Manager - Strategic Buyer

COMPANY OVERVIEW: Synchrony (NYSE: SYF) is a premier consumer financial services company delivering one of the industry’s most complete digitally enabled product suites. Our experience, expertise and scale encompass a broad spectrum of industries including digital, health and wellness, retail, telecommunications, home, auto, outdoors, pet and more.  We provide best-in-class employee benefits and programs that cater to work-life integration and overall well-being. We provide career advancement and upskilling opportunities for all to take up leadership roles.

Organizational Overview:
This role is in the Procurement within Source to Pay (S2P) organization in Synchrony. Source to Pay team provides centralized supplier procurement, contracting, & ongoing management support across all Synchrony Functions delivering those products and services needed to be successful in our daily operations.

Role Summary/Purpose:
The Strategic Buyer plays a critical role in Synchrony’s procurement transformation by owning end-to-end buying for assigned categories within the Global Procurement Buy Desk and Source-to-Pay (S2P) function. The role ensures purchases are routed through the optimal buying channel—including catalogue, contract, spot buy, and guided buying through Coupa Smart Intake—while driving compliant purchasing, PO lifecycle discipline, tail spend optimization, integration issue resolution, and digital enablement through Coupa, Oracle, analytics, and emerging AI capabilities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own end-to-end buying for assigned categories and route demand through the right buying channel, including catalogue, contract, spot buy, and Coupa Smart Intake guided buying.
• Execute purchase transactions within defined SLAs while ensuring policy compliance, PO accuracy, and Contract-to-PO alignment.
• Partner with Source-to-Pay, category managers, Bid Desk, Finance, requesters, and suppliers to support buying strategy execution and resolve L1/L2 procurement queries.
• Manage PO lifecycle activities, including requisition workflow tracking, PO modifications, issue triage, and PO hygiene to support audit readiness and reliable reporting.
• Drive spend analytics, including tail spend, buying channel, supplier, category, PO, receipt, and spend cube analysis to identify consolidation, compliance, and optimization opportunities.
• Monitor Coupa–Oracle integration issues, including inactive supplier sites, GL, PAR number, PO, and receipt discrepancies, and coordinate resolution with relevant teams.
• Support dashboards and KPI reporting using Coupa Analytics, Power BI, Excel, and related tools to improve operational visibility and decision-making.
• Enable AI-led procurement transformation by leveraging Coupa AI Agents and Coupa Agentic Studio for intake classification, requisition routing, workflow automation, UAT/SIT support, and use-case development.

Qualifications/Required Skills/Knowledge:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, or related discipline.
• Minimum 4-5 years of procurement or supply chain operations experience; Source-to-Pay / Procure-to-Pay environment strongly preferred.
• Hands-on experience with Coupa or similar P2P/ERP platform; exposure to Oracle preferred.
• Demonstrated track record of accuracy, follow-through, and customer support in a high-volume operational setting.
• Ability to work effectively in a matrixed, global environment with strong communication and organization skills.
• Ability to independently manage end-to-end buying activities across assigned categories and route purchases through appropriate buying channels.
• Strong understanding of Source-to-Pay, Procure-to-Pay, Coupa Smart Intake, catalogue buying, contract buying, spot buying, and guided buying processes.
• Proven capability in PO lifecycle management, requisition workflow tracking, PO modifications, Contract-to-PO alignment, catalogue enablement, and PO hygiene.
• Strong analytical skills to conduct tail spend, buying channel, spend cube, PO, and receipt data analysis using Coupa, Oracle, Power BI, Excel, or similar tools.
• Ability to manage L1 and L2 procurement helpdesk queries, coordinate with Bid Desk, Finance, Source-to-Pay, and category teams, and escalate critical issues appropriately.
• Awareness of AI-enabled procurement capabilities, including Coupa AI Agents and Coupa Agentic Studio, Process Transformation with willingness to develop practical use cases and assist in Process Intelligence initiatives.

​Desired Skills/Knowledge

• Experience supporting procurement transformation, channel management, tail spend reduction, and unmanaged spend compliance initiatives.
• Working knowledge of Coupa–Oracle integration touchpoints, including supplier site, GL, PAR number, PO, and receipt-related issue resolution.
• Comfort using Coupa Analytics, Power BI, dashboards, and reporting tools to monitor operational KPIs and support decision-making.
• Experience participating in UAT, SIT, pressure testing, process improvement, automation, and workflow optimization initiatives.

Work Timings: 6:30 AM – 3:30 PM (Eastern Standard Time)
This role qualifies for Enhanced Flexibility offered in Synchrony India and will require the incumbent to be available between 06:00 AM Eastern Time – 11:30 AM Eastern Time (timings are anchored to US Eastern hours and will adjust twice a year locally). This window is for meetings with India and US teams. The remaining hours will be flexible for the employee to choose. Exceptions may apply periodically due to business needs). We are proud to offer flexibility at Synchrony.

We are proud to offer flexibility at Synchrony where you will have the option to work from home. Each month, you will be required to participate in one (1) in-person Connection Day at the Hub for Team Connection. Occasionally, you will be required to attend Town Hall, Functional/Platform Meetings, Training, Team Building and Engagement activities, and for business continuity purposes. You will also be required to attend additional in person events when necessary. 

For Internal Applicants:

• Understand the criteria or mandatory skills required for the role, before applying
  Inform your manager and HRA/HRBP before applying for any role on Workday
• Ensure that your professional profile is updated (fields such as education, prior experience, other skills) and it is mandatory to upload your updated resume (Word or PDF format)
• Must not be on any corrective action plan (First Formal/Final Formal, LPP)
• L4 to L9 Employees who have completed 12 months in the organization and 6 months in current role and level are only eligible.

Job Level: 09

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