Group Overview
Established in 1981 with a single store in the North-West of England, JD Sports Fashion plc is a leading global omnichannel retailer of sports fashion and outdoor brands. JD is an industry-leading retail business which combines the best of physical and digital retail to give a compelling consumer proposition, enabling its customers to shop seamlessly across all channels. The Group now has over 4,500 stores across 36 countries with a strong presence in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, and is proud of the fact that it always provides its customers with the latest products from the very best brands.
Role Background
Our Sourcing Manager role will support our Senior Sourcing Manager and the wider team with commercial support including risk management, supplier identification, planning and re-tenders across multiple divisions ensuring commercial clauses are negotiated within agreements. Within the role, the successful candidate(s) will deliver margin, sales, and operational improvements to support our sourcing strategy. This will primarily involve expenditure managed from our UK and European businesses but may expand to world-wide where leverage opportunities exist. The successful candidate shall bring passion and experience to work with, and challenge experienced divisional colleagues to collectively improve sourcing processes, commercial terms, supplier performance and innovation. All expenditure is in scope for Technology & On-Line but with a primary focus on SAAS and On-Line. In this role, you will be asked to help support and assist in building an effective procurement strategy for each category. Further to this you conduct activities such as RFP’s, negotiations of commercial agreements, and ongoing vendor management to deliver continuous savings as well as performance and process improvement. Ensuring ongoing relationship management with key suppliers in the form of business reviews to ensure optimum performance.
Responsibilities
* Act as a commercial lead for sourcing and commercial activities, ensuring negotiation, contract work and on-going vendor management activities are undertaken in accordance with Group and sector best practice
* Close engagement with colleagues on matters including revenue/capex budgets, embedding savings, and supporting business cases for new projects and/or investments
* Transparent and detailed presentation of proposed contract awards, sourcing changes and recommendations
* Utilise Group Finance platforms and templates for Purchase Orders, tenders and eAuctions to ensure financial and operational transparency
* Regular engagement with the Group Legal team to minimise risk and maximise commercial leverage via agreements with clearly defined service levels, KPIs and appropriate remedies for non-performance
* Engage acquisition business contacts to ensure rapid-delivery of financial benefits arising from wider JD-Group commercial leverage
* Work with the Group Sustainability team to ensure sourcing approach to contribute to Group ESG goals such as climate change, sustainable sourcing and recycling and the circular economy
* Act as a trusted adviser and subject matter expert leading procurement projects across all types of services
* Support the Business in defining process and policy and holding team members to account
* Partner with the relevant teams to formulate complex service requirements and scope, identify vendors, manage the end-to-end RFP process, provide a supplier evaluation framework, and make recommendations on vendor selection
Skills / Experience / Knowledge
* Commercial experience within fast-paced omni-channel retail and/or relevant commodity/services experience with the ability to manage a high level of ambiguity or change
* Confidence to own problems and issues, propose solutions and ensure deadlines and/or business goals are achieved
* A self-starter who has the initiative and confidence to seek out opportunities to deliver value
* Influence – engage and drive change, owning and resolving issues and challenges
* Strong engagement and communication skills and experience of successfully delivering process improvements and efficiencies
* Attention to detail – focused and confident with a breadth of experience in related categories
* Driven by data and analytics – You bring strong analytical skills with a passion for using data to develop innovative, effective solutions to address business needs, initiate opportunities and deliver margin improvement
* A strong negotiator with the ability to influence using excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills
* A builder of strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders
* Organised and deadline-driven, bringing strong project management and analytical skills
* Autonomous with high level of drive and energy
* Strategic – you recognise and resolve situations that are ambiguous or challenging and use logic to identify alternatives, evaluate, and present solutions while thinking about contingency plans
* Confidence to challenge the business where needed
* A degree in Supply Chain Management, Business or a related field preferred
* Experience as a Sourcing Manager within the category of IT, SAAS and/or On-Line for 2+ years
* Strong negotiation and leadership skills
* Proficiency in MS Office software and computer systems
* Excellent decision-making and strategic thinking abilities
* A proven track record in building complex relationships
* A thorough understanding of procurement procedures
* Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, capable of working in a rapidly changing environment
Benefits
We know our colleagues work tirelessly to make JD Sports the success it is today and in turn, we offer them some amazing benefits including staff discount on JD Group and other brands within the organisation and personal development opportunities to learn and develop at work.
Location
JD Sports Fashion plc, Bury Head Office Group
Seniority level
Mid-Senior level
Employment type
Full-time
Job function
Engineering and Information Technology
Industries
Retail
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