Procurement Process & Operations Director

Procurement Process & Operations Director

Procurement Process & Operations Director is a senior interim leader responsible for covering the full scope of the Procurement Process & Operations function during a planned leave period of 8 months. The role leads three sub-teams Process & Policy, Offshore/Operations, and Change Management Enablement. The role acts as the primary point of accountability for governance, process design, operational delivery, and strategic programme continuity. Reports directly to the VP, Procurement and is expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, maintaining momentum across active workstreams and representing the function at a senior level.

Team Leadership: Lead and manage the Process & Policy, Offshore/Operations, and Change Management sub-teams on a day-to-day basis. Provide direction, remove blockers, manage priorities, and maintain team performance and engagement across the coverage period.

Governance & Policy Oversight: Oversee the procurement policy framework, ensuring policies remain current, consistent, and aligned to internal controls and regulatory requirements. Act as the senior escalation point for policy exceptions, waivers, and cross-functional governance matters involving Legal, Finance, and Compliance.

Process Design & Transformation: Maintain momentum on active process design workstreams, including future state process definition, documentation of SOPs and work instructions, and alignment of process design to system. Ensure process outputs are lean, practical, and ready for adoption.

Offshore & Operations Management: Oversee the offshore procurement operations team, ensuring BAU delivery is maintained, SOP adherence is monitored, and capacity is managed effectively.

Programme Continuity: Maintain progress across active strategic programmes including the Procurement Excellence Programme workstreams. Ensure workstream owners remain on track and key milestones are not delayed.

Enablement & Knowledge Management: Oversee the upkeep of the procurement intranet/org site and enablement infrastructure. Ensure policy, process, and guidance content remains current and accessible. Support the Training & Communications function in delivering against its programme plan.

VP Support & Senior Stakeholder Engagement: Act as the senior point of contact for the VP, Procurement, providing regular updates, escalating risks, and representing the function in leadership forums, offsites, and cross-functional governance meetings. Engage with senior stakeholders across Finance, Legal, IT, and the business as required.

Headcount & Resource Management: Manage open headcount processes and resource planning for the function during the coverage period, including contingent worker onboarding and any in-flight recruitment activity.

Qualifications: Senior procurement leader with a proven track record in procurement operations, process transformation, or governance. Demonstrated experience leading multi-disciplinary teams, including offshore or shared service models. Able to manage multiple concurrent workstreams with competing priorities; comfortable holding accountability for delivery without direct day-to-day involvement in every workstream. Familiarity with enterprise procurement platforms (Coupa, SAP Ariba, or equivalent); understanding of S2P process design and system configuration principles. Confident operating at VP and Director level; able to communicate complex topics clearly and influence without authority across functions. Preferred: Experience in a Centre of Excellence or procurement transformation environment; exposure to ERP transition pro