Purchasing Operations Manager - University of Minnesota, Twin Cities : Job Details

Recruitment Title: Purchasing Operations ManagerJob Classification: 9341PR - Fin Mgr 1-Purchasing

Position Overview

The University of Minnesota is seeking a strategic and detail-oriented Purchasing Operations Manager to lead and manage purchasing activities across the institution. This role serves as the Enterprise Financial System (EFS) Business Process Owner designee and is responsible for overseeing purchasing-related systems, including PeopleSoft, eProcurement (EPro), and other procurement tools.The Purchasing Operations Manager plays a key role in defining data requirements, generating reports, and recommending actions based on purchasing data analysis. This position also represents Purchasing Services in various University forums, including Resource Responsibility Centers, Cluster Director meetings, and college/business unit engagements. The role includes leading or participating in system development projects and recommending policy and procedural improvements.

Responsibilities include the following:

• Consult with system campuses, colleges, and administrative units on the best purchasing methods and related financial activities in EFS.
• Act as a liaison between system users, the Module Support team, and other Business Process Owners to plan, implement, and deliver process improvements, lead and participate in purchasing year-end activities and reporting.
• In collaboration with Financial Training, identify, create, and maintain purchasing training resources and lead specific related financial courses.

Work Environment: Hybrid

Job duties with % of time:

System Support (50%)

• Enterprise Financial System (EFS)
  • Consult with the Module Support Team to deal with system issues and implement process improvements.
  • Manage help tickets, purchasing policy inquiries, and requisition/PO issues.
  • Act as a backup for clusters and approver for purchasing assistants.
  • FFATA Compliance Monitor
    • Monitor for orders that are subject to FFATA requirements.
    • Approve all FFATA-related requisitions and POs.
    • Facilitate the FFATA process by reviewing orders, dealing with suppliers to get the required information, and reporting orders to SPA.
  • Fiscal Year End and Monthly End Cleanup
    • Oversee requisition and PO transactions.
    • Consult with departments to clean up and resolve issues.
    • Perform all year-end processing and cleanup activities.
• U Market
  • Consult with U Market Services to onboard or update existing supplier catalogs to the U Market eProcurement system.
  • Consult with U Market Services to deal with system issues and implement process improvements.
• MBid
  • Consult with the Category Managers to maintain and make changes as needed to the eSourcing system, MBid.
  • Consult with the Category Managers to deal with system issues and implement process improvements.

Supervisor Job Responsibilities (25%)

• Manage a staff of up to 5 professionals.
• Achieves departmental goals by supervising staff, organizing and monitoring work processes, and supporting employee performance through effective coaching and counseling.
• Write and deliver performance evaluations.

Facilitate Training to University Staff (20%)

• Review and update training materials.
• Deliver training to departments as requested.
  • Common examples include creating and delivering presentations to departments that request specific purchasing training topics, creating and delivering training presentations to FSUN or other large user groups.

Special Projects (5%)

• Perform special projects as assigned by the Director or Controller; or self-initiated projects including special analyses, projects, and reports.

Required qualifications (please document on resume):

• Bachelorâs degree (in accounts payable, finance, or a related field, preferred).
• Six years of professional-level purchasing experience.
• Five years of supervisory experience.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to create a culture of inclusion and lead collaborative teams.

Preferred qualifications (please document on resume):

• Masterâs degree.
• 8-10 years of related experience.
• Higher Education experience.
• Demonstrates knowledge of current theory and practice in governmental or higher education accounting.
• Experience with PeopleSoft or similar Oracle ERP system.
• Proven leadership, collaboration, and team-building skills.
• Problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
• Good planning and organizational skills to balance and prioritize work.
• Demonstrates ability to deliver excellence in the fields of Finance & Accounting.
• Demonstrates ability to work effectively with diverse decentralized customers and constituents.