Director, Procurement Operations

Title: Director, Procurement Operations
Location: Melrose Park, IL
Duration: 6 Months+ (Possible extension to convert Full-time)

Job Summary:
The Director, Procurement Operations is the in-country authority for procurement operations, responsible for driving operational excellence, leading transformation, and ensuring full alignment with global procurement standards. The role oversees all Source-to-Pay activities, manages performance across procurement processes, and strengthens both stakeholder and supplier relationships to deliver consistent value, compliance, and service quality. It also leads major strategic initiatives such as Ariba implementation, PTP productivity programs, and vendor performance management, ensuring that global frameworks are effectively executed and adapted to local needs. This position is designed for an experienced procurement executive with a strong background in strategic sourcing, change leadership, and cross-functional collaboration within a global operating model. Success requires the ability to influence senior stakeholders, guide teams through transformation, and elevate procurement capabilities while maintaining high operational rigor and delivering measurable business impact.

Principal Activities Performed by the incumbent:
Stakeholder Leadership
1) Serve as the lead in-country representative for Procurement, engaging at an executive level with senior business leaders, global and regional governance bodies, auditors, and strategic suppliers.
2) Shape and steer the national Budget & Forecasting agenda in partnership with Supply Chain leadership, ensuring procurement strategy is fully integrated into enterprise financial planning.
3) Owns P2P control design and operating effectiveness (SOX/GxP), leads audit strategy, and remediates findings to zero repeat issues.
4) Represent the country in global governance forums, including Monthly Performance Reviews and strategic functional councils, influencing global direction and advocating for country needs.
5) Direct executive-level collaboration with Global Business Services (GBS) to ensure seamless integration of accounting, operational procurement, and shared-services delivery models.
6) Provide senior oversight of critical and high-risk supplier relationships, ensuring robust performance management, scorecard governance, and long-term value creation.
People and Organizational Leadership
7) Build and steward a high-performing procurement organization, shaping long-term succession pipelines and elevating functional capability to global standards.
8) Make senior-level talent decisions, including leadership appointments, strategic workforce planning, and retention strategies for critical roles.
9) Set the leadership tone for engagement, culture, and development, driving enterprise-level Learning & Development priorities across the function. 10) Oversee performance management for the entire team, ensuring strong leadership discipline around engagement, succession depth, and organizational health metrics.
Functional Performance Governance
11) Hold executive accountability for all procurement operational reporting, ensuring accuracy, insight quality, and alignment with global governance expectations.
12) Lead interactions with internal and external auditors, ensuring full compliance and proactive risk mitigation across Source-to-Pay processes.
13) Govern delivery of key performance indicatorsincluding cost productivity, working capital improvements, supplier simplification, and service-level adherenceat a national level.
14) Set, Product, and enforce performance targets in line with the Global Procurement Governance Framework, ensuring consistent execution across all operating units.
15) Lead performance dialogues with Global Procurement, Shared Services, and Supply Chain leadership through structured Monthly Performance Reviews to include WAPT metrics, direct supplier SLA management and MPRs with SSC procurement tower.
Transformation and Change Leadership
16) Serve as the country lead on procurement transformation, driving adoption of global programs such as Elevate, Ariba, FTP Excellence, and the PTP Productivity Program.
17) Lead countrywide enterprise-wide change management, ensuring that global design principles are embedded into local processes, systems, and behaviors.
18) Oversee execution of the SFE Implementation Plan and govern all country-level project routines to ensure disciplined delivery.
19) Delivers US Ariba deployment (20252026) to target adoption, cycle-time, and touchless-rate goals; embeds global design.
20) Launch and execution of PTP Productivity and S2C Excellence initiatives, ensuring measurable business impact and alignment with strategic priorities.
21) Sponsor and guide local strategic projects, ensuring alignment with enterprise objectives and seamless integration into country operations.

As part of Top Management, you have the overall responsibility and accountability for all aspects of the Health, Safety, Environment, Energy, and Quality Management Systems, including the following: taking overall responsibility and accountability for the prevention of work-related injuries and ill health, the protection of the environment, as well as the provision of safe, harmless, and healthy workplaces, ensuring that the Health, Safety, Environment, Energy, and Quality Management Systems policies and related objectives are established and are compatible with the strategic direction of the organization

Requirements:
Bachelors degree in Supply Chain, or a related field required; advanced degree preferred.
Excellent command of English, both written and verbal. certifications such as CIPS, CPSM, PMP/PRINCE2, or Lean Six Sigma are considered an asset but are not mandatory.
Minimum 10 years of experience in procurement or supply chain leadership, with at least of years of leadership experience for Direct and Indirect categories.
Strong understanding of local and international procurement practices, S2P policies, and pharma industry standards.
Proven experience in procurement operations, reporting, budgeting, and forecasting.
Proficient in core procurement competencies: negotiations, cost modeling, make vs. buy analysis, contract management, operational risk, and digital tools.
Experience with SAP S/4HANA (or ECC), SAP Ariba suite (S2C, SLP, Guided Buying, P2P, SCC), and analytics tools (Power BI/Tableau), TPRM/risk scoring platforms strongly preferred.
Experience with GxP supplier qualification & monitoring; SOX controls over P2P; CSV/Part 11 for Ariba/SAP workflows; anti-bribery/anticorruption in third-party engagements; privacy/infosec clauses; ESG & supplier sustainability.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex supply chain data and provide actionable insights.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills for stakeholder engagement.
Demonstrated leadership in managing cross-functional teams and driving transformation.
Experience working within procurement governance frameworks and managing compliance with internal audit and S2P policies.
Proven ability to lead transformation and change initiatives, including system implementations and productivity programs.
Strong performance management capabilities, including KPI tracking, target setting, and MPR facilitation.
Demonstrated success in strategic vendor relationship management and external stakeholder engagement.
Experience in people development, succession planning, and driving team engagement and capability building.