Global IT Procurement Director

Job Title: Global IT Procurement Director

Location: Sunlight House, Kingston, UK

Work Level: WL3X

Part of the Supply Chain family, Procurement is responsible for over 30B Euro of material and services spend globally with more than 60,000 suppliers, over half of them in COTBS Customer Operations, Technology and Business Services. Getting the right services and materials, sustainably sourced and ensuring responsible procurement is critical to ensuring our brands with purpose grow.

Our teams work closely with the business to understand stakeholders need, bring innovation to meet changing supplier’s capabilities, consumer, employees and customer’s needs, and drive financial value for Unilever through competitive buying. We’re at the forefront of digitalization of Unilever, bringing new tools and analytics to drive data-based decisions.

COTBS CUSTOMER OPERATIONS, TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS SERVICES
COTBS Customer Operations, Technology and Business Services is responsible for Unilever’s sourcing and supplier strategy and execution for all third-party spend across Logistics, Real Sate, Technology and Business Services, supporting the business requirements of Brands, Divisions, Markets, and functions to drive 4G growth through strategic supplier management, cost and value management, sustainability and innovation, aligned with Unilever strategy. The team manages an annual spend of ~6B Euro with a supplier base of about 40,000.

ROLE
The Global IT Procurement Director will focus on delivering the technology solutions for the business workstreams such as customer, consumer, SC, R&D and so on. He/she will be partnering with GDT Leadership team , to develop and implement sourcing and supplier strategies for all main AI, applications, licenses etc. These strategies need to be aligned with business objectives and help accelerate Unilever’s digital strategy across the business. Total spend is ~500M Euro annually, most of it managed globally including suppliers like Salesforce, Kinaxis, Anaplan, Aera, Oracle, etc  as well as system integrator providers like Accenture and Deloitte.

The Global IT Procurement Director will increase effectiveness of IT procurement by creating an expertise-driven model, streamlining accountabilities, building capabilities, and leveraging knowledge and relationships.

He/she will increase efficiency of our IT procurement by driving scale where it makes sense, building strategic partnerships with key suppliers, decreasing fragmentation, leveraging technology and data, and developing best practices to be rolled out.

The role will foster and build a culture of collaboration and agility to enable an effective and efficient organization. It will ensure close alignment in strategy with the GDT leadership team, as well as the COTBS Customer Operations, Technology and Business Services Leadership Team including the COTBS VP. He/she will drive transformational change to create a future-fit operating model by defining, creating, implementing, and utilizing a robust supply network that best meets the needs of the business within and across markets. The role will be responsible for worldwide delivery against KPIs.

Key Accountabilities:

• Understand the business needs related to the IT portfolio, and bring deep expertise and insights across the value chain and supply base to translate the business requirements into effective future-fit procurement strategies
• Create outstanding supplier relationships which allow Unilever to co-innovate with leading IT suppliers, making sure Unilever stays on the forefront of digital within FMCG
• Implement Partners with Purpose strategy, balancing a portfolio of global and local suppliers
• Connect strategy & execution, marrying Unilever’s Business Strategy with ‘Procurement with Purpose’ and COTBS Customer Operations, Technology and Business Services strategies and principles
• Deliver transformational sourcing strategies and operating models to redefine the approach to IT procurement, in line with Unilever’s focus on Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing.
• Deliver against financial targets and other KPIs as per Program Sparta and business plan objectives.
• Lead a geographically dispersed team to inspire, develop, and support our people, deliver results, and create and promote a healthy business culture
• Serve on the COTBS Customer Operations, Technology and Business Services Leadership Team to provide thought leadership, strategy, execution, and expertise to COTBS worldwide
• Ensure Portfolio fundamentals (i.e. data consistency, data insights, recurring stakeholder communications, contracts, etc.) are all put in place

Professional Skills / Qualification/experience

• 15+ years procurement experience, proven and deep experience in Procurement portfolio
• Expertise in strategic sourcing and portfolio strategy, with experience in managing complex portfolio/category at a global level
• Experience in strategic supplier relationship management
• Understanding of supply market, value chain, and FMCG
• Strong negotiation skills, including a proven track record in negotiating remotely
• Expertise in contracting
• Proven track record of leading a global multicultural team remote
• Experience on large-scale project management
• Additional knowledge and technical experience in IT and/or digital outside procurement is a plus.

General Skills & Competencies

• Strong IT and digital category expertise, with deep understanding of SaaS, enterprise software, cloud services, AI and GenAI platforms, token-based pricing models, cybersecurity, data and analytics, enterprise applications, system integration services, and emerging technologies.
• Proven ability to translate technology trends, supplier market dynamics, and complex commercial models into effective sourcing strategies, supplier partnerships, contracts, and value creation opportunities.
• Comfortable working in conditions of ambiguity and leading through change
• Ability to work under pressure in a complex global environment, balancing a broad spectrum of stakeholder requirements
• Able to create and drive adoption and execution of a shared vision and strategy for change.
• Ability to interact with senior stakeholders cross effectively and efficiently functionally to understand their needs and deliver effective balanced solutions
• Delivers change whilst managing the interface between “day to day” and improvement projects.
• Passion for continuous improvement
• Very strong verbal and written English communication skills
• High financial and business acumen
• Strong in selling ideas and concepts
• Inspiring, motivational, and accountable people leader, able to lead remote and cross-cultural teams and connect people and ideas
• Strong in project and time management for complex global projects
• Stakeholder management and people skills
• Passion and practical creativity
• Tenacious and resilient in the pursuit of challenging goals

Travel:

• International travel required. Not projected to require more than 25% on average.

Internal interfaces:

• Chief Procurement Officer (CPO)
• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Unilever Procurement Leadership Team (UPLT)
• Global Design & Technology Leadership Team (GDTLT)
• COTBS VP and COTBS Leadership Team
• Sourcing teams
• Supplier Operations
• Procurement Strategy and Insights team
• Finance
• Legal

External:

• External Partners
• Suppliers
• Advisors and benchmarking organizations

Reporting Channel:

• Reporting into Head of Procurement, Global IT. COTBS Customer Operations, Technology and Business Services Procurement.
• Leading a team of 20 IT procurement colleagues who are geographically dispersed across

What We Offer

Not only do we offer a competitive salary and pension scheme, we also offer an annual bonus, subsidised gym membership, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.

Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programmes and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all. 

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. We are also more than happy to provide reasonable adjustments during our application and interview process to enable you to be present your best self. To find out more, including about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at Unilever | Unilever.

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How is Unilever tackling this?

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