Senior Sourcing Manager

Role Overview

The Senior Sourcing Manager is a high‑impact, customer‑facing sourcing leader in a leading procurement organization, accountable for shaping and delivering category strategies and sourcing outcomes across Contingent Talent and/or Professional Services. This role partners closely with senior business and functional leaders to translate workforce and service needs into sourcing strategies that improve speed, quality, flexibility, and total value—while strengthening supplier partnerships and delivering measurable commercial outcomes.

This is a hands‑on role for a commercially minded leader who thrives in a fast‑moving environment: balancing market intelligence, negotiation excellence, and relationship management to build modern talent and services ecosystems that enable growth.

Key Responsibilities

Category Strategy & Strategic Sourcing Leadership

• Lead end‑to‑end strategic sourcing initiatives for Contingent Talent (e.g., staffing, SOW/statement‑of‑work labor, MSP/VMS) and/or Professional Services (e.g., consulting, advisory, engineering/technical services), from opportunity identification through award and implementation.
• Develop and execute multi‑year category strategies informed by workforce trends, supplier capabilities, and business demand signals—driving an integrated roadmap for value, agility, and service excellence.
• Design and run competitive RFx events and negotiations (RFI/RFP/RFQ), using market benchmarks, commercial models, and scenario analysis to optimize rate structures, service levels, and outcome‑based pricing.

Stakeholder Partnership & Demand Shaping

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders (HR/Talent, Finance, Legal, Technology, Operations, business leaders), building strong relationships and influencing decisions through clear commercial insight and practical options.
• Shape demand by challenging requirements constructively, aligning on scope, delivery models, and supplier strategies that improve time‑to‑fill, utilization, productivity, and cost to serve.
• Lead cross‑functional sourcing teams, driving alignment, decision velocity, and change adoption across complex initiatives.

Supplier Relationship Management & Market Engagement

• Own strategic supplier relationships, setting the tone for collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement across staffing partners, consultancies, and service providers.
• Establish and run supplier business reviews focused on performance, delivery quality, stakeholder experience, and value realization; identify and execute joint improvement and innovation plans.
• Maintain deep awareness of external market dynamics (talent availability, rate inflation/deflation, regulatory shifts, service delivery models, nearshore/offshore options) and proactively apply insights to category strategies.

Commercial Outcomes & Value Realization

• Build and actively manage a pipeline of initiatives and renewals, prioritizing opportunities with the highest business impact and creating a clear path to annual value targets.
• Deliver negotiated outcomes that balance cost, quality, speed, and resilience—e.g., improved time‑to‑fill, reduced leakage, better SOW controls, optimized supplier mix, and more effective rate cards.
• Define and track category performance metrics (e.g., fill rate, cycle time, compliance to preferred suppliers, rate card adoption, SOW milestone delivery, savings/value), and communicate results in a simple, compelling narrative.

Operating Model Enablement (Lightweight, Practical)

• Embed sourcing best practices into the day‑to‑day stakeholder experience (intake, scoping, RFx, contracting, supplier governance), keeping processes simple and business‑friendly.
• Partner with HR/Legal/Finance to ensure contracting approaches and sourcing decisions are sound, scalable, and aligned to business needs—without over‑indexing on policy.

Leadership & Capability Building

• Coach and influence across procurement and stakeholder teams, elevating commercial thinking, negotiation discipline, and supplier management maturity.
• Contribute to the evolution of category playbooks, templates, and sourcing toolkits to improve speed, consistency, and stakeholder satisfaction.

What Success Looks Like

• Stakeholders view Procurement as a strategic partner that accelerates access to talent and services while improving outcomes.
• Supplier relationships are strong and performance‑driven, delivering innovation, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.
• Category strategies are market‑informed and forward‑looking, aligned to business priorities and workforce/service demand.
• Measurable value is delivered through improved commercial terms, optimized delivery models, and better performance outcomes.

Ideal Background (Illustrative)

• 7–10+ years in strategic sourcing/category management with deep expertise in Contingent Talent and/or Professional Services.
• Proven experience leading complex RFx and negotiations (rate cards, SOWs, outcome‑based pricing, multi‑supplier strategies).
• Strong stakeholder management track record with HR/Talent, Finance, Legal, and senior business leaders.
• Experience with MSP/VMS environments and/or professional services contracting models is an asset.