Position Overview
- Establishes governance frameworks and sourcing standards for major professional services firms, and in contingent labor engagements across the enterprise.
- Drives supplier rationalization and preferred supplier strategies for consulting firms, staffing agencies, and outsourced labor providers.
- Evaluates and creates fit-for-purpose workforce operating models, including direct supplier management, VMS-enabled programs, or scaled MSP partnerships based on organizational size and spend profile.
- Owns a complex, high‑spend category (or portfolio) with global scope and enterprise impact.
- Leads cross‑functional project teams and external partners to deliver multi‑year roadmaps and operating model changes.
- Primary procurement voice with senior/executive stakeholders; presents at executive committees.
- Shapes policy, standards, and governance; mentors and develops the category talent bench.
- Ensures category plans reflect stakeholder goals, market dynamics, and supplier capabilities
- Influences functional leaders; presents recommendations and status at leadership forums.
- Champions adoption of preferred suppliers, standards, and policies across the business.
- Leverages analysis to shape strategic insights and market intelligence frameworks that inform category strategy, RFx prioritization, supplier negotiations, and contract terms
- Scrutinizes variable and complex data to identify and prioritize sourcing and planning opportunities that drive competitive advantage and long‑term value
- Leads sourcing waves and supplier business reviews; accountable for savings and value realization.
Key Responsibilities
Enterprise Strategy & Value Creation
- Craft and socialize a bold, evidence‑based multi‑year category strategy tied to enterprise goals (growth, productivity, risk, ESG). Possible areas of opportunity:
- Management consulting
- Temporary staffing
- Statement-of-work (SOW) services
- Independent contractor engagements
- Workforce solutions/MSP programs
- Develop labor rate benchmarking frameworks and market intelligence to improve rate competitiveness, geographic alignment, and workforce planning decisions.
- Identify opportunities to reduce unmanaged spend, rogue staffing engagements, mark‑up inconsistencies, and duplicate supplier utilization.
- Identify and deliver step‑change value levers (portfolio simplification, demand challenge, supplier ecosystem redesign, digital automation).
- Stand up structured value tracking with Finance; validate and publish results to executives.
- Build and maintain a living category strategy (demand, market, supplier, risk, and should‑cost).
- Translate strategy into an annual sourcing wave plan and prioritized contract pipeline with mitigation actions for expirations/renewals.
- Owns data quality across procurement systems (e.g., sourcing, CLM, P2P) and audit readiness records
- Reviews and performs analytics and market research that inform strategic planning decisions, RFx, negotiation prep, and category direction
- Manage intake queue; validate requirements; set expectations on timelines and next steps
- Maintain project trackers, savings logs, contract records, and supplier profiles for audit readiness
- Create, refresh, publish, and communicate preferred supplier lists and engagement playbooks
Critical Sourcing & Complex Negotiation
- Lead negotiations involving:
- SOW commercial structures
- Rate card & labor mix structures
- Volume discounts
- Delivery accountability
- Staffing markups & conversion fees
- Supplier tiering models
- Evaluate and negotiate VMS platform solutions and workforce operating models appropriate for organizational scale, complexity, and spend maturity in the labor space.
- Conduct in-depth market analysis to inform RFx development, supplier negotiations, and contract terms
- Identify and prioritize sourcing opportunities that drive competitive advantage and long‑term value
- Own and drive marquee RFx/sole‑source events and renewals with enterprise‑wide implications; negotiate creative commercial constructs (risk‑share, outcome‑based, gainshare).
- Oversee and/or perform total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis to sourcing decisions and supplier evaluations
- Set deal architectures and negotiation plays; coach deal teams; engage executive sponsors and legal counsel to closure.
- Establish playbooks and guardrails for rebid/renewal strategies, indexation, benchmarking, and continuous improvement.
Supplier Partnership, Innovation, & Risk Management
- Chair executive governance with strategic consultancy partnerships; sponsor joint innovation roadmaps and transformation programs.
- Collaborate with HR and other governance areas to manage labor supplier performance across metrics such as fill rates, cycle times, attrition, quality of talent, compliance adherence, and stakeholder satisfaction.
- Partner with HR Legal and Finance/Accounting to mitigate worker misclassification risks and ensure contingent workforce governance aligns with applicable labor regulations globally.
- Oversee risk management for the portfolio (cyber, supply continuity, financial, regulatory, ESG) with proactive mitigation and incident response.
- Segment suppliers (Tier 1/2) and implement governance (QBRs/ABRs, scorecards, corrective actions).
- Perform AQSCIR assessments for key suppliers
- Lead supplier steering committees to drive collaboration, performance improvement, and risk mitigation
- Facilitate supplier‑led innovation and continuous improvement initiatives aligned to business outcomes.
- Hold quarterly and annual business reviews (QBRs/ABRs) with suppliers and relevant stakeholders
- Drive adoption of preferred suppliers and manage change communication effectively
Operational Excellence & Governance
- Establish enterprise‑wide standards for services usage such as:
- Rate card management
- SOW approvals
- Supplier onboarding
- Headcount visibility
- Contractor tenure monitoring
- Partner cross‑functionally to design scalable contingent labor intake, approval, and tracking processes that balance governance with business agility.
- Elevate standards, templates, and systems; automate analytics and reporting; ensure data fidelity and audit readiness.
- Continuously improve ways of working across Legal, Security/Privacy, Finance/AP, and business units.
- Track cost savings and avoidance progress against targets and pipeline forecasts
- Coordinate cross‑functional approvals (Security/IT, Privacy, Compliance, Finance, AP, Legal) and drive issue resolution.
- Coach and assign work to sourcing resources (analysts/specialists) aligned to the wave plan.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Partner closely with HR, Talent Acquisition, Finance, Legal, and critical functional business leaders to assure governance and align workforce sourcing strategies with organizational priorities.
- Map stakeholder ecosystems and develop engagement strategies based on influence, impact, and business needs
- Act as a strategic advisor helping stakeholders determine the most appropriate engagement model for external advisory and/or labor needs.
- Engage stakeholders to understand business requirements, pain points, and future needs
- Maintain a cadence of meetings and communications with key stakeholders and their leadership teams
- Act as a trusted advisor and liaison between procurement and business units
- Communicate clearly and professionally across all channels (in-person meetings, email, video calls), tailoring messages to diverse audiences
- Represent procurement in steering committees, executive briefings, and supplier governance forums
- Support stakeholder projects with high responsiveness, strategic input, and proactive problem‑solving
- Craft compelling storylines and materials
Financial Performance
- Deliver measurable value through enterprise professional services governance/negotiation, labor rate and markup optimization, supplier consolidation, etc.
- Analyze labor spend trends, rate inflation, utilization patterns, and supplier concentration risks to support budgeting and workforce planning decisions.
- Engage consistently with Finance and stakeholders in the budgeting process, aligning procurement plans with financial goals.
- Coordinate with Finance for savings tracking and bottom‑line impact protection.
- Deliver measurable cost savings and avoidance, tracking progress against targets and pipeline forecasts
- Apply Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis to sourcing decisions and supplier evaluations
- Optimize contract value through improved terms, pricing structures, and performance incentives
Leadership & Change
- Mentor and support a matrixed and cross‑functional team of procurement professionals and governance partners to build skills and succession; promote a high‑performance, inclusive culture.
- Design and execute change management and communications for enterprise rollouts; craft executive narratives and decision memos.
Qualifications
Required:
- Bachelor’s degree required in supply chain, finance, project management, or related field.
- 8-10+ years of experience , heavy in managing large/complex Professional Services and/or Contingent Labor categories in a strategic sourcing or category management environment.
- Strong understanding of “Big Four” service provider ecosystem and workforce operating models including supplier‑direct programs, VMS tools, and MSP solutions.
- Demonstrated executive communication and storytelling skills; track record influencing VP/C‑suite decisions.
- Expert fluency in benchmarking, TCO, complex contracting, commercial strategy, and supplier performance governance at scale.
- Expert analytical skills with working knowledge of procure-to-pay, RFx processes, and contract basics/playbooks.
Preferred:
- Advanced degree (MBA or Master’s) strongly preferred in supply chain, finance, project management, or related field.
- 10-12+ years of experience in progressive category management/strategic sourcing experience, including leadership of large, complex negotiations and cross‑enterprise programs