Sourcing Specialist, Principal

Your Role

This role supports Ascendiun and technology related sourcing activities within the Ascendiun Family of Companies, as appropriate. The IT Sourcing Team is a part of Global Business Services team supporting the acquisition of technology products and services across the enterprise. The Sourcing Specialist Principal will report to the Senior Director of IT Sourcing. In this role, you will use your business acumen, negotiation expertise, and knowledge of technology sourcing, contracting and negotiations skills to support our family of companies by engaging with a diverse range of suppliers and internal stakeholders.

Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow – personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Your Work

In this role, you will:

• Become a trusted partner and serve as a strategic sourcing advisor to technology and business leaders, translating enterprise objectives into clear sourcing strategies, negotiation plans, and executable contracting approaches.
• Influence demand, supplier selection, and spend decisions to deliver cost savings, cost avoidance, risk reduction, and value creation through supplier rationalization, market leverage, and economies of scale.
• Analyze supply markets, commercial models, technology trends, and supplier capabilities to identify best-fit sources that balance price, capability, resiliency, compliance, innovation, and long-term enterprise value.
• Lead structured supplier selection and qualification processes, including RFx events, auctions, proposal evaluations, scoring models, negotiation rounds, and award recommendations supported by clear governance and documentation.
• Advance supplier diversity and inclusion by proactively identifying, promoting, and supporting engagement with small, disadvantaged, minority-owned, and other diverse suppliers where aligned with business needs.
• Coordinate supplier due diligence, onboarding, risk review, and compliance activities with cross-functional partners to ensure sourcing decisions meet business, regulatory, privacy, security, and operational requirements.
• Lead end-to-end negotiations for complex technology transactions across cloud, software, data, professional services, managed services, outsourcing, telecom, and related technology categories.
• Develop and execute negotiation strategies using BATNAs, should-cost analysis, total-cost-of-ownership models, benchmarking, competitive leverage, and scenario planning to achieve best-value outcomes across price, risk, service levels, flexibility, and innovation.
• Structure and negotiate scalable commercial models, including outcome-based pricing, consumption-based commitments, elastic capacity, milestone-based delivery, indexed rate cards, reserved capacity, renewal protections, and cloud optimization constructs.
• Enable cloud, digital, AI, and technology transformation initiatives by negotiating timely, commercially sound software, data, services, and technology agreements that support business continuity and speed to value.
• Partner with Legal, Privacy, Security, Finance, Risk, Compliance, IT, and business stakeholders to resolve contract issues involving intellectual property, data protection, cybersecurity, regulatory obligations, audit rights, service levels, indemnities, limitations of liability, and business continuity.
• Guide stakeholders from intake through signature by clarifying requirements, building complete sourcing packages, developing well-defined statements of work, securing required approvals, and maintaining audit-ready documentation.
• Improve efficiency, consistency, and control by using standard templates, clause positions, playbooks, disciplined redlining, clear escalation paths, and proactive blocker resolution to reduce cycle time and contracting risk.

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Requires a Bachelor’s degree in business, supply chain, finance, technology, legal studies, or a related field or High School Diploma/GED and 4 years of additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree
• Requires at least 10 years of prior relevant experience in strategic sourcing/contracting
• Requires a mastery level knowledge of Sourcing/Supplier Relationship Management area obtained through advanced education combined with experience. May have deep knowledge of project management.
• Five or more years of direct experience negotiating technology agreements, including SaaS, cloud, data services, cybersecurity, managed services, outsourcing, professional services, telecom, and healthcare technology arrangements, with ownership of multi-million-dollar transactions strongly preferred.
• Requires ability to work in a fast-track environment, with multi-tasking skills
• Requires excellent writing and communication skills which are reflected in translating requirements into well drafted contracts
• Ability to communicate and collaborate with fellow Blue Shield employees at all levels
• Knowledge of technology trends, particularly as they relate to SaaS agreements
• Desire to continuously learn as technology evolves
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence, advise, and collaborate across all levels of the Ascendiun Family of Companies, including senior leaders, business owners, technologists, legal partners, and control functions

Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week. Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.