Senior Procurement Specialist
Date: 15 Aug 2024
Location: London, GB, EC3M 7AF
Company: Walkers Global
Walkers is a leading international law and professional services firm providing legal, corporate and fiduciary services to global corporations, financial institutions, capital market participants and investment fund managers. With a global presence spanning the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, we advise on the jurisdictions of Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Ireland and Jersey.
Walkers treat everyone as the intelligent grown-ups they are. We take a grown-up approach to getting the job done – trusting and empowering our people to deliver consistently, and enabling them to succeed. Diversity is our secret weapon – it’s the sheer breadth of Walkers people that makes us who we are – gathered from across the globe and fluent in languages, jurisdictions and cultures that help us to mirror our clients and keep our own thinking in tune with the world we operate in.
Overview of role
The Senior Procurement Specialist will be predominantly working on the firm's procurement activities including support of the Procurement Manager in their ongoing updating and implementation of the current processes and commercial engagements. With a specific focus on IT procurement and supplier management the role holder will be responsible for ensuring that any engagement or interaction with any new parties follows the firm's requirements and diligence processes.
The Senior Procurement Specialist will be expected to get up to speed with the current technology landscape and pipeline of new projects either in-flight or due to start this Financial Year. The role holder will be expected to support the team's management of the commercial lifecycle of all hardware and software used globally by both Walkers employees and Clients. The role will work closely with the relevant Information Security, Risk and Compliance department members to ensure all due diligence is carried out on both existing and new third parties that the firm engages with for goods and services.
The Senior Procurement Specialist will report into, and take direction and guidance from the Procurement Manager and will help with the workload of an increasing project and BAU portfolio to ensure that the technology purchases by the firm meet both the IT and over-arching business strategy. The role holder will be expected to help review both contracts and commercial agreements and support the Procurement Manager in an exercise of reviewing, benchmarking, negotiating and where necessary co-terming agreements. This will include storing and managing related documents, relationship history along with tracking on-going discussions and regular supplier check-ins. The Senior Procurement Specialist will also contribute to any new or in-flight RFI and RFP processes.
Duties, Responsibilities & Person Specification
- Understand and ensure that the procurement processes are followed for the IT department and ensure all governance and diligence is applied when reviewing or on-boarding suppliers.
- Support the business areas, IT teams and Project teams in supplier engagement and on-boarding process.
- Monitor renewal dates, allowing the firm to adequately plan renegotiations, renewals and support the process when appropriate for RFP's
- Work with supplier relationship owners' to provide support and guidance in on-going supplier management.
- Liaise with the Risk, Compliance, Info Sec and Finance teams to ensure new suppliers are thoroughly checked before on-boarding takes place.
- Work closely with the Compliance and/or Walkers Professional Services teams to ensure contract terms are favourable to Walkers.
- Oversee the NDA signing process prior to discussions taking place.
- Assist in managing the corporate software licensing estate.
- Review proposals, contracts and Statements of Work to ensure they meet the expectations of the firm.
Education, Skills & Experience
- Experience of working in an IT Procurement or similar centralised procurement team responsible for IT sourcing.
- Experience in negotiating complex contracts.
- Experience in working in a procurement function within a multinational organisation.
- A good knowledge of standard business accounting practices and an excellent understanding of Microsoft Excel.
- A methodical, thorough attention to detail with a nous for identifying mistakes in supplier pricing proposals.
- Experience of working with various types of software licensing models including public cloud services.
- Decisive and confident in one’s own ability and recommendations
- Strong written, oral and presentation communication skills.
- Excellent inter-personal skills and ability to present ideas and proposals in user-friendly language
- A passion for ensuring that not only cost but value is being maximised as part of an agreement.
- Highly self-motivated and directed, with keen attention to detail.
- Able to effectively prioritise tasks in a high-pressure environment.
- Experience working in a geographically dispersed team-oriented, collaborative environment.
- University degree in Computer Science, Accounting or other relevant discipline or 5 Years IT Purchasing experience.
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Walkers global is an equal opportunity employer. Equality and diversity are key to our global identity and an integral part of our goal to continue being an employer of choice. We are committed to a work environment that supports all individuals irrespective of gender, ethnicity, nationality, race, religion, marital status, age, disability, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other applicable legally protected characteristics. We make every effort to ensure that employment opportunities are open and accessible to all purely on the basis of personal ability.