Procurement Specialist

About Us

Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate development, master planning, architecture, engineering, and construction firm that safely delivers clients across North America the highest quality solutions on time, on budget, and above and beyond expectations. With $8.1 billion in revenue for 2025, Clayco specializes in the "art and science of building," providing fast track, efficient solutions for mission critical, industrial, life sciences, power & energy, aviation, commercial, institutional, residential and sports & entertainment related building projects.

The Role We Want You For

The Procurement Excellence Office is new and the playbook is being written. We are looking for Procurement Specialist with three to six years of experience who are curious, self-driven, and ready to go deeper. You know enough to know how much more there is to learn. The people who join this team early, take ownership, and develop well will have more opportunity here than they would find anywhere else. We want out of the box thinkers who know how to partner with other teams, while also being the consistency, process, and standard holders. The voice of risk and reason, and equally the voice of solution and teamwork.

The Specifics of the Role

Cost Management

• Support buyout cost tracking by maintaining the WBS-format bid comparison across packages; develop your eye for pricing gaps, missing scopes, and unit rate variances that signal risk
• Assist in reconciling awarded subcontract values against the project budget; learn to read a cost picture and understand where exposure exists before it becomes a problem
• Build and maintain basis-of-cost documentation under the guidance of the Senior Agent: unit rates, allowances, exclusions, and the rationale behind negotiated values
• Support change event cost assessments by gathering pricing, reviewing scope, and learning to distinguish between legitimate scope additions and commercial plays by subcontractors
• Assist with payment application review: track amounts billed against the schedule of values and develop your understanding of how subcontract cost flows through a project

Procurement Execution

• Support the development and release of bid packages using the standardized Work Breakdown Structure (WBS); develop your ability to write scope narratives, assemble ITBs, and prepare contract templates that hold up under scrutiny
• Build and maintain bidder lists using BuildingConnected; manage prequalification, vendor outreach, and RFI responses and learn what makes a strong bidder pool
• Assist with bid leveling and gap analysis; develop the habit of reading bids critically, identifying excluded scope, and documenting your findings clearly for the team
• Support negotiation preparation by organizing cost data and summarizing bid comparisons; observe negotiations and learn how experienced agent build and defend a position
• Assemble executed subcontract packages with correct exhibits, flowdowns, and insurance; build the discipline of accuracy and completeness that defines strong contract execution

Contract Management

• Support subcontract administration through execution: track compliance items, monitor deliverable deadlines, and build the documentation habits that keep a contract audit-ready
• Follow up with subcontractors on post-execution compliance requirements; learn what it takes to hold trade partners to their commitments professionally and effectively
• Assist with change management by helping prepare scope documentation and pricing summaries; develop your understanding of how change events are assessed and resolved
• Maintain clear records of commercial deviations and redline resolutions; learn why the paper trail matters and how it protects the project when disputes arise

Field Engagement and Learning

• Attend site walks, constructability reviews, and precon meetings; invest in understanding how procurement decisions affect what happens in the field, because that knowledge will make you a better specialist faster than anything else
• Support clean Estimating-to-Operations handoffs by helping document assumptions, clarifications, and vendor exceptions; develop an appreciation for what gets lost when this is done poorly
• Ask questions in the field and bring what you learn back to the bid package; close the loop between what you buy and how it gets built

Team and Enterprise Contribution

• Maintain procurement templates, scope libraries, and tracking tools; when something is outdated or not working, flag it and bring a suggested improvement rather than working around it
• Support the Senior Procurement Specialist and Director of Procurement on enterprise initiatives and lessons-learned activities; this is how you learn how the function works at the enterprise level
• Treat every project as a development opportunity; document what you learned, what you would do differently, and share it with the team

Requirements

• 3 to 6 years of experience in construction procurement, estimating, project management, or a closely related field
• Exposure to subcontract bid processes, bid leveling, or contract documentation on commercial, industrial, or mission-critical projects
• Basic familiarity with contract structure: scope of work, flowdown clauses, insurance requirements, and what a subcontract is designed to protect
• Some site exposure and genuine curiosity about how procurement decisions play out in the field
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel; basic experience with BuildingConnected, Procore, or equivalent platforms
• Strong attention to detail and clear written communication; you understand that accuracy in procurement documents is not optional
• Demonstrable follow-through and a track record of finishing what you start and improving on it the next time

Some Things You Should Know

• Our clients and projects are nationwide - Travel will be required.
• No other builder can offer the collaborative design-build approach that Clayco does.
• We work on creative, complex, award-winning, high-profile jobs.
• The pace is fast!

Why Clayco?

• 2025 Best Places to Work - St. Louis Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, and Phoenix Business Journal.
• 2025 ENR Midwest - Midwest Contractor (#1).
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Design-Build Firms - Design-Build Contractor (Top 5).
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Green Contractors - Green Contractor (Top 3).
• 2025 ENR Top 25 Data Center Builders - Data Center Contractor (Top 3).

Benefits

• Discretionary Annual Bonus: Subject to company and individual performance.
• Comprehensive Benefits Package Including: Medical, dental and vision plans, 401k, generous PTO and paid company holidays, employee assistance program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, learning & development programs and more!

Compensation

• The salary range for this position considers a wide range of factors in making compensation decisions including but not limited to: Education, qualifications, skills, training, experience, certifications, internal equity, and location. Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.