Head of Procurement & Vendor Management in London

We are currently partnering with a market‑leading Insurance company to recruit a Head of Procurement & Vendor Management. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the successful candidate will be responsible for developing and embedding a best‑in‑class procurement, supplier governance and outsourcing framework.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver the Group Procurement Strategy, aligning procurement with commercial objectives and long‑term business growth.
• Lead the transformation and modernisation of procurement across UK and European operations, driving standardisation, automation, and continuous improvement.
• Build and manage a scalable procurement operating model, including governance frameworks, policies, and best practices.
• Establish procurement as a strategic business partner through category management, supplier consolidation, and leveraging Group purchasing power.
• Direct end‑to‑end strategic sourcing activities, including RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, competitive tenders, and complex supplier negotiations.
• Deliver measurable cost savings and value optimisation while maintaining quality, operational resilience, and service excellence.
• Develop and oversee outsourcing governance frameworks, managing the full supplier lifecycle from due diligence and contracting through to renewal and exit planning.
• Strengthen supplier relationship management by implementing robust governance, performance reviews, SLAs, KPIs, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Lead third‑party risk management, partnering with Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Information Security to assess and mitigate financial, regulatory, cyber, ESG, and operational risks.
• Ensure operational resilience by maintaining effective business continuity, disaster recovery, contingency, and exit plans for critical suppliers.
• Negotiate and manage complex commercial contracts while maintaining a centralised contract repository and proactively managing contract renewals.
• Drive procurement savings, supplier consolidation, spend analysis, forecasting, budgeting support, and cost optimisation initiatives to maximise commercial value.
• Ensure procurement activities comply with regulatory requirements, governance standards, audit expectations, and third‑party oversight obligations.
• Champion ethical sourcing, ESG initiatives, supplier diversity, Modern Slavery compliance, and sustainable procurement practices.
• Build trusted relationships with executive stakeholders across Finance, Operations, Technology, Risk, Compliance, and Legal, ensuring procurement supports strategic objectives and delivers positive customer outcomes.

The ideal candidate

• Significant procurement leadership experience within insurance, financial services or another regulated industry.
• Demonstrable experience leading procurement transformation, operating model design and third‑party cost optimisation.
• Extensive experience in strategic sourcing, supplier governance, outsourcing and complex commercial negotiations.
• Strong understanding of operational resilience, supplier risk management and procurement governance.
• Experience presenting to Executive Committees and Boards.