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Microsoft Cloud Operations and Innovation (CO+I) is the team behind the cloud. We are responsible for delivering over 200 Microsoft web portals, Live and Online Services around the world including infrastructure, security and compliance, operations, globalization, and manageability. Our focus is on smart growth, high efficiency, and delivering a trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide. We are looking for a passionate individual to help build the network that powers the world’s largest online services.

Within CO+I, the strategic Supply Chain team is responsible for establishing a supply chain that can meet the ever-growing growth of the Microsoft Cloud and our customers. We support a portfolio of complex, multi-disciplinary, multi-billion, multi-year datacenter construction and lease projects and operations of those assets. We are looking to fill a critical role of Regional Contracts Claims Manager, which will focus on post-award contract management of construction contracts across APAC and will be specifically tasked with driving contractual accountability and claims avoidance, early intervention, de-escalation, internal alignment and settlement with General Contractors (GCs) and OEM Equipment suppliers.

Responsibilities

The Regional Contracts Claims Manager for Supply Chain will be key stakeholder focused on post-award contract management and claims avoidance. This individual will have extensive knowledge of the contract administration of large construction contracts as it relates to management of a contractor or service provided through the lifetime of the contracted scope. He/She will lead discussions on entitlements and claims settlements with General Contractors, Services and Equipment suppliers that do not meet Microsoft contracted terms. Leads cross-functional engagements with Construction, Engineering and shares best practices, drives alignment in resolving Supplier Claims. Directs team(s) to leverage personal expertise and benchmark data to identify and revise business requirements, manage conflicting priorities and tradeoffs, and resolve escalations to execute within the Global Claims Management framework.

This person will be expected to drive best practices / concepts for the full spectrum of activities that are associated with contractor post-award claims management including performance reporting and monitoring, formal correspondence, resolution and closeout. This individual should have extensive contract experience and understand the nuances of how complex and contentious contractual issues are administered and resolved. The individual will have knowledge of the various types of contract methods (Design-Build, Design-Bid-Build, CM, EPCM, etc.) as well as the different pricing formats (Lump Sum, GMP, T&M, Cost+, Unit Price) that work can be based on commercially. This individual will also have extensive experience in the analysis and negotiation of defensive and affirmative Claims involving the GCs or OEM equipment suppliers.

• Compliance

• Drives business impact by establishing functional standards and performance expectations that define relevant process and compliance success metrics, while also identifying opportunities for improving process efficiency and compliance with the Global Claims Management framework. Applies end-to-end expertise and leverages market intelligence to develop and influence Microsoft-wide channel strategies that optimize for value and enable execution with consistency, accuracy, quality, and timeliness. Leads decision making across cross-functional organizations to determine optimum strategies for suppliers and partners to increase efficiency and manage costs and drives accountability and governance for adopting workstream improvements and automation at scale to meet and surpass business expectations.

• Leads partnerships with the Regional Supply Chain Director and Global Claims Director along with other stakeholders and suppliers to identify systematic business threats and determine which sustainable elements, alternative solutions, and/or policy changes would optimally mitigate risks at scale moving forward. Champions new policy direction and changes as needed to ensure systematic resolution and remediation of sourcing issues across Microsoft and its partners.

• Negotiates and provides strategic oversight for improving existing Supplier Contracts and defined milestones and deliverables, holds accountability and ownership of SLAs with an end-to-end company-wide perspective, and ensures compliance is cascaded down to the business. Serves as subject matter expert on the Construction Contracts and coaches team members to do the same, manages any escalations related to policy non-compliance, and manages the execution of contingency plans internally and externally as needed.

• Procurement and Contracts

• Provides high-level negotiation and sets standards across organizations and company disputes resolution and claims settlement. Addresses unresolved or broadly impactful escalations related to EOT, Scope Changes, Warranties, NCRs and proactively develops strategies to evaluate and drive change in processes broadly across the organization, as needed to ensure teams and/or partners adopt processes that improve the contractual obligations by associated suppliers/contractors.

• Provides guidance and clarification on contract execution processes for consistency, accuracy, and timeliness across Microsoft. Provides thought leadership and shares best practices on established methodologies to ensure they are aligned with and influence current and anticipated business outcomes, both internally and externally. Drives accountability for resolving escalated contract delivery issues and monitoring the impact of complex change orders and claims on contracting, and delivers briefings to executive leadership detailing current and projected sourcing contract execution models, anticipated risks, impact models, and contingency plans.

• Stakeholder Collaboration

• Oversees and leads the Regional Contracts Claims negotiation strategies for the most complex and strategic purchasing categories including General Contractors, develops business groups for optimal cross-functional stakeholder support and business assurance, and broadly fosters internal and external partnerships to negotiate strategic decisions and produce deliverables. Drives consensus in the goals and success criteria with stakeholders both internal and external to Microsoft, shares thought leadership and socializes best practices related to negotiation and collaboration to enable teams to execute negotiations with consistent success.

• Drives the execution of the Global Claims Management strategies for the Regional business and industry engagements between sourcing teams and cross-functional corporate leadership to determine supply strategy at scale. Defines multi-year strategies for mature business, identifies opportunities to meet agility requirements, and enables business beyond standard purchase categories and historical spend areas. Develops solutions for highly complex and undefined business areas and purchasing categories and adapts delivery plans with cross-functional leaders. Leads industry and ecosystem engagements proactively defines communication strategies with leadership teams, articulates business cases to support recommendations, and influences leaders to buy in on sourcing decisions and optimizations that can be deployed at scale.

• Directs in-region supplier activity and progress across the most complex and strategic accounts and purchasing categories. Leverages the Global Claims Management framework to define overall objectives and strategies for supplier management practices to ensure alignment to Microsoft-wide business goals, and shares thought leadership that affects supplier engagement protocols and processes company-wide. Considers broad enterprise engagement opportunities and future supplier and partner innovations, to further optimize for value.

Qualifications

1) Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Engineering, Finance, Supply Chain Management, Construction Management and/or Operations.

2) 10+ years experience in Supply Chain Management, Commercial Negotiations/Contracting and Claims Management.

3) Must have at least 5+ years of notable experience working in Construction / EPC industry on medium to large scale projects with claims resolution, commercial and/or project controls responsibilities.

4) Deep understanding of Contracting language and FIDIC-based terms with proven negotiation skills with external suppliers / service providers.

5) Experience in leading claims resolutions on multiple projects including experience in formal dispute resolution procedures such as mediation, adjudication and arbitration.

6) Preferred experience in the Data Center / Infrastructure / Power / Oil & Gas industry managing large capital projects and contracts management.

7)Embody our Culture and Values

These requirements include, but are not limited to, the following specialized security screenings: Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

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Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .