Procurement Manager - Technology in Bury St Edmunds

Responsible to: Snr Sourcing Manager – Tech & Digital

Department: Finance

Location: JD Sports Fashion plc, Bury Head Office

Group Overview: Established in 1981 with a single store in the North-West of England, JD Sports Fashion plc is a leading global omnichannel retailer of sports fashion and outdoor brands. JD is an industry-leading retail business which combines the best of physical and digital retail to give a compelling consumer proposition, enabling its customers to shop seamlessly across all channels. The Group now has over 4,500 stores across 36 countries with a strong presence in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Role Background: Our Sourcing Manager role will support our Senior Sourcing Manager and the wider team with commercial support including risk management, supplier identification, planning and re-tenders across multiple divisions ensuring commercial clauses are negotiated within agreements. The successful candidate(s) will deliver margin, sales, and operational improvements to support our sourcing strategy, primarily involving expenditure managed from our UK and European businesses but may expand worldwide where leverage opportunities exist.

Responsibilities:

• Support an area of the business mid transformation to help create and deliver the Tech & On-Line strategy.
• Act as a commercial lead for sourcing and commercial activities, ensuring that negotiation, contract work and ongoing vendor management activities are undertaken in accordance with Group and sector best practice.
• Close engagement with colleagues on matters including revenue/capex budgets, embedding savings, and supporting business cases for new projects and/or investments.
• Transparent and detailed presentation of proposed contract awards, sourcing changes and recommendations.
• Utilising Group Finance platforms and templates for Purchase Orders, tenders and eAuctions to ensure financial and operational transparency.
• Regular engagement with the Group Legal team to minimise risk and maximise commercial leverage via agreements with clearly defined service levels, KPIs and appropriate remedies for non-performance.
• Work with the Group Sustainability team to ensure sourcing approach contributes to Group ESG goals such as Climate Change, Sustainable Sourcing and Recycling.
• Act as a trusted adviser and subject matter expert leading procurement projects across all types of services.
• Partner with relevant teams to formulate complex service requirements and scope, identify vendors, manage the end-to-end RFP process, provide a supplier evaluation framework, and make recommendations on vendor selection.

Key Relationships: Digital Trading teams, Product Owners, Core Tech, Transformation, Legal and Finance, UK and International colleagues and external suppliers.

Skills/Experience/Knowledge required:

• Commercial experience within fast-paced omni-channel retail and/or relevant commodity/services experience.
• Confidence to own problems and issues, propose solutions and ensure deadlines and/or business goals are achieved.
• A self-starter who has the initiative and confidence to seek out opportunities to deliver value.
• Strong engagement and communication skills with experience of successfully delivering process improvements and efficiencies.
• Attention to detail with a breadth of experience in related categories.
• Driven by data and analytics with strong analytical skills.
• A strong negotiator with excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills.
• A builder of strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Organised and deadline-driven with strong project management and analytical skills.
• Autonomous with a high level of drive and energy.
• Strategic thinker who can recognise and resolve ambiguous or challenging situations.

The Successful Applicant:

• A degree in Supply Chain Management, Business or a related field preferred.
• Experience as a Sourcing Manager within the category of IT, SAAS and/or On-Line for 2+ years.
• Strong negotiation and leadership skills.
• Proficiency in MS Office software and computer systems.
• Excellent decision-making and strategic thinking abilities.
• A proven track record in building complex relationships.
• A thorough understanding of procurement procedures.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, capable of adapting to rapid changes.