the Procurement function.
* Engaging in continuous improvement initiatives to mitigate business and operational risks.
* Serves as the central point of contact for procurement foundational support, or center of excellence, across all procurement professionals within the Procurement team and across Ashland.
* Responsible for establishing and monitoring Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) program.
* Responsible for special projects such as leading sales and leasing of company properties.

In order to be qualified for this role, you must possess the following:

* Minimum of 8+ years of strategic procurement, procurement operations/COE experience
* Involvement in ERP procurement systems SAP and COUPA/ARIBA
* Experience with data analytics tools
* Knowledge of Operational Procurement or leading Center of Excellence in medium size companies
* Demonstrated knowledge of best practices and processes in a global environment
* Real estate and facility management experience or background preferred
* Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills
* Self-starter: Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
* Excellent organizational and project management skills
* Able to communicate effectively and interact with personnel at all levels
* Strong MS Office skills and desire to learn new software and programs
* Team player with the ability to work with cross-functional teams

The following skill sets are preferred by the business unit:

* A minimum of a bachelors degree; preferably in a science, supply chain, or finance discipline
* 5+ years of direct management experience

In more than 100 countries, the people of Ashland LLC. (NYSE: ASH) provide the specialty chemicals, technologies and insights to help customers create new and improved products for today and sustainable solutions for tomorrow. Our chemistry is at work every day in a wide variety of markets and applications, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, personal care and pharmaceutical. Visit www.ashland.com to see the innovations we offer.

At Ashland our vision is to be a leading, global specialty chemicals company whose inspired and engaged employees add value to all we touch. In fact our people, employees, customers and vendors define who we are. They are the driving force behind everything we do.

Not only do we value our customers but we value our employees, and we work to offer them a dynamic and challenging environment. We hold ourselves to high standards at Ashland, and we value integrity and honesty.

Ashland has a history of attracting the best people and keeping them. The reasons are simple: industry competitive salary and benefits, pay-for-performance incentive plans and a diverse work environment where employees feel challenged and valued. People come to Ashland and stay. As a growing Fortune 500 specialty chemicals company, we offer opportunities for development and advancement throughout our global organization. Our values define who we are and what we care about as a company. If you are looking for a relationship with a company instead of simply a job, this may be a great fit.

Ashland is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities/Women/Veterans/Disabled/Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. NOTE: We do not accept resumes from external staffing agencies or independent recruiters for any of our openings unless we have a signed recruiting agreement in place to fill a specific position.