Sourcing Manager - Technology
LOCATIONS:
Accenture Operations Procurement
Role: Procurement Category Advisor / Associate Advisor
Practice: Technology Procurement Category Advisory
Career Level: Associate Manager
Competitive Salary and Package (dependent on experience)
The Company:
Accenture is one of the world’s leading providers of sourcing and procurement services, we help our clients architect, build and operate high performance procurement organizations through our global and flexible solutions. At Accenture we partner with forward-thinking business leaders of the world’s most dynamic companies, to transform procurement and drive sustainable changes to their cost structures.
As one of the leading procurement Business Process Services specialists, Accenture excels at helping companies build the foundation for long-term growth. We are committed to delivering exceptional service through our exceptional people, and as an employee you’d enjoy a fulfilling career in an innovative environment where challenging and interesting work is part of daily life.
Join Accenture and help transform leading organizations and communities around the world. The sheer scale of our capabilities and client engagements and the way we collaborate, operate and deliver value provides an unparalleled opportunity to grow and advance. Choose Accenture, and make delivering innovative work part of your extraordinary career.
Accenture people build careers in four different areas of our business: Consulting, Technology, Business Process Services and internal Corporate Functions. Each area offers a unique career experience and a compelling mix of work and training opportunities, work environment and structure for career progression.
Business Process Services professionals for technology work on projects across a range of technology categories such as Software, Services and infrastructure. For one or more of the aforementioned categories, they provide clients seasoned insights, thought leadership, and market leading advice as part of executing sourcing events, delivering commercial constructs and negotiating complex deals. A key aspect of the role is to build and manage relationships with client stakeholders across all levels including the C-suite. Depending on the project, Business Process Services professionals travel to client sites as required.
The Position:
Accenture is seeking a strong thought leader with deep category expertise for the role of Procurement Category Advisor within the Technology Procurement Category Advisory practice. This position is focused on sourcing and category knowledge in the one or more of the following technology categories:
Cloud: including public cloud offerings such as AWS, Google, and Azure
Infrastructure: including servers, end-user computing, print services, storage, and security, Infrastructure-as-a-Service
Telecom: including unified systems (WebEx, Skype, etc.), LAN/WAN technologies, mobility, wireline, and software-defined networking
Software: including SaaS, ELAs with major vendors, maintenance renewals, security, and Platform-as-a-Service
Services: managed services, devops, strategic consulting services, cloud managed services, application and infrastructure services, contact centers, requirements development
As a Procurement Category Advisor, you will harvest market intelligence content in the key categories; infuse category insights and strategies into opportunity assessments, sourcing projects, and sales pursuits; and coach and guide sourcing project managers with strategic oversight on projects within respective areas.
Key Responsibilities:
- Develop and maintain category-specific knowledge assets and market intelligence that capture expertise / best practices in order to deliver consulting, advisory and project execution to clients
- Provide strategic sourcing oversight and category knowledge in support of the Sourcing Project Management function on projects within categories of expertise
- Infuse market insights into the sourcing process on projects within categories of expertise
- In collaboration with Sourcing Project Management and/or Procurement Practice Advisory, engage with customers’ senior management team members to provide perspective on current market trends to inform client strategic decisions/sourcing initiatives in line with business goals and objectives
- Leverage category expertise to support new sales and drive significant client business value
- Establish, grow, and leverage network of suppliers, industry practitioners, and procurement professionals within categories of expertise
- Work collaboratively with suppliers and customer stakeholders to identify total value (cost, innovation, TCO, etc.) strategies
- Provide educational and learning opportunities to internal colleagues and external clients (e.g. webinars, thought leadership articles) on industry trends, supplier landscape changes, and market intel within categories of expertise
- Coach and develop sourcing project managers in their professional development and pursuit of building category knowledge within area of expertise
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s Degree
- Minimum of 7 years of technology sourcing/ technology consulting/or related experience
- Minimum of 3 years of strategic sourcing, consulting or related professional industry experience in one or more of the following areas:
- Cloud: including public cloud offerings such as AWS, Google, and Azure
- Infrastructure: including servers, end-user computing, print services, storage, and security, Infrastructure-as-a-Service
- Telecom: including unified systems (WebEx, Skype, etc.), LAN/WAN technologies, mobility, wireline, and software-defined networking
- Software: including SaaS, ELAs with major vendors, maintenance renewals, security, and Platform-as-a-Service
- Services: managed services, devops, strategic consulting services, cloud managed services, application and infrastructure services, contact centers, requirements development
Professional Skills:
- Thorough understanding of the supplier landscape and interpretation of market trends within the identified categories listed above.
- Demonstrated success
- Ability to develop and frequently refresh market intelligence and insight tools to support internal sourcing teams and educate external client stakeholders
- Ability to apply insights to customer’s situation for meaningful impact
- Ability to influence and persuade senior level client stakeholders
- Effective coaching skills and ability to develop others
- Ability to adapt to the varied corporate cultures and organizational structures of our customers
- Ability to interface with customers and suppliers via strong written and verbal communications skills
- Existing positive relationships within industries related to the identified categories listed above.
- Strong sourcing knowledge to be able to translate category to sourcing strategy
- Well-developed, solution-oriented selling skills
- Proven ability to work creatively and analytically in a problem-solving environment
- Ability to drive transformational change
- Solid multi-phase project management skills
- Strong ability to effectively manage in a matrix organizational structure working with multiple internal stakeholders
- Exceptional track record of building relationships with stakeholders or customers that have resulted in high customer satisfaction
Travel Requirements:
- This position requires travel of up to 50% to multiple customer locations
Qualifications - External
What’s in it for you
At Accenture in addition to a competitive basic salary, you will also have an extensive benefits package which includes 30 days’ vacation per year, private medical insurance and 3 extra days leave per year for charitable work of your choice!
Flexibility and mobility are required to deliver this role as there will be requirements to spend time onsite with our clients and partners to enable delivery of the first-class services we are known for.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities across all of these services. We combine unmatched experience and specialized capabilities across more than 40 industries — powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. With 509,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture brings continuous innovation to help clients improve their performance and create lasting value across their enterprises. Visit us at www.accenture.com
Accenture is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of society and does not discriminate on grounds of race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, or gender identity, or any other basis as protected by applicable law.
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