Procurement Lead IT

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & People Management

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Strategic Sourcers and Senior Strategic Sourcers.
• Conduct performance reviews, development discussions, and succession planning activities.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and retention of sourcing talent.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on client value, collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Mentor team members on sourcing strategies, negotiation techniques, stakeholder management, and category expertise.
• Drive knowledge sharing and best-practice adoption across the IT sourcing community.
• Promote employee engagement and create development opportunities for team members.

Client & Stakeholder Management

• Act as senior trusted advisor to executive stakeholders including CIOs, CTOs, CPOs, CFOs, Managing Directors, and Procurement Leadership.
• Build and maintain strategic client relationships to ensure long-term value creation and client satisfaction.
• Support complex executive-level discussions, escalations, and negotiations.
• Ensure consistent delivery quality across all sourcing initiatives managed by the team.
• Identify opportunities to expand sourcing support and strategic value delivery for clients.

Sourcing & Commercial Leadership

• Oversee multiple high-value sourcing initiatives across software, hardware, cloud, telecommunications, outsourcing, managed services, and infrastructure categories.
• Provide strategic guidance on sourcing approaches, commercial models, supplier strategies, and negotiation tactics.
• Support and lead negotiations for large-scale and strategic supplier agreements.
• Review and challenge sourcing strategies to maximize savings, value creation, and risk mitigation.
• Ensure sourcing projects are delivered on time, within scope, and according to client expectations.
• Drive adoption of market benchmarks and category intelligence to strengthen negotiation outcomes.

Operational Excellence

• Manage team capacity, workload prioritization, and resource allocation across clients and projects.
• Monitor sourcing pipeline, delivery performance, and service levels.
• Ensure compliance with client policies, procurement standards, legal requirements, and internal governance processes.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across sourcing processes, tools, templates, and methodologies.
• Leverage technology, analytics, and AI-enabled sourcing tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Market & Category Leadership

• Maintain deep understanding of IT market trends, supplier landscapes, emerging technologies, and commercial developments.
• Act as category leader for designated IT sourcing domains.
• Develop category strategies, market intelligence, benchmarks, and supplier insights.
• Support business development activities, solution design, and client presentations where required.
• Identify opportunities for innovation, supplier consolidation, cost optimization, and operating model improvements.

Required Experience & Skills

Professional Experience

• 10+ years of IT sourcing, procurement, vendor management, or commercial experience.
• 3–5+ years of people leadership experience.
• Proven track record managing high-performing sourcing teams.
• Extensive experience leading strategic sourcing initiatives and large-scale negotiations.
• Experience working in multinational and multi-client environments.
• Demonstrated success managing executive-level stakeholder relationships.

IT Category Expertise

Strong knowledge across multiple IT domains, including:

• Software licensing, pricing models, and enterprise agreements
• Cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)
• IT infrastructure and data centres
• End-user devices and hardware sourcing
• Managed services and outsourcing
• Network and telecommunications services
• Cybersecurity solutions and services
• Nearshore and offshore delivery models
• Emerging technologies including AI and automation solutions

Leadership Skills

• Strong people leadership and coaching capabilities.
• Excellent stakeholder and relationship management skills.
• Ability to influence senior executives and drive strategic decisions.
• Proven capability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong conflict resolution and escalation management skills.
• High degree of accountability and ownership.

Commercial & Analytical Skills

• Expert negotiation and supplier management capabilities.
• Strong financial, commercial, and contractual understanding.
• Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with benchmarking, cost modelling, and business case development.
• Strong risk management and decision-making capabilities.

Technical & Language Skills

• Experience using e-sourcing and procurement technologies.
• Advanced Microsoft Office and analytics capabilities.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled sourcing tools and digital procurement platforms.
• Business fluency in English.
• Additional languages are considered an advantage.