Procurement Business Partner – UKI
Your Consultant
Background
We are a £2BN global defence and security company delivering mission-critical solutions that protect lives and enable operational advantage. Our vision is “to be the chosen partner around the world innovating for our customers’ advantage”. To do this, we combine deep technical expertise with a bold approach to innovation – helping our customers solve complex challenges across land, sea, air, space and cyber. We employ circa 8,000 people in 50 locations across the UK, Europe, US and Australia.
About Procurement and Supply Chain
Finance is a Global Group Function with Procurement and Supply Chain, a key department, reporting directly to the Chief Financial Officer and influencing £1BN spend across directs and indirects. The Procurement and Supply Chain department has several key pillars including Business Partnering, Category Management, Supply Chain, Responsible Procurement and Operational Excellence.
To deliver QinetiQ’s five-year growth strategy, we need to foster and enable a progressive mindset. We aspire to be a key business enabler and a value creator. To do this we need to shape and influence stakeholder strategies, drive value, deliver excellence and manage supply chain opportunities and risk.
UK Intelligence (UKI) Supply Chain Team
The UKI Team supports a spend of £200m across our supply chain which covers the products and services that are delivered to our end customers across the Mission Systems, Mission Cyber Solutions and Digital Intelligence business units.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the creation and execution of a customer-centric procurement partnering strategy that aligns with business needs
- Act as the commercial conscience of the UKI business – offering expert advice on third-party spend, sourcing strategy, supply chain risk and market dynamics
- Build deep relationships with senior stakeholders, enabling early influence on business planning and demand management
- Work collaboratively with Category Leads to identify opportunities that improve cost, service, quality, technology and ESG performance
- Shape and oversee strategic supplier relationships, ensuring contracts deliver value and risk is proactively managed
- Identify and champion opportunities to work with SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) to diversify and strengthen our supply chain
- Support major change initiatives, including Finance & Business Systems transformation and the transition from SAP Ariba to Oracle Fusion
- Lead improvements within both the UKI supply chain and the wider Procurement & Supply Chain function
- Drive process simplification, better ways of working and adoption of digital procurement tools
- Mentor and develop your team, fostering a culture of curiosity, accountability and performance
- Play an active role in the department’s Extended Leadership Team, influencing structure, ethics, capability and resource allocation
Key Person Attributes
- Confident communicator able to articulate complex commercial concepts to varied audiences
- Collaborative relationship-builder who inspires trust with suppliers and stakeholders
- Draws insights from market data and uses this to influence and shape business decisions
- Strong team leadership with a focus on team development and a hands-on approach
- Confident decision-maker, balancing commercial, operational and risk considerations to drive the best outcomes in ambiguous or dynamic environments and collaborates x-functionally to achieve this
- Strategic thinking with the ability and willingness to also resolve issues and challenges at a transactional and operational level
- Demonstrates resilience and adaptability during transformation
- Role-models adaptability, integrity, accountability and a growth mindset
- Proactively improves processes, challenges existing ways of working and contributes to the team’s development
Competencies & Proficiency Levels
Experience and Qualifications
- Degree or equivalent professional experience
- MCIPS qualified or working towards completion
- Minimum ten years’ strategic procurement and supply chain experience
- Proven track record of building successful relationships with senior stakeholders and suppliers
- Experience of supplier relationship management in a matrix environment and experience of developing successful relationships with SMEs
- Demonstrable experience negotiating high-value contracts
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Practical experience with Source to Pay (S2P) technology
Talent Drive are committed to promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace. We review all applicants on equal merit and we do not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, sex, relationship status, disability, race, religion/beliefs, or sexual orientation.