Proc. Lead, Ocean & Climate
About the Company
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.
The Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program (EEP) explores significant challenges with diverse thinkers and doers to make a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable society for all. We address critical energy, environmental, and climate change issues through non-partisan, non-ideological convening, with the specific intent of bringing together diverse stakeholders to improve the process and progress of policy-level dialogue. This enables EEP to sit at a critical intersection in the conversation and bring together diverse groups of expert stakeholders. In addition to energy and environmental policy, which the program has been addressing for several decades, EEP actively and purposefully engages in climate change policy—mitigating the effects of climate change, adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, and the international cooperation needed to achieve these goals.
About the Job
The Procurement Lead is a leadership role within EEP supporting the Zero Emission Maritime Buyer’s Alliance (ZEMBA). The Procurement Lead will serve as the operational lead of ZEMBA’s commercial tender process, including managing the design, implementation, and oversight of ZEMBA’s procurement for clean energy-powered maritime fuels. This role is both strategic and operational in nature, and ideal for an individual who has passion for sustainability and a robust procurement background, creative problem-solving skills, strong project management, communications, analysis, and organizational skills required to lead a crucial pillar of this innovative initiative.
Key factors for success include experience facilitating interdisciplinary teams, demonstrated good judgment in the face of complexity, and an empathetic leadership style that welcomes new ideas and thrives in a relatively “flat” workplace structure. This position reports to the Senior Director for Ocean & Climate.
Responsibilities
Procurement Design and Implementation:
Lead process to develop, refine, execute, and manage ZEMBA’s procurement strategy for clean energy-powered maritime fuels and innovative technologies
Manage refinement of critical materials and resources required to operationalize ZEMBA’s procurement process, including bidder- and member-facing materials, eligibility requirements, evaluation framework, and more
Manage bid review and evaluation process, including identifying questions for bidders, leading discussions with bidders and fuel producers, and refining and documenting bid evaluation framework
Lead commercial negotiations with shortlisted bidders
Draft technical and strategic materials to facilitate decision-making throughout procurement process
Identify, recommend, and implement process improvements to inform future procurement rounds
Provide thought leadership on strategic focus of future procurement rounds and opportunities to maximize impact, including curiosity and willingness to bring ideas to new project areas where collective procurement can address thorny sustainability issues
Relationship Management:
Coordinate amongst EEP colleagues, technical advisors, and legal counsel to manage shared workload, drive toward project milestones, and engage in collaborative problem-solving
Lead Aspen team engagement with key knowledge partners on verification of service delivery members secure through ZEMBA process
Provide technical analysis and input to support member recruitment efforts and ongoing member education and engagement
Lead response to procurement-related questions from current and prospective members
Manage communications and relationships with prospective bidders, fuel producers, and other value chain actors
Program Management:
Serve as a subject matter expert on procurement, supply chain management, and logistics for Ocean & Climate team
Co-lead development and management of ZEMBA program plan and share accountability for delivering on key milestones
Provide technical analysis and strategic input to inform overarching initiative performance targets and metrics
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in economics, business administration, engineering, or related field
10+ years work experience in corporate or federal procurement, logistics, and supply chain management
Experience managing corporate or federal procurement processes, specifically requests for proposals (RFPs)
Experience in global sourcing, understanding international markets, negotiation, and managing international suppliers
Familiarity with advanced market commitments a plus
Experience with corporate sustainability, climate or energy policy, alternative fuels, or carbon markets a plus
Strong proficiency in Excel-based modeling and analysis
Ability to distill complex and technical information and communicate effectively and succinctly through written and verbal means
Ability to manage time effectively, including meeting tight timelines, work autonomously and with a small team, and manage multiple processes and projects at the same time
Strong professional and diplomatic interpersonal skills
Strong customer service and solution-focused orientation – a “Yes, and” attitude
Willingness and ability to travel, as much as 10-30% of the time during certain times of the year
