Senior Procurement Specialist

About the role

The Procurement Excellence Office is new, the team is small, and the playbook is being written. We are looking for a Senior Procurement Specialist with real field experience, strong character, and the drive to build something that outlasts any individual project.

Responsibilities

• Cost Management:
  • Own cost tracking from first bid through executed subcontract; maintain a live view of committed, awarded, and pending values against the project budget so that cost exposure is visible at every stage of buyout
  • Reconcile subcontract values against the GMP on a scope-by-scope basis; identify and communicate variances early so that the project team can make informed decisions before commitments are locked
  • Build and maintain the basis-of-cost file for every awarded scope: unit rates, allowances, exclusions, alternates, and the documented rationale behind each negotiated value
  • Assess the cost impact of every change event before routing it for approval; distinguish between true scope additions, gaps in the original bid, and subcontractor commercial plays, and price each accordingly
  • Track cost-to-complete across your scopes throughout execution; flag cost trends, emerging overruns, and rebuy risk to the project team before they become realized losses
  • Support Owner-facing cost reporting for sole-sourced and design-assist scopes; ensure open-book documentation is accurate, current, and defensible at every review
• Procurement Execution:
  • Build and release complete bid packages using the standardized Work Breakdown Structure (WBS); lead leveling, gap analysis, negotiation, and award so every scope enters the field with a clear, defensible commercial foundation
  • Own the basis-of-cost defense through Negotiation Approval; facilitate open-book pricing reviews with the Owner for sole-sourced design-assist scopes
  • Complete the Contract Attachments Checklist per scope before Award Approval and ensure Owner Liquidated Damages flow down to every subcontract scope that drives the relevant milestone
  • Assemble executed subcontract packages with correct exhibits, flowdowns, and insurance; identify and resolve cycle time delays before they affect the project schedule
  • Manage subcontracts through the full execution lifecycle so that performance issues, compliance gaps, and commercial deviations are surfaced and resolved before they become project-level problems
  • Monitor subcontract cost obligations through execution: track payment applications against the schedule of values, flag billing anomalies, and ensure amounts certified align with work in place
  • Own post-execution compliance tracking so subcontractors arrive ready to work and nothing critical is outstanding
  • Manage change management for your scopes: assess each event against enterprise rules (change order, new contract, or rebuy), price the cost impact independently before negotiating, and maintain fallback bidder lists so that a sub failure or GMP rejection does not stop the project
• Field Credibility and Constructability:
  • Engage directly with field teams during preconstruction and buyout; attend site walks and constructability reviews as an active contributor who brings procurement perspective to buildability conversations
  • Identify sequencing constraints, design gaps, and safe-to-build risks at the bid package level before they generate change orders in the field
  • Facilitate clean Estimating-to-Operations handoffs by documenting assumptions, clarifications, vendor exceptions, and open items so that hard-won precon knowledge is not lost at the transition
• Team and Enterprise Contribution:
  • Bring solutions to the team, not just status: when a buyout is struggling or a process is not working, diagnose the root cause and propose a specific fix rather than flagging the problem and moving on
  • Maintain and enforce WBS templates, scope libraries, bid tools, and QA checklists; when you find something outdated or missing, update it rather than working around it
  • Serve as a technical SME for complex scopes, design-assist transitions, and rebuy events
  • Treat every buyout cycle as a source of institutional knowledge; capture lessons learned and translate them into updates that make the next project easier for everyone on the team

Qualifications

• 8+ years of procurement, estimating, or construction management experience on large-scale commercial, industrial, or mission-critical projects
• Direct, hands-on experience in your market segment with scopes you have procured, subcontractors you have managed, and commercial outcomes you have owned
• Demonstrated experience managing subcontracts through full execution: change management, performance monitoring, and closeout
• Direct experience with project cost management: buyout reconciliation against GMP, cost-to-complete tracking, change order pricing, and Owner-facing cost reporting
• Negotiation experience at $5M or more per scope with the ability to build and defend a basis-of-cost file
• Meaningful site presence and constructability experience; procurement decisions informed by direct knowledge of how work gets built
• Proficiency in contract structure: WBS format, scope exhibits, LD language, flowdown clauses, and QCS-format subcontracts
• Proficiency in BuildingConnected or equivalent, Procore, and Excel for WBS-format bid leveling
• Track record of improving processes, not just running them
• Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, or Supply Chain preferred. Equivalent field experience considered
• CCM, CPP, or CPSM a plus

Skills

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities effectively
• Attention to detail and accuracy in cost tracking and reporting
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams
• Experience with project management software (e.g., BuildingConnected, Procore)

Benefits

Discretionary Annual Bonus: Subject to company and individual performance.
Comprehensive Benefits Package Including: Medical, dental and vision plans, 401k, generous PTO and paid company holidays, employee assistance program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, learning & development programs and more!

Pay

Salary range for this position considers a wide range of factors in making compensation decisions including but not limited to: Education, qualifications, skills, training, experience, certifications, internal equity, and location. Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.

Schedule

No other builder can offer the collaborative design-build approach that Clayco does.
We work on creative, complex, award-winning, high-profile jobs.
The pace is fast!

Why Clayco?

2025 Best Places to Work – St. Louis Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, and Phoenix Business Journal.
2025 ENR Midwest – Midwest Contractor (#1).
2025 ENR Top 100 Design-Build Firms – Design-Build Contractor (Top 5).
2025 ENR Top 100 Green Contractors – Green Contractor (Top 3).
2025 ENR Top 25 Data Center Builders – Data Center Contractor (Top 3).