NASPO

JOB TITLE:           Director of Accelerator Hub

EMPLOYER:         National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO)

DEPARTMENT:     Administrative and Strategic Operations

LOCATION:          Remote

REPORTS TO:     Chief of Administrative and Strategic Operations

SALARY:              $113,950-$136,750

SUMMARY

This position will lead a section within the Strategic Operations Division of NASPO responsible for finding, investigating, and instituting innovative solutions and practices supporting the profession of public procurement. The director will see opportunities to provide direct support to the membership of NASPO by creating an environment where entrepreneurial ideas that come from member offices are prepared for the use of other member states. Further, this director will serve as an internal advocate and evangelist for innovation in the policies, procedures, and practices of the association itself. Areas within NASPO of particular interest for innovation include cooperative procurement, information technology, data management, value creation, and support to the global profession of public procurement. This position may also contribute to innovative thought and practices to our network of strategic and academic partners by working with the Director of Partnerships.

The position will coordinate with members of the C-Suite to ensure cross-functional collaboration, with a focus on innovation, research, and data analytics to positively impact business efficiency and growth.

This position will be a senior advisor to NASPO leadership on driving innovation and use of research to further support business decisions and priority actions.

DUTIES

The position will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the NASPO Accelerator Hub as the preeminent laboratory of state and local government procurement innovation, with a goal of transforming and institutionalizing positive and progressive change in state and local government processes and outcomes in a manner that better serves the public.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Seek innovative ideas and practices across the entire landscape of public procurement, both domestically and outside the United States.
• Champion ideas for state and local public procurement innovation.
• Build coalitions internally, with members, strategic partners, and academic partners to achieve common goals.
• Lead a team that provides expert technical guidance and procurement innovation coaching to procurement teams across state and local public procurement.
• Uses iterative methodologies to manage teams and work products.
• Institute a NASPO Innovation Review Board to screen possible innovation projects as to anticipated level of investment and potential benefits of such investment.
• At appropriate intervals, brief NASPO leadership on NAH projects, summarizing the issues and timelines, identifying benefits and risks and providing recommendations on issue resolution so that leadership can effectively champion procurement teams and support removal of obstacles.
• Support the development of a culture within the state and local public procurement community that is receptive to procurement innovation and managed risk taking to improve mission outcomes and enhance awareness and adoption of procurement innovation.
• Share at various levels best practices on industry engagement throughout the procurement process and opportunities to incorporate viable ideas from industry into the procurement innovation process.
• Serve as a principal advisor to members and NASPO staff on non-traditional procurement methodologies and models, such as agile procurement techniques, streamlined solicitation documents, and other methods that would improve the process and results of government procurement.
• Work with external stakeholders including suppliers, academics, and states to identify supply chain issues.
• Gather and write reports, articles, issue briefs, case studies, guides, tools, and memoranda on supply chain issues and best practices of relevance to Chief Procurement Officials, their staff, and other state policymakers.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

•       Experience in public procurement at any level of government, state and local government preferred. (Bachelor’s Degree at minimum, advanced degree preferred.)

•       Enterprise-level decision support experience i.e., past experience in government or industry as a C-level official or advisor to C-level.

•       Prior experience working with a procurement innovation lab or similar entrepreneurial organization is a preferred qualification.

•        Organized and able to work effectively either independently or in a group setting.

•       Excellent interpersonal, public speaking, and communications skills.

•       Excellent public relations skills and abilities.

•       Proficient in standard office software, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint.