Senior Procurement Manager - Professional Services

Job Title: Senior Procurement Manager - Professional Services

Location: London or Pune

Permanent, Full time, Hybrid working

Springer Nature is one of the world’s leading global research, educational and professional publishers. It is home to an array of respected and trusted brands and imprints, with more than 170 years of combined history behind them, providing quality content through a range of innovative products and services. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals and resources reach millions of people, helping researchers and scientists to discover, students to learn and professionals to achieve their goals and ambitions. Springer Nature is proud to play an active role in promoting and celebrating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) internally and through our publications and activities.

Purpose of the Role  

Responsible for overseeing and managing the procurement of Professional Services across Springer Nature Group.  The holder of this role will also work closely with the Director of Indirect Procurement and other members of the Indirect procurement team to:

• Instil a strategic procurement culture
• Embed best practices
• Promote compliance with all codes, policies, processes and procedures
• Deliver synergy and ensure legal compliance across Springer Nature
• Promote awareness of and compliance with ‘best-in-class’ ESG standards 

As the Professional Services procurement lead, you will be an essential part of our global procurement capability with the goal of supporting the business to meet its objectives whilst delivering significant cost reductions.  As the subject matter expert, you will be expected to demonstrate and maintain a detailed understanding of the category, the technologies, and the industry sector(s) upon which it is focused.  You will be involved in the promotion of best practice Procurement, the development and enhancement of working practices, and the implementation of market-leading systems capability, including expanding our utilisation of SAP Ariba.  This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference by delivering substantial savings and organisational alignment across our global business.

Responsibilities

This position covers an annual spend of c.€80m across a variety of sub-categories including HR (incl. Recruitment, Training & Benefits Provision), Freelancers & Contractors, Consultancy, Marketing, Finance, Customer Service & Business Process Outsourcing.

• Defining and implementing category strategy for Professional Services.  
• Negotiating key contracts and leading sourcing projects across relevant spend categories.
• Taking ownership for management of a small number of strategic supplier relationships to create an environment for collaboration and drive the adoption of new solutions and service offerings that:
  • support SN’s strategic objectives
  • help SN to keep abreast of and compliant with emerging legislative requirements
  • maintain SN’s status and reputation as an employer of choice.

• Supporting the implementation and roll-out of Purchase Orders and delivering the benefits of spend transparency and efficiency across Indirect Procurement.
• Working closely with senior stakeholders and functional business owners to determine sourcing strategies and manage sourcing events.
• Leading the move towards a more sustainable and diverse supply chain.

Experience, Skills & Qualifications

Experience

• Extensive Professional Services procurement experience, with a successful track record in strategy definition, stakeholder engagement and influencing, sourcing and contracting.
• In-depth knowledge and experience of the global Professional Services supplier landscape.
• Strong business and commercial background – experienced negotiator.
• Demonstrated Professional Services Category Management capability and experience.
• Source-to-Pay process & technology experience (e.g. SAP Ariba).

Skills

• Interpersonal, communications, rapport-building and influencing skills.
• Strategic sourcing & SRM
• Interpretation, preparation, and negotiation of contractual agreements
• Contract Performance Management
• Critical thinking and numerical analysis
• Business process mapping, optimization, and management
• Negotiation and value management
• Risk management and Business Continuity Planning
• Demonstrated ability of working with cross functional teams in a complex, changing environment to identify savings opportunities and deliver value to the organisation.
• Ability to manage multiple procurement projects in parallel.
• Fluency in English (essential) and German (desirable) 

Qualifications      

• Degree and/or MCIPS qualified.

#LI-IW1

At Springer Nature, we value the diversity of our teams and work to build an inclusive culture, where people are treated fairly and can bring their differences to work and thrive. We empower our colleagues and value their diverse perspectives as we strive to attract, nurture and develop the very best talent.

 

Springer Nature was awarded Diversity Team of the Year at the 2022 British Diversity Awards. Find out more about our DEI work here.

 

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