Strategic Procurement Partner Manager in City of Westminster

We’re BDO, an accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions entrepreneurial organisations need to navigate today’s changing world. We work with the companies that are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high‑growth businesses that fuel the economy - and directly advise the owners and management teams that lead them.

Working with every department at BDO, our Finance team helps us meet relevant legal requirements that ensure our firm operates effectively in a tightly-regulated field. They implement strategies that help us innovate – like combining new technology with traditional financial processes to make us even more digital. As part of this friendly team, you’ll enjoy flexible hours and have opportunities to take responsibility for the delivery of quality work. With your colleagues behind you, you’ll embrace change, new ideas and have an impact on the future of our firm.

Leading organisations trust us because of the quality of our advice. That quality grows from a thorough understanding of their business, and that understanding comes from working closely with them and building long-lasting relationships.

You’ll be someone who is both comfortable working proactively and managing your own tasks, as well as confident collaborating with others and communicating regularly with senior managers, directors, and BDO’s partners to help businesses effectively. You’ll be encouraged to identify and draw attention to opportunities for enhancing our delivery and providing additional services to organisations we work with.

At BDO, the Procurement function forms part of the wider Finance Department. The mission of Procurement is to support the business in the procurement of goods and services through a streamlined process that delivers best value to BDO from the goods and services procured. Procurement works to establish, maintain, monitor and evaluate vendor relationships in order to reduce risks, increase vendor performance, drive greater levels of innovation and help to deliver competitive advantages to BDO.

The Procurement Business Partner Manager will play an integral role in driving the strategic direction aligned with the Head of Procurement’s strategy, mission and vision. This role will manage the procurement activities for, and work alongside, business stakeholders in the 4 streams (Audit, Tax, Deals, Consulting & Risk) and Central Operations areas such as IT, HR, Finance, Property & Facilities Management, Marketing and Quality & Risk.

In this role you'll:

• Be the strategic sourcing lead for all requirements e.g. HR, marketing, finance, professional services etc for the relevant business streams.
• Support the Head of Procurement in achieving the Procurement 2028 vision and annual department objectives, alongside savings targets (cost, time, process and efficiency).
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to create and manage the ongoing relevant Category plan(s) and ensure it is a ‘living document’.
• Build an effective, business focused and surgical engagement strategy for our key stakeholders with a ‘one procurement’ approach.
• Work with the wider BDO procurement team in the cost-effectiveness of negotiations with market leading suppliers and ensuring compliance of negotiated agreements to established vendor management policies.
• Be responsible for maintaining the list of category vendors, the master data held on them (contractual and commercial) and supporting the rollout of POs to our strategic suppliers.
• Line manage junior members of the commercial delivery / sourcing team.
• Ensure the agreed category management plans, supplier onboarding and supplier management activity addresses ESG targets and aligns to commercial management priorities.
• Build and maintain relationships with all key stakeholders, and act as a trusted partner.
• Assist the Strategic Streams Lead to drive the strategic vendor management program that analyses relationship performance in addition to cost, operations and risk metrics via periodic evaluation, reviews and action plans.
• Support vendor managers / relationship owners to optimise value delivery and business outcomes through consistent management, continuous improvement and guidance of vendor managers aligned to category strategy.
• Serve as a point of escalation for supplier issues and disputes and drive those issues to resolution.

You will be someone with:

• Significant experience in Category management across a range of categories – with some understanding of IT & Technology procurement and vendors e.g. SaaS.
• An excellent understanding of procurement processes and contractual elements such as SLAs.
• Good understanding of contractual, commercial and operational working relationships with vendors to ensure effective delivery of committed products, services and solutions.
• Very good knowledge of contract management and negotiation.
• Good understanding of the vendor life cycle (sourcing, procurement, vendor management), and how internal roles interact and operate throughout the duration of vendor engagements.
• Exceptional leadership skills and presence with the ability to develop and present and/or communicate the Procurement vision and goals, acting as a source of knowledge and guidance.
• Excellent analytical, strategic conceptual thinking, strategic planning and execution skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to drive improvements and take charge of initiatives.

We’re committed to agile working, and we offer every colleague the opportunity to work in ways that suit you, your teams, and the task at hand. At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarity and structure around career development.

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people-centred culture. From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs. Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value for the companies we work with and satisfying experiences for our colleagues, so we’ve invested in state-of-the-art collaboration spaces in our offices. BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences. With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy. Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in you. Across the UK thousands of unique minds continue to come together to help companies we work with to achieve their ambitions. We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise.