Head of Technology Procurement

About this role

At the heart of everything we do is our vision to change lives every day, and our mission to grow The National Lottery responsibly and champion its impact.

We are Allwyn UK, part of the Allwyn Entertainment Group – a multi-national lottery operator with a market-leading presence across Europe which includes: Czech Republic, Austria, Greece, Cyprus & Italy, and the US.

While the main contribution of The National Lottery to society is through the funds to good causes, at Allwyn we put our purpose and values at the heart of everything we do.  Join us as we embark on a once-in-a-lifetime, largescale transformation journey by creating a National Lottery that delivers more money to good causes.

We’ll talk a bit more about us further down the page, but for now – let’s talk about the role and who we’re looking for…
If you need any assistance or adjustments to this job description or in the application process, please contact a member of the talent team at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.

A bit about the role;
The primary responsibility of the Head of Procurement Technology role is to act as the procurement POC to manage the end-to-end procurement process and cultivate strong stakeholder partnerships around the related IT / Technology categories, whilst executing the regional buying strategies of “Sourcing to Contract “for the dedicated category areas, to ensure the effective and quality general procurement service in support of business speed-to-market.

This includes driving procurement compliance, managing commercial risk, delivering fair costs for the organization and negotiating regional agreements including prices and terms.

In this role, you will be working in a business environment that is fast moving, growth orientated, and constantly changing. The jobholder should be able to embrace ambiguity, meanwhile generating close collaboration across teams and constantly evolving procurement approaches that fully address procurement challenges and solve complex business problems.  To succeed in this role, you will have positive energy and be able to work in a greenfield environment where process and policy is not quite defined yet. You will have strong stakeholder engagement skills to deal with challenging users.

It is also expected that the jobholder will be able to interact closely with cross-function teams and build effective relationships with the key stakeholders at all levels.

The successful candidate should lead upcoming IT / Technology projects - both of which present 'greenfield' opportunities for procurement.

The core purpose of the role is to deliver value for Just by being a trusted business partner, developing a deep understanding of the IT / Technology and Professional Services supply base, capitalising on opportunities to control external costs and mitigate supply chain risk.

What you’ll be doing;
Understand and capture the detailed requirements of each business objective, requiring third party contracting
Work cross functionally to ensure all relevant stakeholders feed in requirements and are part of the selection
Work to award and appoint new suppliers
Support the Director of Social Value and Net Zero Strategy & Policy in maintaining a positive and collaborative culture across the wider teamLiaise with key stakeholders to understand business needs, cost saving opportunities, deliver effective demand management and address third party risk management (TPRM) matters
Support category activity by providing analysis, category and supply market expertise and knowledge to deliver sourcing opportunities
Lead and manage end to end strategic and tactical sourcing projects across IT / Technology and Professional Services (PS) categories, selecting appropriate RFx, following formal sourcing processes and handing off to the business and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
Managing a small team of sourcing managers
Informing the category management strategy for the IT and PS categories, reflecting corporate objectives
Proactive identification of new sourcing initiatives through deep stakeholder relationships and regular analysis of various spend data
Negotiating contractual and commercial terms with suppliers
Identify opportunities to control cost in existing supplier contracts - supplier's compliance to the contract, price variations, challenging demand
Providing procurement expertise to support budget holders/Relationship Managers
Enabling budget holders to optimise their budgets and deliver business requirements at best value with minimised risk
Identifying and delivering cost saving and cost avoidance opportunities to meet budget holder targets, producing MI as required
Supporting the development of Procurement’s supplier contract management and governance system, also including TPRM
Advocate and communicate benefits to the business of timely engagement with Procurement

What experience we’re looking for;
Minimum 10 years of dedicated procurement experiences, Financial Services background helpful, as well as knowledge of regulatory guidelines for third party management
Understanding of sustainable procurement best practices and how to embed this into the sourcing process
Experience of drafting, negotiating, and managing supplier agreements within IT / Technology and PS categories
10+ years of experience in selecting, onboarding, and managing suppliers
Excellent relationship management skills, as well as the ability to work collaboratively with senior management
Experience in sourcing and procurement processes and tools, e.g. Ariba/SAP, Coupa (preferred, not essential)
Strong commercial, analytical and project management skills
Takes ownership and delivers projects to optimal conclusion
Extremely customer-focused, taking the time to understand the needs of the business
Strong ability to influence others with excellent written and verbal communication skills
Self-motivated and collaborative individual with a curious and driven approach
Flexible working…