Associate Director, Professional Services Procurement

Role Summary

Our sourcing and procurement team works to ensure efficient acquisition of services related to Global Payroll and Legal services, as well as subscriptions and memberships that enable our Company's business to perform their functions and succeed in meeting enterprise strategic goals and objectives. We collaborate internationally and are grouped into center-led categories and regional operating teams. The Associate Director, Professional Services Procurement leads transformational sourcing across the strategic portfolio, including Global Payroll Services, Legal Services (including Lobbyist), Memberships and Subscriptions. Under the guidance of the Director, Professional Services Procurement, the Associate Director develops and executes sourcing strategies, acts as the primary relationship manager for the assigned suppliers, and drives category management, stakeholder management, contract management and risk management within the identified category areas. The ideal candidate will build strong relationships with key global business leaders, other corporate functions and our suppliers, while collaborating with global sourcing and procurement colleagues to align and drive strategic priorities.

Responsibilities

• Drive transformational procurement strategies to enable category strategies
• Collaborate with Finance, HR and Legal Operations teams to manage preferred suppliers
• Drive regional and international sourcing strategies and category/contract management
• Provide guidance to regional and local teams in sourcing of local programs to ensure their competitiveness and compliance
• Lead the Payroll/Legal Operations Supply Strategy Council

In addition, coordinate internal activities across three stakeholder groups:

• With Procurement Colleagues: Participate/lead teams of global, regional and local representatives to develop and implement strategic sourcing plans and ensure alignment on key initiatives and priorities for broader Payroll/Legal services categories.
• With Business Partners: Identify and engage critical stakeholders to meet or exceed business requirements and manage budgetary savings targets. Understand strategic business requirements on 1–3–5 year horizons and act as a trusted advisor while challenging the status quo when needed.
• With Suppliers: Build relationships with global and enterprise-wide suppliers, manage supplier performance against business requirements, promote diversity in RFPs and contracts, and optimize spend.

• Strategy Creation: Define high-level objectives for long-term results, engaging senior stakeholders and key category members during the Sourcing Excellence Process (SEP).
• Strategy Execution: Implement tactical plans, develop RFIs/RFPs, negotiate with suppliers, and re-engineer processes to align with strategic goals.
• Operations: Drive ongoing procurement activities not tied to SEP, including contract review/negotiations, vendor creation, issue resolution, and data analysis for short/medium-term insights.
• Supplier Relationship Management: Design and implement actions to develop, improve, sustain or reposition strategic supplier relationships; manage supplier performance and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Required: Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Engineering, or a similar discipline
• Preferred: MBA or similar post-degree qualification
• Preferred: Green Belt or Black Belt certification or willingness to pursue

Skills

• Minimum of 10 years post-qualification experience in Finance and/or Procurement with Payroll and Legal experience desired
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (oral and written)
• Experience in a matrixed organization and managing dotted line reports
• High integrity and personal ethics in representing the company with external partners
• Resilient and focused, able to manage competing priorities
• Collaborative team player
• Experienced negotiator with ability to interpret contract clauses and arbitrate on issues
• Strong project management skills
• Strategic thinker and self-starter

Additional Requirements

• Travel: 10%