Director, Procurement Operations & Excellence

The Procurement Operations & Excellence Lead is responsible for driving operational maturity across the global procurement & operations organization. This role owns the strategy, deployment, and continuous improvement of procurement & travel processes, systems, tools, governance, and policies. The role includes the management of team leads across procurement and travel operations and requires strong managerial capabilities to develop, coach, and direct those leaders. It requires a visionary operator with strong project-management and people-leadership skills, the ability to manage complex cross-functional interfaces, and a relentless drive for execution. The role ensures world-class performance, streamlined operations, compliance, and excellent service levels to stakeholders and suppliers.
How will you make an impact?
1. Operational Excellence & Process Leadership
- Design, implement, and optimize end-to-end procurement and corporate travel processes across all categories and regions.
- Diagnose operational gaps and drive continuous improvement initiatives across procurement and travel operations.
- Develop KPIs, dashboards, and performance metrics to monitor efficiency, effectiveness, and traveler experience.
- Standardize operating procedures and methodologies globally across procurement and travel.
- Leverage AI and analytics to identify process bottlenecks, forecast demand, and recommend optimization opportunities.
2. Systems, Tools & Digital Procurement
- Act as product owner for procurement and travel technologies such as ERP, P2P, contract management, intake tools, supplier portals, online booking tools (OBTs), TMC platforms, and expense management systems.
- Define system requirements, manage roadmaps, and lead improvement cycles with IT, TMCs, and vendors.
- Evaluate and deploy AI-powered capabilities, agentic intake, conversational assistants, contract intelligence, spend classification, and predictive analytics, across the procurement and travel stack.
- Train procurement and travel teams on new systems, AI tools, and digital capabilities.
- Ensure data integrity, automation, and seamless platform integration across procurement, travel, and finance systems.
3. Policy, Governance & Compliance
- Maintain procurement and travel policies, guidelines, and internal controls.
- Establish governance frameworks ensuring compliance with legal, audit, duty-of-care, and data-privacy standards.
- Define responsible-AI guardrails for procurement and travel use cases, including data handling, bias, and human-in-the-loop controls.
- Align policies with Finance, Legal, Security, and HR/Mobility teams.
4. Program & Project Management
- Lead cross-functional programs, including procurement and travel system rollouts, AI deployments, and process improvements.
- Track deliverables, timelines, risks, and stakeholder dependencies.
- Drive execution of strategic procurement and travel initiatives, including AI and automation programs.
5. Stakeholder & Service Management
- Serve as the central point for operational escalations and support across procurement and travel.
- Ensure high service levels and traveler experience via structured intake management, AI-assisted triage, and prioritization.
- Promote a culture of efficiency, accountability, and data-driven decision-making across the procurement and travel ecosystem.