This is a great opportunity to immerse yourselves in the Industry. Ascent helps our partners onboard teams and particular skills directly in their business!  

About the role 

The fundamental purpose of the IT Procurement Specialist role is to support BDO IT in its service delivery to the network by ensuring IT products and services provided or supported by third parties are delivered according to Global IT standards to the business and meeting or exceeding agreed service levels. 

What you’ll do 

• Vendor Management 
• Manage vendor portfolio. 
• Manage and maintain good supplier relations and negotiate Global contracts. 
• Prepare plans for the purchase of hardware, licenses, and services. 
• Review, compare, analyze, and approve products and services to be purchased. 
• Stay up to date on industry trends and new products. 
• Research and evaluate prospective suppliers. 
• Prepare cost analyses and reports. 
• Develop strong relationships with other internal functional groups. 
• Oversee and support employees and all activities of the procurement department. 
• Create and enforce the company's procurement policies and procedures.  
• Build strong operational and commercial relationships with partners to ensure fit-for-purpose service delivery and support. 
• Drive contract and service review meetings covering performance, service improvements, quality, and process. 
• Contract Negotiation 
• Negotiate and drive the approval process for vendor contracts, renewals, and vendor onboarding. 
• Evaluate and negotiate Global contracts with vendors. 
• Service Level Management 
• Provide status reporting on service projects by communicating and presenting all pertinent details in relation to the project’s health, status, risks, and successes to stakeholders and sponsors. 
• Manage the relationship with vendors to ensure they comply with the required SLAs and KPIs. 
• Manage relationships with license vendors to ensure service levels and contract terms are being met. 

Skills and Experience 

• Bachelor's or master’s degree in information systems, Law or Business other related disciplines. 
• Demonstrated ability to analyze and interpret complex problems or processes, identify, and understand requirements, and develop solutions. 
• Experience working with multiple third-party vendors and partners to deliver complex information technology projects. 
• Demonstrated ability to balance priorities among competing needs. 
• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills, including the ability to influence and drive other team members. 
• Build trust by interacting and communicating with others in a way that gives them confidence in Global IT’s intentions and capabilities to support them with items within the area of responsibility. 
• Be innovative to find new opportunities to support revenue growth or spending reduction of the BDO network. 
• Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines. 
• Able to manage sensitive and confidential information. 
• Self-motivated and able to take responsibility. 
• Able to manage and prioritize tasks and time efficiently. 
• Able to demonstrate initiative and a proactive approach to tasks. 

BDO and Ascent – working here

Ascent is on a mission to help our customers connect data, software, and purpose to create extraordinary outcomes. We choose hybrid working, where you balance time at the office with working at home. Our offices are places to connect and collaborate with colleagues, with socials and regular get-togethers. We take your development and growth seriously, with plenty of opportunities to acquire skills and get certified.

BDO is an international network of public accounting, tax, and advisory firms, the BDO Member Firms, which perform professional services under the name of BDO. The global network provides advisory services in 144 countries, with 56,389 employees working out of 1,264 offices worldwide. The combined fee income of all the BDO Member Firms was $6.4 billion in 2013. BDO is the brand name for the BDO network and for each of the BDO Member Firms.

Service provision within the international BDO network is coordinated by Brussels Worldwide Services BVBA, a limited liability company incorporated in Belgium with its statutory seat in Brussels.