Job DescriptionTravelport is a place of opportunity. It's our incredible team that makes our company great - our people drive our winning culture. What's Travelport?Travelport is a worldwide travel retail platform that provides easy ways for businesses like airlines, hotels, and car rental companies to connect through personalized content to agencies and travelers. The world is changing, and our industry must change with it. We're leading the change; we are the change. We are on a mission to power the future of travel.Come and be part of an organization that is committed to building a culture of inclusivity built upon a diverse workforce that is reflective of the communities in which we operate.What does a great Global Category Leader (GCL) do?The GCL develops the strategy and directs and leads the implementation of category initiatives for strategic technology partnerships and transactions in a key category primarily focused on technology; leading initiatives to optimize category spend and lower costs, and leading projects in strategic sourcing, contract negotiations, and procurement activities, providing necessary linkages and leveraging scale across the organization.Specifically, they will need to work collaboratively to understand business needs, translate these needs into specific supplier requirements, and establish target pricing, terms, SLA's, and success measures. The leader will then need to establish sourcing/negotiating strategies and drive execution and ongoing monitoring efforts to ensure objectives are realized and sustained.The GCL is an integral part of the Global Sourcing team at Travelport. Global Sourcing is a highly regarded and broad reaching team whose contributions ensure Travelport's various business and technical teams have the tools (products and services) they need to deliver industry leading solutions to our customers.Responsibilities Include:Partner with Business Units and Supplier Relationship teams
- Engage business units on their strategies and resulting needs for third party goods or services
- Lead and coach internal business partners and team members on the sourcing process. Sourcing Process includes gathering requirements, market analysis, identifying sources, proposal evaluation, negotiations, contract creation, contract management, and spend analysis.
- Maintain effective relationships with key internal customers and support organizations
- Set and achieve clear goals for cost savings, value creation and supplier performance in context of business unit operating plans
- Participate in scorecard development, quarterly business reviews, problem resolution/escalation arising from supplier performance issues for assigned commodities/services
- Work collaboratively with internal clients to assist in procurement forecasting, demand management, requirements development and identification of possible purchasing channels and sources
- Create collaborative partnerships with business stakeholders to plan and execute Procurement activities and category strategies
- Manage vendor service utilization and seek to reduce under-utilized consumption
Strategic Sourcing
- Develop and execute strategic sourcing plans for assigned commodities and services
- Use category expertise in relevant categories/commodities to establish or refine category strategy
- Conduct market analysis to develop supply market strategies
- Utilize understanding of industry, supplier dynamics and market trends to determine sources of leverage
- Ensure optimal global spend leverage across Lines of Business (LOB's) and geographies
- Support any new business activities within LOB's by identifying appropriate sources within existing strategy
- Create and model Total Cost of Ownership for categories and sourcing decisions
- Drive supplier-selection processes
- Lead company-wide efforts to identify new suppliers, to include leading supplier development, and new program implementation efforts for Technology products and services
- Facilitate meetings that drive cost savings initiatives. This means demonstrating the ability to develop agendas, lead meetings, and document & publish critical results
Contract Strategy and Execution
- Lead the contract negotiation process with internal partners and suppliers. Own closure on contract.
- Lead negotiations, developing negotiation strategy and approach, fallback positions, acceptable terms and conditions through to closure. Evaluate, qualify, & select suppliers
- Understand contractual framework and negotiate appropriately in conjunction with Technology, business users and Legal.
- Measure savings and seek opportunities to manage off-contract spend
- Lead cross-functional project teams to ensure successful project launch, implementation and compliance
Management and Leadership
- Participate in a Global Sourcing team that supports the Company's objectives for this function.
- Create an environment that emphasizes Partnership with all Technology processes within and outside of Service Delivery.
- Effectively motivate and collaborate within their team and across their peer group.
- Lead cross functional teams, mentor team members
- Lead efforts to drive business process improvements in support of team objectives
What we look for/who would prosper in this role?
- 3 - 7 years proven experience within procurement organizations encompassing sourcing, supplier management, supplier quality management and procurement execution
- Previous Spend Responsibility at least $25+ million
- Ability to work in fast paced, complex and dynamic environment
- Demonstrated ability to think globally/strategically, turn information into effective strategies and drive results.
- Superior interpersonal skills, strong verbal and written communication skills
- Demonstrates good judgement in selecting methods and techniques for obtaining solutions.
- Strong organizational and multitasking capabilities.
- Analytical skills to solve complex problems.
- Ability to work effectively in a team environment.
- Experience with various sourcing and procurement practices and tools (i.e. 7 Step Sourcing Process, Oracle iProcurement), and ability to lead/support efforts to enhance the value of purchasing to the client.
- Must have a thorough understanding of contracting principles and contract structure, time and materials negotiations, and understanding of technology.
- Must have strong team building skills to integrate and motivate people from different organizations to work together in achieving process objectives and project goals.
- Must be adept at communicating with vendors and internal business partners to establish and maintain credibility for the sourcing function, while increasing service to our internal business partners - improving the quality and performance levels of the supply base to achieve the lowest total cost to the Company.
Preferred, but not required
- Degrees: BA/BS in Technology, Finance, Accounting and Business, Engineering, or related degree or equivalent experience in Procurement
- MBA and/or Purchasing Certification
- Technology organization experience is a plus
Our ambition is to hire for potential not just experience, and you're likely to succeed if you:
- Are always ready to give it your all and deliver high quality work
- Are excited to use your creativity and innovative thinking to try new things
- Take responsibility and own your work
Benefits of working at TravelportWe believe all employees contribute to the success of the company and should be able to share in that success, which is why all jobs are eligible to participate in our bonus program with any payouts being subject to individual and company performance. We offer a comprehensive benefit program that includes medical, dental, vision, employer paid Disability and Basic Life Insurance, Voluntary life options, a competitive 401(k) match, as well as many other voluntary benefits to fit your specific needs. We make health and wellness a priority and offer a generous paid time off policy as well as contributing to our communities with an annual volunteer day off. We also offer a New Child leave policy, where the birthing parent receives 16 weeks of paid time off, and the non-birthing parent receives 8.Salary Target/Range: $90,000 - $95,000The salary of the finalist(s) selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, internal equity, experience, education, specialty and training.Interested? We'd love for you to get in touch!We are an equal opportunities employer and will consider all qualified applicants purely on their skills and abilities. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation, if needed.