Purpose

The Team Leader, IT Strategic Sourcing is responsible for leading, developing, and coaching a team of Strategic Sourcers within Chain IQ's global IT sourcing organization. The role combines people leadership, operational delivery management, and strategic client engagement to ensure the successful execution of complex sourcing initiatives across multiple clients and geographies.

As a senior procurement leader and trusted advisor, the Team Leader drives sourcing excellence, value creation, innovation, and commercial outcomes while ensuring high levels of client satisfaction, team performance, and professional development. The role serves as the escalation point for complex negotiations, sourcing challenges, and stakeholder management activities, while helping shape the future direction of the IT sourcing practice.

The position operates in a highly dynamic multinational environment, managing competing priorities across multiple clients, categories, and markets.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & People Management

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Strategic Sourcers and Senior Strategic Sourcers.
• Conduct performance reviews, development discussions, and succession planning activities.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and retention of sourcing talent.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on client value, collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Mentor team members on sourcing strategies, negotiation techniques, stakeholder management, and category expertise.
• Drive knowledge sharing and best-practice adoption across the IT sourcing community.
• Promote employee engagement and create development opportunities for team members.

Client & Stakeholder Management

• Act as senior trusted advisor to executive stakeholders including CIOs, CTOs, CPOs, CFOs, Managing Directors, and Procurement Leadership.
• Build and maintain strategic client relationships to ensure long-term value creation and client satisfaction.
• Support complex executive-level discussions, escalations, and negotiations.
• Ensure consistent delivery quality across all sourcing initiatives managed by the team.
• Identify opportunities to expand sourcing support and strategic value delivery for clients.

Sourcing & Commercial Leadership

• Oversee multiple high-value sourcing initiatives across software, hardware, cloud, telecommunications, outsourcing, managed services, and infrastructure categories.
• Provide strategic guidance on sourcing approaches, commercial models, supplier strategies, and negotiation tactics.
• Support and lead negotiations for large-scale and strategic supplier agreements.
• Review and challenge sourcing strategies to maximize savings, value creation, and risk mitigation.
• Ensure sourcing projects are delivered on time, within scope, and according to client expectations.
• Drive adoption of market benchmarks and category intelligence to strengthen negotiation outcomes.

Operational Excellence

• Manage team capacity, workload prioritization, and resource allocation across clients and projects.
• Monitor sourcing pipeline, delivery performance, and service levels.
• Ensure compliance with client policies, procurement standards, legal requirements, and internal governance processes.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across sourcing processes, tools, templates, and methodologies.
• Leverage technology, analytics, and AI-enabled sourcing tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Market & Category Leadership

• Maintain deep understanding of IT market trends, supplier landscapes, emerging technologies, and commercial developments.
• Act as category leader for designated IT sourcing domains.
• Develop category strategies, market intelligence, benchmarks, and supplier insights.
• Support business development activities, solution design, and client presentations where required.
• Identify opportunities for innovation, supplier consolidation, cost optimization, and operating model improvements.

Required Experience & Skills

Professional Experience

• 10+ years of IT sourcing, procurement, vendor management, or commercial experience.
• 3–5+ years of people leadership experience.
• Proven track record managing high-performing sourcing teams.
• Extensive experience leading strategic sourcing initiatives and large-scale negotiations.
• Experience working in multinational and multi-client environments.
• Demonstrated success managing executive-level stakeholder relationships.

IT Category Expertise

Strong knowledge across multiple IT domains, including:

• Software licensing, pricing models, and enterprise agreements
• Cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)
• IT infrastructure and data centres
• End-user devices and hardware sourcing
• Managed services and outsourcing
• Network and telecommunications services
• Cybersecurity solutions and services
• Nearshore and offshore delivery models
• Emerging technologies including AI and automation solutions

Leadership Skills

• Strong people leadership and coaching capabilities.
• Excellent stakeholder and relationship management skills.
• Ability to influence senior executives and drive strategic decisions.
• Proven capability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong conflict resolution and escalation management skills.
• High degree of accountability and ownership.

Commercial & Analytical Skills

• Expert negotiation and supplier management capabilities.
• Strong financial, commercial, and contractual understanding.
• Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with benchmarking, cost modelling, and business case development.
• Strong risk management and decision-making capabilities.

Technical & Language Skills

• Experience using e-sourcing and procurement technologies.
• Advanced Microsoft Office and analytics capabilities.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled sourcing tools and digital procurement platforms.
• Business fluency in English.
• Additional languages are considered an advantage.