Travel Program & Expense Management Specialist

Summary:

The Travel Program & Expense Management Specialist is a support role to the Senior Purchasing Analyst and will be responsible for all functions relating to the business travel, P-card, and corporate credit card program; will support Meetings and Events Group Travel; and will be a backup role for the company’s purchase order system (Workday). The analyst role will manage strategic supplier relationships supporting our Travel Program, such as our travel agency, credit card provider, airlines, hotels, and rental cars. This role will support system configurations and is responsible for aggregating and reporting essential travel and expense metrics for dissemination to Management and the enterprise.

Contract Duration: 6-12 months

The specialist will also give technical guidance and direction to executive, administrative, and functional staff on operating and maintaining our end-to-end Travel Program and provide back-up to the Procurement ERP system (Workday).

The applicant must understand purchasing fundamentals with experience working with a travel program.

A quantitatively driven professional with strong organizational management, problem-solving, and communication skills who can provide timely, high-quality support to lead and co-workers.

Responsibilities:

• Keeps abreast of technical, legislative, and professional trends and developments affecting the companies travel program
• Manages the Travel Program and Expense Management process for the company in compliance with federal, state, and local regulations and policies
• Compile ad hoc reports as requested.
• Requires a critical understanding of systems and processes
• Work with subject matter experts to ensure that testing scenarios are created and executed for system configuration updates
• Establish, prepare, and disseminate periodic reporting of key program metrics to management.
• Conduct or support training for employees
• Escalation point for internal customer-related travel, credit card, purchasing card, and Workday expense report issues and work with end-users and business partners to diagnose and resolve issues.
• Maintains and periodically updates training documents, department materials, and the company intranet
• Perform initial check of expense reports. Ensure data accuracy regarding expense information and submitted receipts, and compliance with company policy
• Contact employees for incomplete/inaccurate expense reports. Assist in resolving errors or escalating expenses to attain the necessary level of approval.
• Maintain policies and procedures related to travel and expense programs, analyze costs, and draft recommendations to management on opportunities to further enhance program elements.
• Audits and implements purchasing and travel policy changes
• Maintains and adheres to ethical business practices
• Demonstrate proficiency with MS Excel. The position will require analyzing and providing summary-level data reporting utilizing various reporting tools.
• Performs all other related duties as assigned
• Stakeholder Management: maintain communication, technical assistance, and forges alliances with internal customers, business partners, and suppliers.
• Requires understanding of training and can train others on systems
• Assists in the management of Workday requisitions and purchase orders

Education Requirements:

• H.S. Diploma Required, Bachelor’s Degree from accredited college preferred

Basic Requirements:

• Ability to multitask and prioritize
• Demonstrate self-motivation and perseverance to achieve goals
• Highly proficient in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
• Familiarity with computerized Purchasing/ERP Systems
• Must be able to work and provide support as part of a team
• Excellent time management skills
• Ability to work in a self-directed and rapidly changing environment and aggressively pursues deliverables
• Must thrive in a fast-paced, innovative environment, including the ability to remain flexible, proactive, resourceful, and efficient while collaborating with internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent phone and email communication skills
• Strong attention to detail and ability to detect errors
• Strong analytical, organizational, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to leverage data from multiple sources to provide reporting and metrics

Preferred Requirements:

• Experience using SAP Concur or other travel and expense management software is preferred.

· Previous purchasing or travel systems implementation, configuration, or maintenance experience is strongly preferred

• Experience working with a corporate travel program
• Experience with Workday Finance or Expense Reports preferred
• Excel and Word proficiency