Procurement Manager – Indirects (12-month FTC)

Dentsu is an integrated growth and transformation partner to the world’s leading organizations. Founded in 1901 in Tokyo, Japan, and now present in over 145 countries and regions, it has a proven track record of nurturing and developing innovations, combining the talents of its global network of leadership brands to develop impactful and integrated growth solutions for clients. Dentsu delivers end-to-end experience transformation (EX) by integrating its services across Media, CXM and Creative, while its business transformation (BX) mindset pushes the boundaries of transformation and sustainable growth for brands, people and society.

Purpose of the Role

Within dentsu Global Functions Procurement, our focus is to deliver value for money through commercially sound agreements and to enable business improvements and efficiencies through supplier sourcing and relationship management. As a Procurement Manager, you will take individual ownership of identifying cost-saving and value-adding opportunities, as well as driving efficiencies across multiple Indirect Procurement categories within a dynamic and expanding team. The role requires collaboration at global, regional, and brand levels, interacting with a diverse network of colleagues and third-party service providers. You will apply strategic sourcing methodology and supplier/stakeholder management principles to deliver savings and service improvements in line with our OneDentsu objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Managing procurement for multiple indirect categories (e.g., Professional Services, HR, Finance, Software), including high-value, high-risk projects.
• Negotiation of global frameworks with favourable contractual terms.
• Leading RFX and sourcing processes, ensuring alignment with internal teams such as Legal, Security Assurance, and Vendor Due Diligence.
• Collaborating with senior stakeholders (including C-level executives) to deliver strategic procurement solutions and communicate progress on priorities.
• Overseeing supplier performance and contract management, applying SRM practices to achieve KPIs and business objectives.
• Building strategic relationships with vendors to drive innovation, productivity, and sustainable value.
• Producing detailed performance reports and category plans for executive stakeholders, showing progress and future targets.
• Executing end-to-end procurement processes including supplier selection, contract implementation, negotiation, and improvement planning.
• Supporting sustainability initiatives through supplier engagement and alignment with dentsu’s environmental goals.

Qualifications + Skills

• Extensive Procurement experience managing multiple indirect categories and prior experience leading challenging negotiations with large, international vendor organisations.
• End to end knowledge of 3rd party vendor engagement for a matrixed, global enterprise, with demonstrated delivery against the strategic sourcing process.
• Strong understanding of and experience with Professional Services Procurement, with a focus on negotiating global or multi-country contracts.
• Familiarity with e-sourcing and P2P platforms.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills – both verbal and written, and ability to influence stakeholders up to C-Level.
• Sound knowledge of contractual law principles and strong understanding of financial reporting and modelling principles.
• Ability to build robust relationships with colleagues and vendors, across all levels of seniority.
• Desirable but not essential: CIPS or MCIPS qualifications (or working towards), or training in contract law.

What we offer

This is a 12-month Fixed Term Contract. The team is based in our London office but operates under flexible working arrangements. As well as a competitive salary, you’ll enjoy a benefits package that you can tailor to your needs.

Inclusion and Diversity

Our diverse and inclusive culture enables our employees to bring their best selves to work and be proud of doing so. For us, this is the foundation for great innovation which, in turn, generates better outcomes for our people, partners and communities. This is why we encourage applications from people with disabilities, and of all ages, nationalities, backgrounds and cultures. We are happy to discuss flexible and agile approaches to working for all our roles – we can’t promise we will be able to offer you everything you want or need but we do promise to discuss it with you openly and honestly. If you have any reasonable adjustment needs arising from a disability or medical condition to fully participate in the recruitment process, please discuss this with our recruitment teams.