S2P Global Process Owner

Reporting Line: Reporting to Global Head of HERO Programme

Based: London, UK

Overview: The Global Process Owner (GPO) S2P leads the strategy, design, standardisation and continuous improvement of end-to-end S2P processes, in line with the business strategy and long-term transformation goals. This role is accountable for the design, governance, standardisation and adoption of global processes across a complex ecosystem of platforms including Contract Management, Sourcing, Travel & Expense, ERP, Payment and Electronic Invoicing solutions.

As routine S2P activity becomes increasingly automated, the role is expected to spend less time on day-to-day process administration and more on transformation: setting direction for the function, building the case for change with senior stakeholders, and identifying where automation, data and AI can deliver real improvement rather than incremental tweaks. This calls for a leader with the vision and curiosity to challenge established ways of working, and the people leadership to build a motivated team that is comfortable working alongside new technology.

This role oversees a run team that covers: sourcing & contracting, requisition to receipt, employee travel and expenses and payment supplier management. The GPO also collaborates with the global finance department for consistency of data, processes and reporting. The GPO engages with Regional and Local Process Experts (‘Process Community’) to ensure continuity of global design across markets and works in close collaboration with Global IT Application Owners to deliver the configuration and technical changes required for end-user support and continuous improvement.

Global Process Design and Continuous Improvement

• Process design and strategy
  • Establishes and maintains global process standards for business effectiveness and ease of use.
  • Owns end-to-end process design and process maps, classifying processes as FIX (global), FLEX (standard options), or FREE (regional/local requirements).
  • Leads regular process reviews, monitors market and business trends, and collects regional and local requirements to inform future process improvements.
  • Manages deployment and run teams to ensure consistent process design, testing, change management, and system rollout.
• Continuous improvement roadmap and delivery coordination
  • Leads process changes and continuous improvement initiatives, setting up governance to review and prioritise change requests.
  • Owns decision-making on process enhancements and priorities, working with the Business Application Owner(s) (BAO), IT Application Owner(s) (ITAO), Regional and Local Process Experts, and regional business leads.
  • Gathers and challenges business requirements for continuous improvement, participates in functional design, and builds consensus within the Process Community.
  • Arbitrates business priorities after assessing workload and impact across all enhancements, including managing the process roadmap and backlog.
  • Owns data standards and partners with data experts to ensure strong data governance across in-scope processes.
  • Oversees testing and validation of enhancements, ensuring successful rollout and clear communication with regional teams to minimise business disruption.
  • Identifies where automation and AI, including agentic AI, can improve S2P processes, and works with the ITAO and BAO to assess, pilot and scale solutions responsibly.
• Monitoring, Performance and Reporting
  • Owns user experience and support performance for assigned processes, partnering with stakeholders and leveraging user feedback.
  • Accountable for value realisation on process flows (e.g. KPI reporting) and associated deployment business cases.
  • Accountable for budget cycle reporting.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Training
  • Engages with leadership and key stakeholders on process changes, roadmap and value delivery, including at steering committee and executive level.
  • Partners with change management and Local Process Experts to successfully deploy changes and support process adoption.
  • Owns training materials and programmes, partnering with the BAO to ensure effective end-user training.
  • Manages stakeholder buy-in and coordinates role changes with the Process Community.
• Policies, Governance & Compliance
  • Owns and updates policies, ensuring clear communication to impacted users and alignment with Legal and relevant teams.
  • Monitors and enforces compliance to policies, embedding risk, ESG, and other requirements into process design.
  • Defines governance frameworks, analyses non-compliance, and implements corrective actions.
  • Ensures segregation of duties and works with the BAO and ITAO to perform system audits.
• Support Regional and Local Process Experts
  • Provides motivational leadership to the S2P team and Process Community, building a culture of ownership and continuous improvement.
  • Fosters collaboration and provides guidance to the Process Community to ensure success of the process.
  • Ensures regional experts have the knowledge, training, and authority needed to make decisions required within a clearly defined governance structure.
  • Steers the Process Community in the adoption of global solutions and processes, and oversees end-user support activities.
  • Provides performance feedback to the Process Community and contributes to development plans, including building the team’s capability in automation and AI-enabled ways of working.
• Systems and Roll-out
  • Takes primary ownership of key S2P systems, ensuring their effective global deployment and ongoing suitability for all brands.
  • Develops and rolls out relevant finance and operational policies to support the control framework.
  • Leads and coordinates system roll-outs, engaging with regional and market leads to tailor deployment approaches and ensure smooth adoption.
  • Facilitates input and feedback from stakeholders at all organisational levels, promoting alignment and fit-for-purpose solutions.
  • Leads S2P input into project steering committees, escalates key risks and design decisions, and works with programme sponsors, functional and technical teams to drive timely decision-making.
• S2P Enterprise-wide Projects
  • Represents S2P in various initiatives led by other functions (compliance, legal, procurement, etc.).
  • Advises on Group-led initiatives which impact transactional finance, ensuring benefits and efficiencies are not at risk or compromised.

Profile

• Strong negotiation, influencing, and communication skills across all organisational levels, including with senior executives and steering committees.
• Experience coaching and managing people (direct and/or indirect), delegates effectively, cross functional understanding, senior stakeholder management.
• Motivational leadership, with the ability to build and sustain an engaged, high-performing team through periods of change.
• Strategic Process Leadership & Road-mapping: proven experience defining and owning a multi-year (1-, 3- and 5-year) process roadmap aligned to enterprise priorities and transformation programmes.
• Business–Technology Translation: partners effectively with IT to shape solutions using data, automation, digital platforms and emerging AI (including agentic AI), with the curiosity to assess new technology on its merits.
• Deep Process & Operational Expertise in S2P: strong understanding of process performance drivers and operational realities, ensuring solutions are practical and executable.
• Value Creation & Benefits Realisation: defines KPIs, tracks performance and links process changes to measurable business outcomes.
• Technology & Data Acumen: strong working knowledge of core enterprise systems (ERP, data platforms, automation tools) and their impact on processes.
• Comfortable leading through ambiguity, balancing long-term transformation priorities against the demands of day-to-day operations.