Director, Indirect Procurement – Labor Categories

Director, Indirect Procurement – Labor Categories

Description -

Position Summary

The Director, Indirect Procurement – Labor Categories, is the enterprise leader responsible for defining, driving, and continuously evolving the global strategy for all external labor categories including contingent labor, technology outsourced services, R&D labor, consulting, and agency contractors. This executive shapes how the accesses and manages external talent and services, balancing cost, quality, speed, compliance, and risk. The Director partners cross-functionally with HR, Talent Acquisition, Legal, Finance, IT, and operational leaders to align external workforce and service models with broader business objectives, enabling agility and cost-effective workforce planning.

Key Responsibilities

Category Leadership & Enterprise Strategy

• Develop and own the global labor category strategy across regions, business units, and labor/service types (contingent, outsourced IT, R&D labor, consulting, agency contractors).
• Align sourcing strategy with enterprise workforce planning, digital transformation, and innovation priorities.
• Establish long-term category roadmaps focused on cost optimization, supplier innovation, compliance rigor, and program transformation.
• Serve as the executive owner of key labor and service programs (e.g., MSP/VMS for contingent labor, IT outsourcing governance, consulting engagement frameworks).

Supplier & Program Governance

• Lead global sourcing initiatives, including RFPs, contract negotiations, rate card strategy, and supplier selection for all labor and service categories.
• Oversee strategic relationships with staffing suppliers, MSP partners, IT service providers, consulting firms, and agency contractors.
• Design and enforce governance frameworks, KPIs, SLAs, quarterly business reviews (QBRs), and performance dashboards.
• Ensure contract compliance, risk mitigation, and adherence to global labor and service regulations.

Cross-Functional Executive Partnership

• Act as the primary business partner to HR, Talent Acquisition, IT, R&D, and department heads to design effective and compliant sourcing strategies.
• Collaborate with Legal, Risk, and HR Compliance to create robust policies and guardrails for external workforce and service engagement.
• Work with Finance and FP&A to forecast demand, optimize budgets, track savings, and define category spending controls.
• Influence executive stakeholders, enabling adoption of policy, technology, and operational improvements.

Operational Excellence & Transformation

• Drive enterprise standardization of labor and service procurement processes, onboarding workflows, and supplier engagement models.
• Lead digital transformation initiatives, optimizing technology platforms (e.g., VMS, ITSM), analytics capabilities, and workforce/service visibility.
• Develop and manage global policies for labor and service utilization, supplier management, and compliance controls.
• Drive efficiencies and cost savings through supplier consolidations.
• Champion continuous improvement in time-to-fill, quality of talent/services, cost performance, diversity goals, and overall program efficiency.

Financial & Value Delivery

• Own global spend management for all labor and service categories (2+ billion dollars per year).
• Deliver year-over-year cost savings, cost avoidance, and strategic value creation.
• Analyze labor and service market trends, benchmarking data, and supply-demand dynamics to create market-competitive category strategies.
• Report program outcomes to executive leadership, providing actionable insights and recommendations.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead and develop a global team of Labor category team managers, category managers, sourcing leaders, category strategists, and program specialists. Full team consists of 3 to 5 direct reports and 20 to 25 indirect reports.
• Establish a high-performance culture focused on strategic thinking, excellence in execution, and stakeholder partnership.
• Mentor talent and build organizational capability for future category leadership.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, HR, IT, or related field.
• 15+ years of progressive procurement, category management, or talent/service acquisition experience.
• Deep expertise in labor and service sourcing, supply chain, MSP/VMS and IT outsourcing program management, and compliance.
• Proven success leading large global categories and multi-billion-dollar spend portfolios.
• Strong executive presence and ability to influence seni