Strategic Procurement Specialist

Ready to start your next chapter with NAIT?

At NAIT, we’re passionate about building a team of talented, dedicated professionals who share our commitment to excellence and innovation. Your skills and experience can shape the future of education and make a real impact in our community.

If this opportunity feels like the right fit for you, we encourage you to apply and join us in creating a brighter future – together.

Important Application Deadline Notice

Please note that Workday closes job postings at 11:59pm MST on the day before the posting end date listed above.

To ensure your application is received, submit no later than 11:59pm MST the day prior to the posting end date.

Internal NAIT Employees

Current NAIT employees are welcome to apply for this opportunity. To be considered, please submit your application through the NAIT Jobs Hub rather than the external career site.

Job Description

NAIT is seeking a Strategic Procurement Specialist to provide advanced procurement, commercial, and contracting expertise for complex and high-value initiatives across the institution.

As a senior individual contributor, the Strategic Procurement Specialist independently manages procurement initiatives from early planning and stakeholder engagement through competitive solicitation, evaluation, negotiation, contract execution, and transition to contract management.

The successful candidate will proactively engage academic, administrative, and operational areas to understand their needs, upcoming initiatives, existing contracts, and procurement priorities. This position will help stakeholders assess procurement readiness, develop sourcing strategies, manage procurement and contractual risks, and establish realistic timelines.

This opportunity is well suited to an experienced procurement professional with strong attention to detail, sound commercial judgment, and demonstrated ability to interpret and negotiate services levels and contract terms and conditions.

This position does not have formal people-leadership or supervisory responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Proactively engage assigned business areas to understand operational requirements, upcoming procurements, contract expiries, supplier concerns, and sourcing opportunities.

• Lead competitive procurement processes, including RFPs, negotiated RFPs, RFQs, requests for standing offers, public tenders, and other approved procurement methods.

• Develop procurement strategies, solicitation documents, evaluation methodologies, pricing structures, negotiation plans, timelines, and award recommendations.

• Work with stakeholders to clarify requirements, assess procurement readiness, identify risks, and select appropriate sourcing and contracting approaches.

• Facilitate evaluation committees, consensus meetings, supplier presentations, clarifications, negotiations, approvals, awards, and supplier debriefings.

• Independently review, analyze, draft, and negotiate commercial contract terms and conditions within approved authorities, templates, standards, and risk parameters.

• Identify procurement, commercial, contractual, financial, and operational risks and recommend practical mitigation strategies.

• Coordinate specialized reviews with General Counsel, Risk, Privacy, Information Security, Finance, Insurance, and other subject-matter experts when required.

• Ensure that negotiated commitments and approved deviations are accurately reflected in final contracts and schedules.

• Support contract implementation, amendments, renewals, supplier-performance matters, corrective actions, disputes, and contract closeout.

• Maintain complete, accurate, and defensible procurement and contract records.

• Ensure compliance with applicable trade agreements, legislation, NAIT policies, delegated authorities, procurement procedures, and public-sector procurement principles.

• Identify opportunities to consolidate requirements, improve competition, reduce total cost, strengthen contractual protections, enhance supplier performance or otherwise improve procurements outcomes.

Knowledge of:

• Public-sector procurement principles, including fairness, openness, transparency, accountability, confidentiality, consistency, defensibility, and the appropriate management of actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.

• Applicable trade agreements, legislation, and regulatory requirements governing procurement in a Canadian public-sector or broader public-sector environment, including thresholds, posting obligations, limited tendering considerations, supplier debriefings, and procurement challenge risk.

• Competitive procurement methods and sourcing strategies, including Requests for Proposals, Negotiated Requests for Proposals, Requests for Information, Requests for Quotations, Requests for Standing Offers, public tenders, invitational processes, evaluation methodologies, pricing structures, and award documentation.

• Contract law, commercial contracting principles, and contract-risk allocation, including scope and deliverables, pricing and payment terms, warranties, indemnities, insurance, limitation of liability, intellectual property, confidentiality, privacy, information security, termination rights, remedies, amendments, and dispute resolution.

• Procurement governance, delegated authorities, policy compliance, and audit-ready documentation requirements, including approval pathways, segregation of duties, procurement records, evaluation records, conflict-of-interest documentation, award recommendations, contract approvals, and defensible decision-making.

• Supplier relationship, contract administration, and supplier-performance management practices, including renewals, amendments, change orders, service levels, corrective actions, dispute management, contract closeout, and continuous improvement opportunities.

• Market research, category awareness, and commercial analysis, including supplier-market assessment, incumbent contract analysis, total cost considerations, restrictive specification risks, value-for-money assessment, and opportunities to improve competition or reduce institutional risk.

• Procurement, contract management, document management, reporting, Workday and Microsoft 365 tools, including the ability to maintain accurate procurement records, track procurement activity, manage documentation, support reporting, and work effectively in digital procurement environments.

Skills & Abilities:

• Exceptional attention to detail and the ability to identify errors, inconsistencies, qualifications, and risks in complex procurement and contract documents.

• Strong contract interpretation, commercial negotiation, and risk-assessment skills.

• Strong stakeholder management, consultation, facilitation, and relationship-building capabilities.

• A proactive and service-oriented approach to supporting assigned business areas.

• Sound professional judgment and the confidence to challenge incomplete requirements, unrealistic timelines, or proposed commercial arrangements that may create risk.

• Strong analytical, critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-support skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex procurement and contractual matters clearly.

• Strong organizational and project-management skills, with the ability to independently manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

• The ability to facilitate cross-functional teams and influence outcomes without formal supervisory authority.

• High standards of integrity, confidentiality, fairness, consistency, and public accountability.

• Proficiency with enterprise procurement, contract management, document management, and Microsoft 365 applications and Workday.

Qualifications

• A post-secondary degree or diploma in supply chain management, procurement, business administration, commerce, finance, operations management, law, or a related discipline.

• Three to five years of progressively responsible and directly relevant experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, contracting, commercial negotiation, or supply chain management.

• Demonstrated experience managing competitive procurement processes from planning through award and contract execution.

• Demonstrated experience reviewing, interpreting, drafting, or negotiating commercial contract terms and conditions.

• Experience working directly with stakeholders to define requirements, assess risks, resolve issues, and support procurement decisions.

• Experience managing multiple procurement initiatives, approvals, and deadlines concurrently.

Applicants with education credentials earned outside of Canada should have their credentials evaluated by World Education Services (WES), International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) or the Comparative Education Services (CES).

Classification – Advisor/Specialist III

This position is covered by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) Collective Agreement.

Remuneration

Refer to salary range noted on this posting, plus a comprehensive benefits package.

NAIT is committed to a transparent, fair, and human-centered hiring experience. All candidates are assessed directly by our recruitment and hiring teams.

About NAIT

We are known as one of Alberta’s top employers. Being part of a community that makes a difference in the lives of students, staff, industry clients and partners, NAIT’s culture reflects our shared values of respect, collaboration, celebration, creativity, and accountability.

People are what make NAIT great, and we prioritize the employee experience. For eligible positions, we offer benefits and unique perks focusing on health and wellness, work-life balance, recognition, and professional and personal growth. In addition to excellent vacation time, eligible employees receive paid time off between Christmas and New Year’s.

NAIT supports a flexible work environment, enabling staff to request approval for on-campus, off-site, or hybrid work arrangements based on the nature of the role. Please note that remote positions require employees to reside within Canada.

NAIT is committed to fostering a safe environment that supports equity and cultivates inclusion through our Centre for Community and Belonging (CCB) and our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy. We are a proud partner of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. While we encourage all qualified applicants to apply, only those being considered will be contacted. If you require any assistance or accommodations, please connect with us at careers@nait.ca.

Please submit a resume and cover letter to be considered for this opportunity.