A Day in the Life of the Strategic Sourcing Manager:
This position supports the end-to-end sourcing lifecycle for telecom circuits, including Ethernet, Wave, Dark Fiber, and other carrier-based connectivity solutions. The role manages service quoting, vendor selection, pricing review, order and disconnect coordination, documentation, issue resolution, and cost savings initiatives. Serving as a liaison between Sales Engineering, internal teams, and telecom vendors, the position ensures accurate, timely, and compliant circuit sourcing while supporting vendor performance, process improvement, automation, and operational efficiency.
- Oversee the end-to-end process of generating service quotes and tasking queue management, from initial request to task completion, ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
- Collaborate with sales engineering to gather requirements and understand their needs, research locations for availability and vendor selection. Coordinate vendor calls if necessary.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of vendor products, services, pricing, and promotions by engaging in recurring virtual and in-person touchpoint meetings as well as maintaining a database of vendor information.
- Prepare and customize quotes based on requirements, pricing guidelines, and contractual terms. Maintain accurate records of quotes, pricing agreements, and vendor communications.
- Receive and review circuit orders, ensuring completeness, accuracy, and compliance with policies and procedures. Engage with vendors for final negotiation and placement of orders, track order acceptance, and resolve any issues or discrepancies that may arise during the ordering process.
- Maintain accurate records of orders, completion dates, CIDs, KMZs, and any relevant documentation.
- Monitor the progress of orders from initiation to completion, to ensure on-time delivery, successful turn-up, records update and customer satisfaction. Assist in escalations during turn up.
- Receive and review circuit disconnects, evaluate term and calculate ETL. Enact ETL avoidance process if necessary. Engage with vendors for placement of disconnect, record stop bill date, and update Sugar, system folders and sourcing databases.
- Provide support to all internal teams by answering inquiries, providing guidance, and assisting with system, order, pricing, billing, and NOC-related problem resolution as it relates to off net circuits.
- Identify opportunities to streamline and improve the sourcing process, including automation, tools, and procedures, to enhance efficiency and accuracy. Be the SME on process and systems for development.
- Set expectations with vendors to exhibit best practices and evaluate if they have successfully met requirements and maintained MSA commitments. Identify areas of improvement.
- Consistently identify ways to negotiate for better pricing and cost savings. Engage in vendor circuit negotiations, cancellation fee and ETL avoidance, outage credit and bill dispute assistance. Report cost savings to management for tracking against yearly department savings goal.
What you bring to the table:
- Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
- Minimum 5 years of telecom sourcing and technical sales team support in the telecommunications or cable industry
- Product and vendor specific knowledge of Ethernet and Wave services, Lit and Dark Fiber offerings, as well as associated end-user and carrier applications
- Operational understanding of telecommunications contracting, ordering, provisioning and billing processes
- Working knowledge of telecom automation tools and vendor portals and processes
- Ability to work independently given appropriate instruction
- Strong organizational skills with high attention to detail and accuracy
- Highly productive and prioritizes multiple tasks as this position will require flexibility and willingness to pivot quickly
- Highly proficient in Microsoft Office and AI-enabled productivity tools, including Microsoft Copilot.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to travel up to 5% for company meetings and industry trade shows
We're Proud to Offer a Comprehensive Benefits Package Including:- 401k retirement plan, with employer match
- Insurance options including: medical, dental, vision, life and STD insurance
- Paid Time Off/Vacation: Starting at 80 hours per year, and increases based on tenure with the organization
- Floating Holiday: 40 hours per year
- Paid Holidays: 7 days per year
- Paid Sick Leave: Astound allows a number of paid sick hours per calendar year and varies based on state and/or local laws
- Tuition reimbursement program
- Employee discount program
*Benefits listed above are for regular full-time position
Base Salary: The base salary range for this position is $85,000 - $100,000 annually, plus opportunities for bonus and benefits, if applicable. The base pay range represents the low and high end of the hiring range for this job. Actual pay will vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to relevant skills, experience, and capabilities.
