Data Center Snr Procurement Manager

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Senior Procurement Manager

Role purpose

This role is responsible for supporting and delivering procurement activity across the business, working closely with operational and technical stakeholders to drive sourcing, commercial, and supplier-related activity from early engagement through to contract execution and supplier management.

The role is highly hands-on and operates across sourcing, contract negotiation, supplier engagement, and procurement governance. It acts as a key point of coordination between stakeholders and suppliers, supporting the development of scopes, RFPs, sourcing approaches, and commercial strategies across operational and infrastructure-related requirements.

Alongside day-to-day sourcing and commercial delivery, the role is responsible for helping establish procurement visibility, governance, and control where these do not yet fully exist. This includes spend baselining, supplier due diligence, supplier lifecycle management, and embedding procurement processes and governance structures into day-to-day business operations.

Key responsibilities

Procurement intake and triage

Own and manage procurement intake across the business

• Assess requests based on risk, value, and complexity
• Determine sourcing route and required level of procurement involvement
• Ensure procurement engagement occurs before any commercial commitment
• Act as the central point of coordination, reducing ad hoc supplier engagement and rework across the business
• All external supplier engagement relating to new or changed scope is expected to be routed through this role

Sourcing and RFP delivery

• Lead end-to-end sourcing activity.
• Define commercial approach, evaluation criteria, and negotiation strategy
• Support the development and execution of the end-to-end supplier lifecycle, from pre-supplier engagement through to post-award supplier management
• Coordinate stakeholder input across Operations, Technology, Legal, and Finance
• Lead supplier negotiations and support final selection decisions
• Support stakeholders in developing scopes, sourcing strategies, and RFP documentation for operational and infrastructure-related requirements
• Work closely with operational and technical teams to support supplier engagement, commercial evaluation, and contract delivery

Spend baseline and pipeline visibility

• Establish and baseline spend across suppliers and categories, creating initial visibility where required
• Identify gaps, inconsistencies, and areas of unmanaged or fragmented spend
• Build and maintain a forward-looking
  view of commitments, including renewals and sourcing pipeline
• Identify opportunities for consolidation, re-sourcing, and commercial optimisation

Commercial and contract shaping

• Define the commercial position prior to Legal engagement, ensuring Legal review is focused, efficient, and based on a clear commercial framework
• Lead commercial negotiations, including detailed contract mark-up and supplier engagement
• Ensure clarity on scope, pricing models, and risk allocation
• Confidently challenge and redline contractual positions to achieve commercially robust outcomes
• Challenge supplier proposals to drive value and alignment with business objectives

Operational supplier ownership

• Support the establishment of supplier ownership and governance structures, including renewals and performance management
• Drive cost control and value improvement initiatives
• Support implementation of supplier performance management where appropriate

Governance and process discipline

Enforce procurement operating principles, including:

• Commercial and contractual readiness before PO

• Supplier onboarding, due diligence, and implementation of supplier risk tiering
• Defined procurement engagement triggers
• Support the development and embedding of procurement governance structures, including pre-supplier engagement and post-award supplier management
• Establish and maintain supplier governance cadence (e.g. MBRs/QBRs) aligned to supplier criticality
• Ensure processes are applied proportionately, avoiding unnecessary administrative burden
• Prevent retrospective approvals and off-process commitments
• Ensure procurement processes are followed consistently across the business, intervening where required to maintain control and standards
• Implement supplier performance and relationship management for key suppliers in line with risk tier.
• Develop and maintain procurement templates, sourcing documentation, and commercial frameworks to support consistency and scalability

Experience and capability

• 10+ years' experience in procurement, with a strong track record of delivering end-to-end sourcing
• Experience in infrastructure, construction, or asset-intensive environments (e.g. capex projects, facilities management, and maintenance services) preferred
• Experience managing or sourcing complex service and maintenance agreements
• Strong commercial acumen, including pricing models and contract structuring
• Experience reviewing and shaping contracts prior to Legal engagement
• Demonstrated experience operating within and enforcing procurement processes, including intake, governance, and sourcing disciplines
• Strong track record of delivering consistent, high-quality execution of procurement processes, not just designing them
• Experience operating effectively in fast-paced or low-maturity environments, bringing structure, consistency, and control through execution
• Confident stakeholder management with the ability to challenge and influence
• Strong analytical capability, including spend analysis and opportunity identification
• MCIPS qualified (Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply)
• Relevant degree (Business management, Strategic Procurement)
• Experience partnering closely with operational, engineering, or technical stakeholders in infrastructure or asset-heavy environments

Role expectations

• Operates with a high degree of autonomy and commercial judgement
• Operate within and support the ongoing development of the procurement operating model, contributing to its build and refinement through execution
• Delivers consistent, high-quality execution of procurement processes
• Able to flex across different areas of the business and respond to changing priorities and surge requirements
• Applies sound commercial judgement within a defined operating model
• Focuses on outcomes and commercial impact, not process for its own sake
• Comfortable operating in an environment where processes are still being embedded, using judgement and consistency to establish control in day-to-day execution
• Able to build strong working relationships with operational, technical, and commercial stakeholders across the business