Open Positions at Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.

Key Responsibilities:

• The Project Category Specialist plays a critical role in supporting the implementation of Astron’s Clean Fuels Project.This position coordinates the procurement of services and materials, ensuring the achievement of procurement objectives and targets for the Project
• Primary Point of Contact: Serve as the designated point of contact for all procurement, contracts and finance personnel regarding procurement and contract inquiries. Enhance clarity and improve communication between the project and procurement teams to drive efficient decision-making and coordination.
• Oversight of Purchase Orders and Contracts: Oversee the management and coordination of all purchase orders and contracts within the procurement department, ensuring they comply with established procedures and meet project-specific requirements. Maintain accurate and thorough documentation for all transactions.
• Collaboration with other Department: Work closely with Finance and other stakeholders Departments at all levels to align purchasing activities with project milestones. Act as a go-to contact for procurement and finance-related clarifications, ensuring timely and precise processing of all purchase orders and contracts.
• Ensure Compliance: Enforce adherence to company procurement policies and practices. Monitor processes to ensure all procurement activities align with organizational standards and project objectives. Identify and address any gaps to enhance compliance and efficiency.
• Lead  Project Sourcing: Drive sourcing  intiatives, overseeing all key phases including stakeholder engagement, strategy development, supplier negotiation, award recommendations, and business case presentations.
• Contract Management: Ensure successful execution of supplier contracts (MSA, NEC, PSC, etc.), including negotiation, award, and post-award relationship management.
• Extensive project contract experience, particularly with NEC3 contracting, is highly advantageous.
• Market Intelligence: Drive and support deep market intelligence to support procurement initiatives, ensuring that both efficiency and effectiveness are maximized in the procurement process.
• Supplier Relationship Management: Foster strong, long-term relationships with suppliers, ensuring that contracts and agreements align with business objectives and performance metrics.
• Negotiation and Commercials: Lead negotiations with suppliers, ensuring the best commercial terms and incorporating best practices into all contracting activities.

Desired Skills & Experience:

• Procurement Expertise: Proven track record in managing procurement within large scale projects , with deep experience in stakeholder management, sourcing strategy, and contract execution.
• Contracting Experience: Strong understanding of project contracts, particularly NEC3 or similar frameworks. Ability to draft and manage complex agreements.
• Market Intelligence: Skilled in gathering and analyzing market data to drive informed procurement decisions that enhance project delivery and cost efficiency.
• Negotiation Skills: Strong negotiation capabilities with the ability to secure favorable terms for the organization while fostering positive supplier relationships.

Educational Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in procurement or supply chain management, with at least 5 years specifically in a Project Procurement role.

Knowledge & Skills:

• MS Office Proficiency: Advanced skills in Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Strategic Sourcing: Expert level expertise in strategic sourcing processes and best practices.
• Operational Excellence: Expert in optimizing operational processes to achieve procurement efficiency and effectiveness.

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Key Responsibilities

• Ensure all purchasing is conducted in accordance with Company’s Contract & Procurement Policy & Procedures. Ensure that all procurement processes and decisions are in accordance with requirements, are transparent and supported by appropriate documentation. 
• Contribute and drive forward a plan for continuous improvement in the procurement process.
• Procurement Strategy Development - create and implement strategies and strategic spend categories including gathering and analyzing business and market intelligence (capacity and capability) to assist strategic decision making.
• Develop Approved Vendor Lists per category for new suppliers.  Ensure all suppliers are approved and registered in accordance with company procedures and determine pre-qualification criteria of new suppliers as required.
• Preparation and execution of pre-qualification and procurement tenders including pre-qualification questionnaires, Invitations to Tenders, manage in-house preparatory works (to include evaluation criteria and methodology, technical and commercial evaluation paperwork for recommendation of award;
• Prepare and execute procurement activities including strategy, pre-qualification, tender list development, invitations to tender, preparatory works (to include evaluation criteria and methodology, technical and commercial evaluation paperwork for recommendation of award (to management and JV Partners), order preparation and award.
• Preparing pre-qualification, RFQ/ITT, Order, amendment order(s) and close out documentation for the supply of equipment and materials;
• Prequalification and identification of suitable companies for issue of RFQs/ITT’s using industry knowledge and Company standards.
• Preparation/drafting tender documents and issue of RFQs/ITTs followed by clarification, evaluation, negotiation, recommendation and contract drafting for execution.
• Coordinate on contractual, commercial, taxation, insurance, HSE and legal issues with relevant internal stakeholders.
• Negotiating on price and achieving demonstrable price reductions in the procurement of goods and services
• Negotiation of Contractors’ qualifications and exceptions during tender evaluation.
• Preparation of documents for presentation to Tender Board and Partner(s).
• Obtaining necessary internal approvals in accordance with applicable DOA and external (Partner and Government) approvals.
• Post-award contract administration of Orders: supplier performance management; contractual correspondence; agreement, drafting and processing of claims, amendments and variations; approval of invoices, as appropriate; securing internal approvals; Monitor contractor reporting and investigate any anomalies. Review and resolve, including necessary internal consultations, any VORs and issue VOs or Amendments, as necessary. Prepare contractual and commercial correspondence, and ensure maintenance of correspondence files.
• Expediting management to ensure Orders delivered in accordance with contractual obligations
• Develop Master Supply & Purchase Agreements for main equipment categories.
• Identify risks to delivery (threats and opportunities) and develop appropriate measures to mitigate/manage.
• Provide input into budgets and cost forecasting, as required.

Professional Qualification and Certifications:

• Bachelor’s degree.  Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Business Administration, or a related field

Work Experience: 

• Experience in procurement Operations, tactical buying, sourcing and Category Management and experience of SAP S4Hana and/or SAP Ariba would be an added advantage. Able to prioritize and manage multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment. 
• Minimum 10 years of experience in, procurement, or supply chain management, with at least 5 years in a leadership or supervisory role.

Knowledge and skills: 

• Minimum experience MS Office Proficiency, word, outlook, excel and PowerPoint.  The best candidate will have a broad skill set including leadership development, good communication, analytical, excellent business judgment, strong vendor management, curiosity about how things work, and processes can be improved. 

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• Responsible for stewarding safe, reliable, efficient and incident free operation of the process units on the refinery area to meet the requirements of the operating plan through facilitating and monitoring key Process Safety Risk Management Processes.

As the Refinery RM Advisor:

• Responsible for reviewing and updating the refinery’s Risk Management (RM) process.
• Responsible for conducting annual reviews and establishing continual improvement plans for the RM process with the RM Sponsor. 
• Participates in the RM Community of Practise (CoP).

Coordinates refinery qualitative and quantitative assessments, incl.

• Process Hazards Analysis (PHA)
• Integrated Hazard Identification (IHAZID)
• Major Hazard Installation (MHI)
• Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
• Quantitative Risk Screening (QRS)
• Canary
• Coordinates monthly Process SM metric reporting.
• Coordinates quarterly refinery Critical control reporting.
• Manages the refinery’s 15 year schedule for existing process units PHA studies and refinery QRAs.
• Facilitates PHA studies for refinery’s existing process units.
• Manages and maintains the refinery’s Safety Critical Equipment list.
• Coordinates Bow Tie development for refinery.
• Drives process safety culture and stewards PSM Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) and reporting for the refinery.
• Decides whether closure of PHA, MOC actions are adequate or recommend recycle.
• Advisor to the (B&S, South and North area) Process Safety Engineers with regards to RM related issues.

Minimum Qualification and Certifications:

• BSc, BTech or ND in Chemical or Mechanical Engineering
• 5 years' refining experience in either SHEQ, Operations, Engineering or R&M departments
• 3 years’ experience as Process Safety Engineer preferred

Knowledge and skills:

• Influential leadership skills
• Expertise in hazard and risk management
• Expertise in HAZOP, What-if, LOPA studies
• Expertise in TapRoot, Five-Why, Why Tree
• Expertise in major capital projects risk management
• Expertise in project development plan process
• Expertise in SIL determination
• API 752, 753, 754
• Expertise in QRA modelling such as Canary/SAFETI/PHAST

IT Skills:

• PhaPro
• KMS
• Isometrix
• Bow Tie XP