Procurement Operations Specialist

Shape Your World

At Alcoa, you will become an essential part of our purpose: to turn raw potential into real progress.

The way we see it, every Alcoan is a work-shaper, team-shaper, idea-shaper & world-shaper.

At Alcoa, you’re an essential part of our purpose: to turn raw potential into real progress.

This is an opportunity for you to bring your wealth of experience to the team and help shape the future of sustainability with world-changing innovations and low-carbon technologies.

You have the power to shape things to make them better.

About the role:

As the Procurement Operations Specialist, you will lead and execute procurement activities at Alcoa’s Technical Center in New Kensington, PA.

This role serves as the primary procurement point of contact for projects at our Technical Center—ensuring cost‑effective, timely, and compliant sourcing of materials and services for our critical R&D projects

You will partner closely with engineering, project teams, suppliers, and global procurement stakeholders to support project deployment, manage supplier relationships, and drive continuous improvement across procurement processes.

This role may also, as business needs evolve, support procurement activities across corporate and other categories beyond its primary scope, opening up opportunities to learn about other areas of spend.

Key Responsibilities:


* Own end‑to‑end procurement operations at the Alcoa Technical Center, serving as the primary point of contact for sourcing execution, issue resolution, and deadlines in a strict IP‑protected environment.


* Partner with Engineering Service Providers (ESP), engineering teams, and global sourcing stakeholders to deliver projects on time and at optimal cost.


* Manage supplier and contract lifecycle activities, including competitive bids (RFPs/RFQs), contract negotiation, KPI tracking, audits, and performance management.


* Execute operational and ad‑hoc buying activities (including spot buys) in compliance with procurement policies and procedures.


* Develop and communicate short‑ and long‑term procurement strategies aligned to business, project, and market needs.


* Drive continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to standardize processes, consolidate suppliers, and automate transactional activities in collaboration with the Procurement Services Center (PSC).


* Support procurement training, change management initiatives, and ensure supplier compliance with Alcoa’s safety, diversity, and ethical standards.

What you can bring to the role:


* Bachelor’s degree and 5–10+ years of experience in Procurement and/or Supply Chain.


* Strong procurement expertise, including negotiation, strategic sourcing, analytical skills, and contract management.


* Proven experience managing a diverse portfolio of suppliers and projects.


* Experience with Oracle ERP and Microsoft Office tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, SharePoint).
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