Senior Manager Global Procurement-Corporate and Professional Services

Role Overview

This position leads global procurement strategy for a broad portfolio of corporate and professional services categories—covering travel, insurance, translation, banking and cash management, and the full spectrum of HR services such as payroll, benefits, learning platforms, recruitment process outsourcing, and global mobility. The senior manager acts as both a category expert and a strategic business partner, translating the needs of internal functions into competitive, risk-aware sourcing plans and long-term supplier relationships that deliver tangible value to the organisation.

Day to day, this means driving high-stakes tenders and negotiations, shaping multi-year category roadmaps, managing supplier performance, and advising senior leaders across People & Culture, Finance, Legal, Risk, and country operations. The role matters because these categories touch every employee and every program—so the decisions made here directly affect duty of care, operational resilience, cost efficiency, and the overall experience of staff working in complex global environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development and execution of multi-year category strategies for travel, translation, insurance, cash services, HR services, and other corporate and professional services categories, ensuring plans are rooted in spend data, market dynamics, and stakeholder needs.
• Manage the full sourcing lifecycle for complex, high-value initiatives—including market engagement, RFx development, bid evaluation, commercial negotiation, contract award, and supplier transition—while maintaining clear governance and audit trails throughout.
• Design and implement fit-for-purpose sourcing approaches and commercial models for each category, including pricing structures, service-level frameworks, evaluation criteria, and negotiation levers that reflect the organisation's global operating context.
• Build and maintain a resilient supplier ecosystem by segmenting vendors based on value, criticality, and risk, and applying differentiated relationship management, performance reviews, and continuous-improvement measures.
• Act as the primary procurement interface for People & Culture, Safety & Security, and other corporate functions, translating their priorities into clear sourcing plans, timelines, and decision frameworks, and advising on market options, trade-offs, and total value.
• Embed duty-of-care and traveler risk-management requirements into travel-related sourcing and contracting, working closely with Safety & Security to ensure supplier strategies support organisational obligations.
• Ensure all procurement activity complies with internal policies, donor requirements, delegated authorities, and audit standards, with particular attention to privacy and information-security considerations when handling sensitive data through HR and insurance providers.
• Track and report spend, contract expiries, savings, supplier performance, and risk metrics to demonstrate portfolio impact, guide priorities, and support enterprise-wide procurement transformation initiatives.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain management, business administration, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Certification such as CIPS Level 4 or higher, or an equivalent procurement qualification.
• Minimum of seven years of progressively responsible procurement experience, with substantial hands-on ownership of category management and strategic sourcing.
• Proven track record of leading competitive sourcing processes, multi-supplier evaluations, contract negotiations, and successful award implementations.
• Strong commercial acumen and the ability to demonstrate measurable improvements in value, supplier performance, and risk reduction.
• Experience influencing senior stakeholders, managing competing priorities, and turning business requirements into effective, practical sourcing strategies.
• Solid analytical skills covering spend analysis, market assessment, business case development, and performance reporting.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex issues and recommendations clearly and concisely.
• Desirable: a master's degree; direct experience in travel, insurance, HR/BPO, language services, or other corporate/professional services categories; procurement experience in an NGO or nonprofit setting with knowledge of donor compliance; and working knowledge of Spanish or Arabic.