Associate Consultant, Procurement (AI Strategy)

MAINE POINTE | AN SGS COMPANY
Associate Consultant – Procurement
AI Focus
FUNCTION
Procurement & Strategic Sourcing INDUSTRY
Manufacturing TRAVEL
70–85% MODEL
Client-Embedded
About Maine Pointe
Maine Pointe, an SGS company, is a global supply chain and operations consulting firm trusted by private equity firms and complex enterprises to deliver measurable, sustainable results. Our Total Value Optimization™ (TVO) methodology transforms how organizations plan, source, produce, and deliver. We embed with client teams, operate at the intersection of strategy and execution, and leave behind capability that endures.
THE ROLE
We are looking for an Associate Consultant grounded in procurement and strategic sourcing who brings strong AI capability to client engagements. This is a procurement consulting role first—you will run sourcing events, assess supply bases, and drive savings—with the added expectation that you can apply AI to accelerate and deepen the impact of that work. You will operate within our embedded delivery model, working on-site with global manufacturing clients to deliver measurable EBITDA improvement.
Key Responsibilities
Procurement & Sourcing

Conduct procurement maturity assessments and logistics optimization reviews to identify TVO opportunities.
Develop and execute sourcing strategies—dual-sourcing, consolidation, reshoring—across direct and indirect spend categories.
Manage sourcing events end-to-end, from market analysis and supplier qualification through negotiation and award.
Work embedded with client procurement teams to drive adoption of new strategies and deliver sustained savings.
Build executive dashboards tracking TVO progress, ROI, and delivery performance.
AI Enablement

Build predictive models for commodity pricing, focusing on raw material and energy market volatility.
Implement AI-driven spend classification to surface leakage and maverick spend across global procurement.
Apply NLP and LLMs to extract key terms, obligations, and risk signals from supplier contracts.
Design demand forecasting models that align procurement with production across multi-site operations.
Identify additional high-impact AI use cases to drive follow-on value and expand engagements.
Stakeholder Engagement & Change Management

Build trusted relationships from procurement teams to the C-suite through follow-through and credible counsel.
Lead adoption of new procurement operating models, tools, and ways of working.
Coach client staff to build internal confidence and ownership of improved processes.
Qualifications
Education
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Supply Chain, Operations Management, or a quantitative discipline. Master’s degree (MBA or MS in Supply Chain/Business Analytics) strongly preferred.
Experience

4–5 years in procurement, strategic sourcing, or supply chain consulting, ideally in manufacturing or process-intensive industries.
Demonstrated ability to operate in a client-embedded consulting model with minimal supervision.
Track record leading change management within complex, multi-site organizations.
Technical

Strong proficiency in Python or R for data analysis and model development.
Hands-on experience with machine learning frameworks (TensorFlow or PyTorch) and practical application of Generative AI, LLMs, or RAG.
Experience building data pipelines on AWS or Azure to support analytics and enterprise integration.
Who You Are

A procurement practitioner first—you understand categories, suppliers, and how sourcing decisions hit the P&L.
Results-driven—you measure your work by what changes, not what you present.
A clear communicator who translates technical findings for non-technical audiences with confidence.
Intellectually curious, you ask the right questions, explore root causes, and learn fast.
Collaborative and coachable - you work well across diverse teams and welcome feedback.
Commercially aware - you see where value can expand and help deepen client relationships.
Resilient under pressure across demanding, travel-intensive assignments.