Senior Global Category Buyer - Professional Services (Intellectual and Financial Services, Training, Insurance)

Job Introduction

As Senior Global Category Buyer you'll contribute to Group SG&A costs and supplier spend reduction working in collaboration with key stakeholders and business/ spend owners for a new and growing portfolio of categories and initiatives : consulting and intellectuals services (communication, PR, legal, strategy, training), Real Estate, Consumer Payments, Banking Services, Insurance

An excellent opportunity to showcase your expertise in the above arena, in particular within Banking and Insurance.  You’ll be able to shape how this new role develops within global ways of working. - if you gain satisfaction from varied and professionally challenging work, and one where you feel truly accountable, then this could be right career move for you.

Objectives:

• Deliver cost reduction & value for the business
• Contract the right level of quality for the products, services and solutions bought
• Standardise supplier contract globally and consolidate countries spend under global contracts

Global Supply Management sits within Service Operations;  the part of our business which supports segment development by providing expertise and process standardisation across all segments. Service Operations leverages our global expertise and best practice to bring the best of Sodexo to all of our clients. It includes everything from FM expertise to food development through to bid support, health and safety, and contract design and management.

Role Responsibility

• Liaise with key stakeholders / spend owners  to capture/define business needs 
• Analyse & watch supplier market capacities and opportunities including innovation
• Recommend and implement category plans with cost reduction objectives
• Launch/Co-launch and manage/co-manage purchasing initiatives/tenders/negotiations with key business owners
• Draft & manage international supplier’s contracts and SLA’s
• Deploy the supply management risk policy to international suppliers
• Manage and deliver the Supply Management Business Plan (Gross savings, Broker fees )
• Define & deploy a procurement process & governance model to qualify  needs, consolidate volumes and  organise competition/ negotiations with suppliers based on optimal timing & task allocation

*please see attached job description below

The Ideal Candidate

• Significant international experience and expertise in Purchasing, ideally at least one of the professional services described
• Knowledge of procurement principles, theories and processes
• Robust experience in negotiating and managing international contracts
• Proven multi-vendor and comprehensive multi cycle agreement negotiation experience
• Mega vendor agreement governance experience including multi region enrolments deployment and management
• Audit management and dispute resolution
• Effective leadership and influencing skills, and project management skills with a proven ability to drive cross-functional project teams in a matrix organisation
• Effective verbal and written communication, and presentation skills
• Self-starter with capability to identify opportunities and the drive and tenacity to ensure they can be achieved
• Able to work in a multicultural and technical environment (experts, engineers) and to establish strong partner networks in order to streamline systems and processes.
• Able to work on complex procurement problems and provide innovative solutions
• Strategic vision and tactical capabilities
• Good financial data management and analytical skills, problem solving and reporting
• Continuous improvement mind set and methodology
• Strong client / business acumen
• Bachelors degree or equivalent experience
• Fluent in both English and French language highly desirable 
• Additional/second experience in Consulting or Finance would be an advantage

Candidates will be reviewed based on this selection criteria, please ensure evidence is provided on your CV

Package Description

Competitive salary banding dependent upon experience, skills & qualifications plus benefits including car allowance, bonus, healthcare and flexible benefits fund to ‘buy’ additional healthcare, dental plan, critical illness and various other offers, in addition to be able to ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ holiday entitlement.

We also offer Sodexo Discounts site promoting discounted mobile phone tariffs, savings across restaurant chains and days out, where you and your family can save money on everything from your weekly food shop to the latest cinema blockbuster

About the Company

Founded in 1966 by Pierre Bellon in Marseilles, France, Sodexo is now the worldwide leader in Quality of Life services. For over 50 years, we have developed unique expertise, backed by nearly 420,000 employees in 80 countries across the globe.

In combining the diverse talents of our teams, Sodexo is the only company to integrate a complete offer of innovative services, based on over 100 professions. We develop, manage and deliver a unique array of On-site Services, Benefits & Rewards Services and Personal and Home Services for all our clients to improve the Quality of Life.

Our experiences with our over 75 million customers each and every day enable us to develop Quality of Life services that reinforce the well-being of individuals, improving their effectiveness and helping companies and organizations to improve performance…every day.

We are building on our support to the Armed Forces community through the development of specific pathways within our recruitment process to  support ex-forces personnel and reservists, those applying for jobs with us who meet the ideal candidate criteria for the role advertised are guaranteed to progress to the selection process.

Sodexo and our clients are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults within a regulated activity. Certain roles will require applicants to undergo screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and/ or Disclosure Scotland.