Director, Global IT Procurement

About the position Are you ready to lead and innovate in the realm of IT procurement? We are seeking a strategic IT Procurement Category Director to spearhead our global IT procurement efforts within Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease (RDU). This pivotal role serves as a strategic business partner to Alexion and RDU IT leadership, transforming technology roadmaps and product priorities into commercial strategies and supplier outcomes. You will drive category management excellence, implement ground-breaking initiatives, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to enable speed, innovation, resilience, and compliant value creation across the Alexion/RDU portfolio. Join us in fostering a high-performing, partnership-oriented culture that supports our IT and Procurement teams in achieving their bold goals.

Responsibilities

• Category Management Excellence: Develop and execute an innovative global category strategy for IT procurement that drives continuous improvement and delivers sustainable value—co-shaped with Alexion and RDU IT to align with technology roadmaps, architecture standards, and service delivery needs.
• Leadership and Team Development: Lead, mentor, and develop a team of procurement professionals. Encourage a culture of excellence, collaboration, and professional growth, embedding a business partnering mentality and proactive engagement model with Alexion/RDU IT.
• Strategic Sourcing: Identify and execute strategic sourcing opportunities that align with company and product goals. Leverage deep market insights and benchmarking to optimize and innovate procurement processes, timing sourcing events to IT delivery cadences (e.g., sprint/PI planning) and supporting rapid proofs-of-concept through to scale-up.
• Supplier Relationship Management: Build and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers and strategic technology partners (cloud, SaaS, data/AI, engineering services, niche R&D platforms). Drive joint value creation for Alexion/RDU use cases, negotiate commercial models that fit consumption patterns, and ensure measurable outcomes.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate closely with Alexion and RDU IT product owners, engineering, architecture, cybersecurity, finance, and senior leadership to align procurement strategies with business objectives. Facilitate portfolio planning and demand shaping to optimize total cost, risk, and speed-to-value.
• Risk Management: Identify, assess, and handle risks associated with IT procurement. Partner with Legal, Privacy, InfoSec, QA, and IT to ensure compliant contracting and robust supplier controls for regulated R&D environments; implement operational resilience and continuity plans for critical services.
• Performance Metrics and Reporting: Define and manage KPIs and OKRs operational key reports in partnership with IT (e.g., availability, velocity, unit economics, adoption). Run joint governance and QBRs with suppliers, report on value realization (savings, cost avoidance, productivity, risk reduction, innovation), and highlight areas for improvement.
• Market Intelligence for IT: Provide insight on tech market trends, vendor roadmaps, licensing shifts, and regulatory impacts to inform IT make/buy decisions, architecture choices, and derisking strategies for Alexion/RDU.
• Sustainability and Inclusion: Embed ESG, accessibility, and supplier diversity goals into the technology vendor base, balancing compliance with innovation needs in RDU.
• Change Management: Lead stakeholder education on new commercial models, vendor consolidation, and process changes; create clear playbooks and standards (e.g., data rights, model IP, validation, decommissioning) to help IT teams consume Procurement services seamlessly.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Experience: A minimum of 10 years of experience in IT procurement, with at least 5 years in a leadership role managing category teams.
• Leadership and partnering: Strong leadership and team management skills with a track record of developing talent and acting as a thought partner to IT stakeholders.
• Negotiation and communication: Excellent negotiation, communication, and interpersonal skills; comfortable facilitating executive-level discussions and shaping decisions with data.
• Influence and change: Proven ability to influence cross-functionally and drive change within a complex, global organization, balancing speed, risk, and value in regulated settings.
• IT domain fluency: Deep understanding of IT market trends, sourcing strategies, vendor management, and domains such as cloud, SaaS, data platforms, AI/ML tooling, cybersecurity, and validated/GxP systems.
• Analytical and strategic thinking: Demonstrated ability to translate business and scientific objectives into commercial strategies and supplier outcomes.
• Professional Excellence: Commitment to driving category management excellence and achieving strategic business objectives through collaborative business partnering.

Nice-to-haves

• An advanced degree or relevant certification (e.g., CIPS, CPSM) is highly desirable.
• Global procurement experience is preferred; exposure to R&D tech environments and partnering with CIO/CTO or product organizations is a plus.

Benefits

• Our positions offer eligibility for various incentives—an opportunity to receive short-term incentive bonuses, equity-based awards for salaried roles and commissions for sales roles.
• Benefits offered include qualified retirement programs, paid time off (i.e., vacation, holiday, and leaves), as well as health, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans.

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