Travelopia Looking for IT Procurement Manager at Bengaluru, Karnataka Full Time

Reports to: Group Procurement and Efficiency Director

Travelopia is the world’s leading experiential travel business. Travelopia is owned by KKR, the world’s leading private equity firm (www.kkr.com). We are making significant investments in our IT capabilities, while also driving cost efficiency programme to mitigate impact of global pandemic on travel. In 2020 we centralized our Technology organisation (of c. 120 staff – tbc located in the UK, USA and India) and drive consolidation of services/suppliers across the brands.

IT Procurement Manager’s core responsibility is to manage jointly with the Tech team c. £9m of external technology OpEx spend spread across c. 300 suppliers.

The delivery of year-over-year reduction of IT OpEx by combination of (a) competitive tenders / contract negotiation; (b) demand management measures, (c) shift to more cost-effective solutions (e.g., cloud-based solutions, more effective tools)

The effective management of c. 300 IT suppliers; maintaining of the contract repository; ensuring each contract has an owner; tracking of cost KPIs (jointly with IT and Finance)

Build annual and quarterly plans of activities to achieve the expected savings results

Lead the negotiations/renewals for suppliers, prioritising areas with most value-generating potential

Issue purchase orders for c. 50-70 group IT suppliers, after new contracts/agreements are finalised

Essential duties and responsibilities:
Spend Analytics and Contract Management of IT services

Maintain detailed IT OpEx spend baseline by working with IT and Finance from group function and individual brands to understand spend by supplier, product/service specifications, current pricing models, benchmark cost of similar products/services across brands, understand contract duration, termination clauses, etc.

Maintain the database of IT contracts by adding new contracts and updating existing contracts into the central repository, keeping track of key commercial terms (e.g., total costs, fixed costs, variable costs, expiry date, termination notice, payment terms, billing cycle) and automating notifications for future renewals (e.g., indicate contract owner, schedule notifications to contract owner)

Track spend on a monthly basis for large variable contracts

Opportunity assessment and planning

Identify and prioritise cost efficiency opportunities including tender, change of solution to improve cost / benefits, demand management, in/out-sourcing or offshoring.

Develop and agree with IT team the annual IT procurement / cost efficiency plan focused on cost savings (while delivering required functionality / quality / reliability).

Delivery of year-over-year reduction of external IT spend (OpEx)

Lead the renewal of contracts, by timely notifying contract owners, gathering new product/service requirements, developing the negotiation approach, validating the approach with key stakeholders, negotiating renewal with suppliers, and reviewing results with other team members

Analyse the supply markets: assess the competitiveness and capabilities of the current supplier and identify alternative suppliers to be invited to submit proposals

Organise tenders / negotiations: prepare tender documentation, launch tender (RFQ), analyse quotes, drive multi-round negotiations, propose business award decision, get approval of IT

Demand management: identify and support implementation of opportunities related to the reduction of our usage of IT products / services.

Contract negotiation: lead the revision process of the new contract by acting as the main interface between the supplier and our Legal and IT teams, keeping the process going from both sides, ensuring that input is provided by all key stakeholders, and verifying that key commercial terms are included in the contract

Issue purchase orders for group IT suppliers

Following negotiation for new contracts and contract renewals, issue the purchase orders for group IT suppliers (c. 50-70 suppliers) and make sure purchase orders are correctly issued by IT team members for brand-specific suppliers

What we are looking for:
Experienced Prcurement Manager who has been independently managing multiple IT contracts of total value of c. $10-15m for a well-established global organisation for 3-5 years and has overall work experience of 10-15 years

Expert knwledge of (a) prcurement process (cntract management, RFQ/ RFP, analysis of quotes, negotiations, PO) as well as (b) deep knwledge of standard technology services and contracts (e.g. with Micrsoft, AWS, cloud and mobile telephony, broadband, various CRM and marketing tools, etc).

Experience of procurement management of IT contracts in comparable to Travelopia context and track record of delivering significant savings by (a) competitive tenders / contract negotiation; (b) demand management measures, (c) shift to more cost-effective solutions

Ability to operate successfully in a matrix environment and work effectively across multiple geographies, groups and levels

Excellent analytical skills; embraces fact‐based decision making; naturally seeks to leverage and/or integrate market data, spend analytics, and cost modeling

Strong project management skills, including stakeholder, timeline, and meeting management skills

Excellent communication skills, including written, verbal and presentation skills; comfortable and credible with both internal stakeholders and external audiences

Proficient in use of MS Excel and MS PowerPoint

A flexible, dynamic, self-demanding and proactive individual; able to motivate him/herself and biased for action

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, business, commerce/finance, or equivalent field from a leading university required.