IT Procurement & Vendor Management Specialist

The London Metal Exchange (LME) is the world centre for industrial metals trading. Most of the world’s global non-ferrous futures business is conducted on the LME’s three trading platforms totalling $18 trillion, 178 million lots and 4 billion tonnes with a market open interest high of 1.8 million lots in 2024. The metals community uses the LME, an HKEX Group company, as a venue to transfer or take on price risk, as a physical market of last resort and as the provider of transparent global reference prices.

Overall Purpose of Role: The LME’s CTO Office is designed to ensure a consistent, transparent and efficient approach to the way the IT organisation operates and delivers value to the business. The team is independent of the larger IT functions and maintains an impartial, cross-enterprise perspective working closely with and supporting the CTO. The role is focused on supporting three critical IT teams: Clearing, Corporate & Post Trade (CCP), Trading, Core Engineering & Data (TED), and Information Security (InfoSec). The role is accountable for ensuring that the IT supply chain and the vendors which reside within it are managed effectively and efficiently by balancing cost, quality and risk. The person in this position is required to work closely with other managers, mainly the LME IT, Finance and Legal teams.

Responsibilities:

• Sourcing and procurement of products and services: Work within the policies and plans set out by the Head of IT Procurement & Vendor Management & other key stakeholders, contributing as necessary to their development, and working within LME and Group policies. Carry out third-party IT spending activities, aligning outcomes to LME’s desired objectives for service, cost and value. Establish and maintain an effective stakeholder relationship within the respective Tower leadership teams. Work with subject matter experts throughout the relevant IT teams to procure the best fit for the organisation and to allocate business fairly and with regard to vendor performance. Work with other stakeholders, representing the IT procurement & vendor management function. Facilitate, where appropriate, the driving of IT procurement projects, IT outsourcing initiatives, IT-related business process outsourcing projects and IT cost-reduction initiatives to achieve significant value within the respective IT teams. Work with the HKEX procurement team, where required, to support global initiatives. Perform supplier due diligence and supplier risk management for all procurements. Work with the Head of IT Procurement & Vendor Management to develop the capability of the procurement team and the commercial awareness of the IT function.
• Vendor Management: Relationship Management – coordinating the right internal business stakeholder with external vendors to build strong relationships and continuously improve the value of the vendor’s service, in order to facilitate quick escalations if required. Performance Management – monitoring of the services provided by the supplier according to the contractual service levels and business requirements, in conjunction with the subject matter experts within IT and the business as appropriate. Escalations - owning escalations from everyday operation of the services through to resolution. Being the single point of contact from a vendor and business perspective. Contract Management – reviewing clauses for terminations, costs and dates. Risk Management – manage and co-ordinate any risks identified internally or by the supplier for the relevant services supplied. Vendor Onboarding & Exit – management of setup and exiting of suppliers to ensure a consistent approach to working, when setting up new vendor services or decommissioning existing services. Assist with tracking the budget and updating the contract tracker, showing vendors and the annual budgeting cycle for IT. Assist with vendor continuous improvement programmes. Ensure process documentation standards and templates are kept up to date and are easily accessible to all individuals involved in the Vendor Management function and wider IT teams.
• Service Management: Ensuring the Inter Group Service Agreement (IGSA) reviewed, on at minimum annual basis, annually with respect to relevant Tower services. Organise and facilitate meetings with vendors for service reviews. Act as a point of escalation for any non-operational issues. Monitor and report on vendor performance in the areas that include delivery (quality, time and cost), SLA’s, responsiveness, innovation and ethical practices. Analyse problem areas and help resolve disputes. Complete Management information reporting for the department as required, including however not limited to: complete and distribute the monthly service performance reports, manage ad-hoc MI requests to the department, analyse and seek trends that allow for service improvement.

Academic and Professional Qualifications Required: A degree, ideally in business, engineering or IT. Certification by purchasing and supply chain professional bodies such as CIPS (Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply). Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) experience is desired, but not required.

Required Knowledge and Level of Experience: Experience in IT procurement, with experience as an IT procurement or category manager, is desirable. Experience in running competitive tenders and contract negotiations. Legal experience, with a background in technology contracts. Experience of driving and delivering significant value from procurement programmes.

Skills set and Core Competencies Required for Role: Strong negotiation skills for large and complex IT procurement deals. In-depth understanding of the IT products and services market and its trends. Knows about and understands financial management, contracts and legal issues. Understanding of the IT procurement tools, methodologies and processes. Strong project and process management skills, with the ability to handle multiple vendors, projects and a wide range of tasks. An ability and desire to drive increased value from the nominated vendor(s).

Personal Qualities: High levels of interpersonal skills are required to liaise successfully across the various internal teams and to deal in a positive way with vendor negotiations. Ability to bridge communications between IT and its business customers, with a focus on developing an understanding of what the IT organisation and its vendors can deliver and how that can be measured most effectively. Analytical in his or her approach to problem solving with a focus on managing in a team environment with attention to results and with a sense of urgency. Detail, process-oriented and analytical remaining structured with high workloads ensuring stakeholders are satisfied.