Head of Indirect / Services Sourcing, Visa Europe

Company Description

Visa is a world leader in payments and technology, with over 259 billion payments transactions flowing safely between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities in more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive while driven by a common purpose – to uplift everyone, everywhere by being the best way to pay and be paid.

Make an impact with a purpose-driven industry leader. Join us today and experience Life at Visa.

Job Description

Visa Europe Sourcing

Visa Europe has an opportunity for a highly motivated, experienced, results-driven and collaborative Procurement Leader to join our Sourcing Leadership Team. Together, we aim to lead change and innovation and further mature our regional function as a strategic partner to the business. Are you interested in driving continuous improvements and leading our long-term transformational journey? Do you enjoy working in cross-functional teams? Are you an experienced and ambitious leader with strategic skills who knows what excellence looks like in the “Indirect Procurement” arena? Can you bring transformational, leading practice thinking and innovative solutions?

If this resonates with you, please contact us because we would love to talk to you!

Role Summary

This role involves developing and executing a multi-year strategic roadmap, category strategies, and plans. The successful candidate will build strong internal and external relationships, provide team leadership, and take end-to-end accountability for delivering results. The role holder will offer direction and coaching to elevate professional standards, drive execution, and enhance engagement. This role contributes to the evolution and overall success of Visa Europe Sourcing and supports Visa’s ESG initiatives, focusing on supplier diversity and sustainability. In addition, the role aims to evolve our culture and ways of working to drive greater accountability, high performance and collaboration. This includes fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion, empowering employee engagement, and creating an environment where our people can be their authentic selves and realize their full potential.

Key Responsibilities:

Overall Leadership:

• Lead and further develop the category area and the team of category managers, sourcing managers, and analysts

• Coach the team to meet current and future business expectations, support team members personal development and growth

• Actively contribute to accelerating further development of the function the overall success of the Europe Sourcing team as a Leadership Team member.

• Foster a culture of diversity and inclusion, empowering employee engagement and creating an environment where our people can be their authentic selves and realize their full potential.

Functional Leadership:

• Provide overall functional leadership to the team.

• Drive earlier engagement with the business and planning activities.

• Lead all aspects of the function, ensuring successful internal customer experience

• Understand category spend, supplier landscape, leading practices, and opportunities.

• Build and align short- and long-term Category Strategies and Pans

• Secure financial benefits, cost savings, contribute to revenue growth and other added values.

ESG, Sustainability & Diversity in the Supply Chain:

• Contribute to a strategic approach to embedding sustainability and diversity in the Services area

• Act as an ambassador for the overall ESG agenda, striving to make the world a better place.

Partnerships & Innovation:

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders and colleagues in the Global Sourcing team.

• Act as a Sourcing Business Partner to stakeholders with end-to-end accountability for support

• Build strong relationships with strategic and critical suppliers to drive supplier innovation.

• Manage stakeholder relationships and understand relevant business strategies, plans, and priorities.

• Support the business in optimizing demand and specifications.

Communication & Influencing:

• Communicate with and influence a complex ecosystem of stakeholders, business owners, and third-party suppliers.

• Collaborate with the Third-Party Risk Management & Compliance team.

• Work with colleagues at all levels, including CxO roles

• Report on the category and team progress and performance using agreed key metrics.

Operational Excellence:

• Drive the execution of powerful sourcing strategies for financial and other benefits realization.

• Build, continuously develop, and deploy Preferred Supplier Lists (PSL) and manage tail spend.

• Ensure that all global and regional projects are developed and executed with regional and local country engagement.

• Lead large-size sourcing initiatives (RFx) in collaboration with the business.

Categories in scope

• Corporate Services: Facility and Property Management and Construction 

• Professional Services: Management Consultancy, Tax and Audit services, External Labor, Insurances, and Legal

• HR Services and Employee Benefits 

• Logistics

This is a hybrid position. Hybrid employees can alternate time between both remote and office. Employees in hybrid roles are expected to work from the office 2-3 set days a week (determined by leadership/site), with a general guidepost of being in the office 50% or more of the time based on business needs.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience as a Head Of Indirect Procurement
• Advanced Leadership skills with a track record of success
• Educated to degree level with postgraduate procurement accreditation (MCIPS or MIIAPS).
• Ability to bring strategic thinking and leading practices solutions. Experience in transformation of procurement function is a plus.
• Broad experience in listed categories, supplier and market dynamics, business models, contract negotiations, implementation, and supplier relationship management.
• Track record of Category Management implementation and the ability to train others.
• Advanced project leadership skills, designing and leading on delivery of large and complex sourcing, outsourcing, and managed services projects (e.g., MSP, RPO, IFM).
• Experience working in complex, high and low maturity global and regional organizations.
• Excellent people management skills, with the track record of building high-performing and collaborative teams.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills. Demonstrable influencing skills and senior stakeholder management with credibility up to CxO level.
• High energy, pace, and an impeccable track record of teamwork, creating open and collaborative environment with colleagues, stakeholders, partners and suppliers

Additional Information

Visa is an EEO Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.