Grainger is a broad line, business-to-business distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies and other related products and services. More than 3.2 million businesses and institutions worldwide rely on Grainger for products such as safety gloves, ladders, motors and janitorial supplies, along with services like inventory management and technical support. These customers represent a broad collection of industries including commercial, government, healthcare and manufacturing. They place orders online, on mobile devices, through sales representatives, over the phone and at local branches. Approximately 5,000 suppliers provide Grainger with more than 1.6 million products stocked in Grainger’s distribution centers and branches worldwide.

Position Description

The Contracts & Proposals Team supports the sales organization with the development, implementation, and archiving of contractual documents which helps define the Grainger offering for achieving long-term customer relationships and accelerated sales growth. The Contracts & Proposal Manager leads and coaches a team of high-performing Contract Specialists, Proposal Specialists, and Contract Administrators required to support their aligned sales team with timely and accurate contract documents while effectively managing all contract project requests within legal and business policy minimizing company risk and exposure. This is achieved through training and developing team members, balancing team workload, reviewing and approving contract documents, leading projects within the team and maximizing team effectiveness and productivity. Additionally, this individual will provide assistance to the Sr. Manager, Contracts & Proposals for the operational activities of team.

Position Requirements:

• Manage a team of Contract Specialists, Proposal Specialists, and Contract Administrators to ensure that projects are completed on time, with high-quality and accuracy, within company policy and meeting customer requirements while minimizing company risk. 
• Oversee the ongoing Talent Management/Performance Management process for each team member including creation of the Performance Plan, coaching team members and mid year/year end reviews. Recruits and selects new team members as needed.
• Balance team project assignments and sales region alignment to effectively manage the volume of contract requests with high accuracy and minimal rework while meeting cycle time objectives.
• Establish and monitor team’s measurements in key areas such as productivity, cycle-time, accuracy rate/first-pass yield, contract compliance and team performance. Initiate action to address areas for improvement identified in metric results.
• Interface and partner with aligned Sales Leaders and Support Teams including Legal, Brand Management, Customer Life-cycle Management, Sales Operations, Sales Directors and VP’s, etc. regarding legal or business related issues and escalations in order to help determine alternate approaches that meet the needs of the business and customer while assessing company policy.
•  Lead and oversee Contracts and Proposals continuous improvement projects focused on streamlining processes, improving productivity and quality of work, minimizing re-work and redundancy and standardizing the output across the contract specialist team. 
• Review and approve Deal Formation opportunities ensuring legal and operational issues are identified and addressed prior to contract draft release to the customer. 
• Troubleshoot identified issues raised in a timely manner to meet customer expectations. Monitor contract system coding to validate variables are appropriately entered by the Contract Specialist within the contract system as well as administrative process functions such as start-up and removal notices, extensions, amendments, etc. 
• Lead efforts for on-boarding, training, and ongoing mentorship of team members to master the processes and tools utilized to support the contract process.
• Manage the creation, updating and communication of contract manuals and tools utilized by the team including the Contract Process Manual, Contact Coding Guidelines, Negotiation and Contract Manual, Language/Process Reference Guide. 
• Work closely with Sr. Manager and contract system administrator to manage the contract management system and other support systems (Salesforce, Vistex), clause library, coding and reporting capabilities to best meet the needs of the business as well as identify enhancements required for future needs.
• Conduct independent contract audits and support SOX compliance efforts to ensure compliance measures are meeting specifications and to identify areas for improvement to be addressed within the contract specialist team.
• Assist with the development, implementation and on-going reporting and visual management requirements of the team. 
• Communicate department processes, roles and responsibilities in training classes as well as in cross-functional on-boarding presentations (DMI, Commitment Management/Contracts Training).

• Preferred Education & Experience: 
• Bachelor degree in business or equivalent related work experience
• 3-5 years of contract, legal and/or operational related experience
• Strong written and verbal communication skills as well as facilitation skills. Strong attention to detail
• Working knowledge of legal terms and conditions and business concepts, theories and vocabulary (both internal and external to Grainger)
• Ability to manage multiple tasks, clarify ambiguous situations, resolve outstanding issues and react quickly to changes in direction
• Strong organizational and time-management skills required
• Inspires and challenges others to set and achieve goals.
• Ability to identify and address organizational barriers to ensure that employees can perform their jobs to their full potential as well as continue self-development.
• Able to source information from variable inputs and synthesize into meaningful and actionable formats.
• Strong process-orientation. Experience with Continuous Improvement methodologies a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to quickly learn, become competent in, and effectively apply new processes and applications as well as lead change in an environment of rapidly evolving technologies
• Clear understanding of customer needs (internal/external) as well as Grainger’s strengths and weaknesses
• Self-motivated with strong customer-service & communication skills required to interact with all levels of organization
• Ability to work with company confidential and competitive information
• Previous people management experience preferred
• Proficient with multiple PC applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint Visio, etc., to maximize productivity.

EEOC Statement

Grainger is an Equal Opportunity Workplace and an Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.