Travel Procurement Lead

Job description / Role

Line of Service
Internal Firm Services

Specialism
IFS - Information Technology (IT)

Management Level
Senior Associate

Job Description & Summary

• Procurement sits within the centralised Finance Function and is managed by the Director of Procurement, the team is responsible for the development of procurement processes, procedures, strategy development, implementation/administration of procurement activities, optimisation of procurement spend via category management, as well as support for travel management operations team and spend.
• The Travel Procurement Lead is responsible for setting, monitoring and continuously improves the firm's travel processes including travel-related vendor management and introduction of new technology and innovation
• Manages the firm's travel management consultancy contracts, the online booking tool (KDS), airline agreements, hotel agreements, meeting & events agreements, PwC global relationships, and the BTA / CTA corporate card programmes

Financial
• Follow the procurement strategy set by team leadership, focusing on high opportunity areas of spend, and identifying challenging procurement spend savings across the business
• Manages the implementation and amendments of Travel Expense policy and travel principles with the Operations team / EA's
• Assists and advises the operations team reviewing travel spend and helps to identifying opportunities for optimisation around type, mode and carrier of travel
• Analyses travel spend trends and other benchmark data to recommend appropriate spend thresholds for travel spend e.g. hotel and airfare caps
• Logs and reports on particular spend e.g. partner airfare spend
• Drives and supports a culture of long-term saving on travel costs
• Managed the negotiation of regional / global carrier and hotel agreements, meeting & events agreements based on internal volume / demand analysis
• Tracks the annual cost of agreements and works with vendor to optimise PwC Spend
• Tracking and upwards reporting of all savings made within the travel management programme

Customer / Supply Chain
• Responsible for engaging with internal customers (LoS COOs) to understand their travel requirements, models etc and ensure that travel options are accommodating of business needs
• Manages external vendors / resources supporting the travel agenda against agreed SLAs.
• Responsible for resolution of any escalated service issues
• Support development of external vendor relationships with key partners in the markets for own category of spend
• Provides ongoing contract management support to those teams who may need additional support
• Works with internal customers e.g. Office Support / EA Team Leads on the management of travel programme and spend
• Completed quarterly or six monthly 360 degree KPI's with all vendors and highlights areas of good performance / areas for improvement

Internal Process
• Provide all necessary reports and analysis to the Procurement Director (daily reports, list of visas / residencies, hotel rates & contacts, etc.)
• Personally embody company culture of long-term saving on procurement costs, drive ethos of regionalisation / centralisation of procurement spend and contracts

Regional Frame agreements
• Manages the RFI / RFP processes for own spend categories, including creation of scopes of work, technical and commercial evaluation, recommendation and facilitation of sign off with key stakeholders
• Supports risk management and mitigation approach identification, as well as execution for agreements
• Manages the risk, quality and independence process and promotes fair trade within the firm
• Management of the global hotel RFP process in conjunction with the office management team and hotel global relationships
• Reviews contract terms and recommends amendments that support the position of / benefits PwC, particularly strategies for financial negotiations for all significant areas of spend, with aim of achieving year on year reductions in like for like spend
• Represents the Middle East firm on the travel global procurement council and actively participates in all new global agreements and technology advances
• Investigates, recommends and implements new forms of technology and innovation for the firm

Learning & Growth
• Build capabilities within the function, develop leadership skills of direct reports, and ensure that training plans are in place to develop the function's staff technically and managerially
• Ensure that team has the resources and capabilities to deliver assignments efficiently
• Capture templates and standards into a repository to build the team's own knowledge management database
• Ensures adherence to policies and procedures
• Responsible for the continuing professional development of self and junior team members
• Act as a key resource and liaison to other functional areas of the business, building cross-functional relationships as needed
• Establish a healthy working environment for employees

Requirements

Education
• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance or related field required
• CIPS qualification or equivalent required
• IATA Degree holder preferred

Language
• Fluency in written and spoken English, proficiency in Arabic is an advantage

Overall Experience
• 5+ years of experience in a logistics management or procurement function, experience within the travel/tourism industry is an advantage, of which at least 1 year is in a people management role

Specific Experience
• Experience in the Professional Services industry in a top tier Big 4 firm preferred or experience in the travel/logistics function within a large multinational organisation
• Prior people management experience is an advantage
• Experience in the placement and management of vendor agreements and relationships relating to travel, managing and monitoring of SLAs
• Experience in optimising travel related spend and enforcing travel compliancy
• Experience within the Middle East market is an advantage
Knowledge and Skills
• Excellent knowledge of the travel/tourism industry, preferably in a large organisation
• Strong knowledge of developing and implementing travel procurement policies and procedures
• Knowledge of vendor management and managing SLAs related to travel suppliers
• Strong negotiation skills and assertiveness in dealing with external vendors and third parties
• Knowledge of applying cost improvement initiatives
• Understanding of legal terms and conditions
• Excellent customer service orientation
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent people management skills
• Ethical Conduct

About the Company

At PwC Middle East, we've set out an ambitious purpose and strive to live it everyday: to solve important problems and build trust in society.

We're a community of solvers that come together in unexpected ways to build trust and create sustained outcomes. We solve important problems, support one another as we grow, develop and build fulfilling careers.

PwC provides industry-focused services for public and private clients across Assurance and Audit, Deals, Consulting, Tax and Legal. We draw on our development legacy that brings together the collective experience of over 7,000 people in our region with offices across 12 countries to solve for tomorrow.

We're striving to consistently deliver innovative work that builds trust and delivers sustained outcomes. And we're proud of the strength that comes from all our different backgrounds and experiences and we value everyone's uniqueness. We thrive in uncertainty, operate with integrity and leverage the diverse perspectives of our teams.

If you're looking for a place that fuels your ambition to make a difference, that matches your curiosity with continuous learning opportunities and reimagines ways of working to enable you to lead a more balanced life, then you're a future PwCer.