Location:
Bristol, Leeds, London, Newcastle, Plymouth, Southampton
Contract Type:
Permanent
Work location:
Hybrid
Senior Procurement Manager (1410)
About the Team
Our Finance team plays a pivotal role in helping the firm make informed commercial decisions, driving value, efficiency and sustainable growth. As part of this function, we are creating an exciting new procurement capability that will bring greater visibility, consistency and strategic oversight to how we manage supplier relationships and third-party spend across the business.
Working closely with colleagues across Finance, Technology, Risk & Best Practice, Information Security, Responsible Business and other Business Services teams, you will help shape a procurement function that supports the firm's strategic priorities while ensuring we continue to deliver exceptional service to our clients and colleagues.
This is a unique opportunity to join at the start of the journey and make a significant impact, influencing procurement strategy and commercial decision-making within a leading law firm.
About the Role
As Senior Procurement Manager, you will have the opportunity to shape the future direction of procurement across the firm, developing practical frameworks, processes and ways of working that improve commercial outcomes while remaining proportionate and business-friendly.
This is a highly visible role that requires someone who can influence senior stakeholders and drive change within a partnership environment without relying on formal authority, build credibility and translate procurement best practice into practical solutions that work for the business.
The role will oversee and influence a substantial annual third-party spend portfolio, providing significant opportunity to deliver commercial value and business-wide impact. You will lead strategic sourcing activities, supplier selection processes, commercial negotiations, supplier relationship management, contract lifecycle management and contract renewal planning to ensure the firm achieves maximum value from its supplier relationships. You will work closely with stakeholders across the business to identify opportunities to optimise spend, improve supplier performance, reduce duplication and create greater transparency around procurement activity.
The role combines strategic thinking with hands-on delivery. You will evaluate existing supplier arrangements, lead competitive tender exercises, negotiate commercial agreements and implement robust supplier management practices that support long-term business objectives. You will also partner with colleagues in the US to identify and evaluate opportunities for greater coordination of procurement activity and supplier management across key strategic contracts where a global approach may deliver additional value.
Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, you will play a key role in helping the firm make better-informed commercial decisions. Success in this position will be measured through improved spend visibility, stronger supplier relationships, enhanced procurement processes, measurable savings and the delivery of wider commercial value across the business.
About You
You will be an experienced procurement professional who enjoys building capability, influencing senior stakeholders and delivering tangible commercial value. This role would suit someone who combines strategic thinking with a hands-on approach and is excited by the opportunity to establish and shape a procurement function.
You'll be comfortable operating in a partnership setting, using your credibility, commercial insight and relationship-building skills to influence decision-making and drive change. You'll have experience working across a broad range of stakeholders and be able to balance cost, service quality, risk and long-term value when making procurement recommendations.
To be successful in this role, you'll need as a minimum:
Significant senior procurement experience gained within legal, professional services, financial services or other highly regulated environments with a track record of delivering measurable commercial value.
Experience driving procurement improvements, building or maturing procurement functions, increasing spend visibility, supplier optimisation, governance enhancements and support for responsible procurement practices.
Experience leading strategic sourcing, supplier selection, tender processes and commercial negotiations, alongside strong contract and supplier lifecycle management expertise.
Strong technology procurement experience, including software, SaaS, data-driven services and technology-enabled suppliers, together with experience of technology contract negotiations, software licensing, renewals and vendor management.
The ability to build trusted relationships and influence senior stakeholders, often without formal authority, while working collaboratively across business functions.
Experience working alongside legal, information security, risk and governance functions to support robust and well-controlled supplier onboarding and procurement decisions.
An understanding of sustainable and responsible procurement principles, with experience of incorporating ESG considerations into supplier selection and supplier management decisions.
What makes it great to work here?
We continually work hard to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more of a human feel, emphasising that we're more than just suits!
As signatories to the Mindful Business Charter, it's important to us that our people are able to maintain healthy and happy lives, both in and out of work. We have a number of resources and initiatives designed to support health and wellbeing and we're very happy to talk flexible working.
Through our DEI initiatives we create an environment in which difference is valued. We have an Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group, led by our Board Sponsor, which works with our colleague networks (we currently have firm supported networks for race, ethnicity, and cultural heritage, LGBTQ+, disabilities, neurodiversity, families, and women's career development and we're in constant dialogue with our people about how we expand our networks to better support everybody). Find out more about DEI at WBD here. We encourage applicants from all social backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, gender identities and sexual orientations.
We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long term condition and need us to make any adjustments to give you the best possible recruitment process, please let us know by contacting the recruiter on the right hand side of this page. Please also let us know if you need this job advert or the application form in a different format.
We will offer an interview to candidates with a disability or long-term condition who meet the minimum criteria for this role. You can opt into this scheme within the application form. Your response to this question is only used for this purpose, is only visible to the recruitment team and is not used for data monitoring.
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