Assistant Sourcing Manager – IT Procurement

Job Title: Assistant Sourcing Manager – IT Procurement

Work Location: UniOps Bangalore Center, India

About Unilever

With 3.4 billion people in over 190 countries using our products every day, Unilever is a business that makes a real impact on the world. Work on brands that are loved and improve the lives of our consumers and the communities around us. We are driven by our purpose: to make sustainable living commonplace, and it is our belief that doing business the right way drives superior performance. At the heart of what we do is our people – we believe that when our people work with purpose, we will create a better business and a better world.

At Unilever, your career will be a unique journey, grounded in our flexible working environment. We don’t believe in the ‘one size fits all’ approach and instead we will equip you with the tools you need to shape your own future.

Main Job Purpose:

This role will be a part of the Unilever’s Global Procurement team guiding the Technology (IT) Procurement and based in India.

To lead regional and global strategic IT sourcing activities for Unilever’s designated markets of Middle East/Africa in the areas of spend management by developing and implementing sourcing strategies, defining and clarifying internal customer needs with insight of supply markets and sharing best practices.

This role will activate and enable supplier selection process, negotiating favourable terms and conditions for Unilever in collaboration with Unilever’s globally designated partners, facilitating supplier onboarding and perform ongoing strategic supplier relationship management , supplier performance management, risk mitigation and issue resolution via proactive involvement and collaboration with stakeholders on various projects and initiatives by guiding and aligning efforts to meet internal customer and business needs within budgets and targets.

Role manages the end-to-end procurement process for IT products and services for a geographical cluster and is supposed to support the roll-out and ensure compliance to global standards, company policies and procedures, contract governance and controls.

In addition, support Global Procurement IT team in developing global sourcing strategies and their implementation and also drive Global IT Procurement KPIs in the cluster and their monitoring and reporting.

Key Accountabilities:

• Accountable for leading sourcing projects in line with the IT strategy and wider Unilever business goals
• Collaborate with stakeholders and lead sourcing activities for the projects of the assigned categories and key markets
• Partnering and managing suppliers
• Work within defined Procurement Ways of Working and always adhere to the Code of Business Principles.
• Manage outsourcing relationships in MBS Procurement - IT
• Work in an effective, cohesive team environment
• Support implementation of global projects in the clusters.
• Ensure projects are in line with the MBS Minimum Standards, Procurement Ways of Working and Unilever Responsible Partner Policy.
• Awareness and understanding of local laws and legislation particularly when delivering projects is essential to mitigate risk to Unilever.
• Flexibility to travel as and when required.
• Analyse market trends, benchmark pricing and supplier landscapes to identify opportunities for cost savings, risk mitigation, and innovation.
•  Lead supplier performance management, including setting KPIs, conducting regular reviews, and managing contracts.
• Continuously assess and improve procurement processes to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

Strategy guidance and execution

• Identify, facilitate, and deliver benefits through strategic sourcing / e - sourcing / demand management / vendor relationship management / value optimization techniques working in tandem with the concerned stakeholder/s (Global and Local IT Teams)
• Identify the optimum supplier relationships for the organization, negotiate value driven agreements that are in line with defined commercial and legal requirements and subsequently manage the supplier relationships/SLA’s along with the stakeholders
• Achieving savings/cash targets through defined methodologies, tracking and reporting on these financial targets to relevant stakeholders
• Achieve defined global and local targets including savings, cash improvement, Preferred Supplier List, vendor rationalization, digital procurement, catalogue, PO penetration.
• Implement the global strategic sourcing processes through CPM (Collaborative Procurement Model).

ESSENTIAL

• Experience in IT Procurement (8+ years)
• Strong knowledge and experience in IT Procurement
• Strong commercial negotiation and contracting skills
• Strong Project Management Skills
• Track record of building and managing stakeholder relationships across diverse stakeholder groups and geographic locations
• Strong analytical and numeracy skills
• Skilled in delivering challenging savings and cash targets
• Ability to understand Procurement workflow
• A skilled negotiator
• Excellent in English
• Strong experience in supplier management
• Proven in driving commercial value in a Procurement function
• Bring Procurement value to the stakeholders and influence to change
• Champion digital Procurement in collaboration with stakeholders
• Candidate must have high level of commercial acumen
• Candidate must have significant experience in supply management to strategize, influence and execute the suppliers in the best interest of Unilever in alignment with procurement processes and expectations
• Proficient in Microsoft Office
• Adapting to competing demands, organizational changes, and new responsibilities.
• Candidate must be self-driven and a good team player

PREFERRED

• Exposure to sourcing tools like Coupa, eAuctions and other automation tools
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification
• Studying towards or achieved a recognized Procurement certification

Contact:

Internal:

Procurement

• Procurement teams across global / clusters
• Procurement Directors/Managers
• Procurement Finance
• Procurement Centre of Excellence.

Cross Functional

• Vendor Management Office
• Software Asset Management
• Enterprise Architecture
• Information and Cybersecurity
• Supplier Operations
• Finance
• Legal
• Service Line, Market IT, Factory Teams

External:

• 3rd party service providers
• Suppliers.

Reporting to: IT Procurement Manager