Network & Telecom Category Lead Expert - #1726420

Job Description

About AXA

As a world-leading insurance company, we act for human progress by protecting what matters. With 153,000 employees in 54 countries working for 105 million customers, we’ve created a truly dynamic and vibrant community. Inclusion and diversity link closely with our values, and together we’re nurturing a culture of respect, for each other, for our customers and the communities around us. Join AXA and you’ll feel like you belong, are included and can thrive. You’ll be able to shape the way you work and truly grow your potential as you seek out new opportunities, push boundaries and benefit people in critical moments of their lives. This is your chance to build the tomorrow you want. Know you can.

About The Entity

AXA is becoming a sustainable tech-led company and at AXA Group Operations we are one of the major catalysts for this transformation.

We set the tone by triggering and empowering the evolution of our insurance business model through technology and innovation, driving its concrete implementation globally at speed, with a high quality of advisory and execution.

We are present across 17 countries with committed, highly qualified teams. We leverage technology, data, sourcing, security and investment allocation in a global way, but also achieve economies of scale and synergies when necessary.

At AXA Group Operations, we want to be recognized in three fields of action:

• State-of-the-art Data Technology to drive customer experience
• State-of-the-art Procurement & Sourcing to drive efficiency and better manage risks
• High-Performing Global Team for stronger partnerships with AXA entities
  
  

Job position pitch

Where will you be in the organization?

The department / team

As Group, We

You will join Group Procurement & Sourcing division. Our mission is to increase AXA Group competitiveness by optimizing the end-to-end Procurement cycle of external spend (excluding Insurance procurement), while building a high performance and risk-managed supplier based. We have a global and entity Procurement presence with 2 different mandates:

• Leverage our purchasing power through global deals & key supplier relationship management
• Define & share vendor risk framework & outsourcing policies
• Provide and manage global Procurement tools
• Drive responsible Procurement across AXA
• Engage the Procurement community
  

As Group Operations (GO) Support Function, We

• Optimize the external spend by managing categories and suppliers, and challenging the demand to support AXA GO strategy
• Implement vendor risk framework and policies at AXA GO
• Develop and use local & global Procurement tools
• Develop responsible Procurement at AXA GO
  
  

Our division is composed of several departments with respective accountabilities:

• Procurement IT & Security
• Procurement General Expenses & Real Estate
• Procurement Strategic Sourcing Partnerships
• Procurement Strategy and M&A
• Procurement Performance & Operations
• Procurement CESAME
• Procurement Transformation
  
  

About The Job

Job purpose

As a Senior Sourcing Expert, your main objective is to :

• Set the Group Procurement strategy for Network & Hardware working with multiple internal stakeholders.
• Challenge the needs in a constructive dialog with stakeholders.
• Define and drive the negotiation strategy whilst ensuring the involvement and buy in of stakeholders including AXA Senior Executives.
• Linking with the community of Network & Hardware Sourcing Experts and developing relationships with AXA Operating Company procurement teams (including CPO) to develop transparency on common work/vendors/challenges and to support local projects in a pull mode.
• Maintain constant market knowledge, identifying vendor strategies, detecting disruption in the market, anticipating and mitigating risks and seizing opportunities.
  
  

Main missions

Your Responsibilities Include

• Ensure upstream procurement involvement within the IT stakeholders through Sourcing Business Partners for Group Operations or through the network of AXA Companies buyers in order to deliver value / savings & minimize AXA risk exposure.
• Proactively manage contract lifecycle: renegotiation, ensure compliance etc.
• Challenging the needs: the Sourcing Lead Expert will challenge the needs and have a dialog with business areas to set the right conditions to optimize benefits. Levers will include specification/test to open to alternative solutions/alternative vendors, reuse of excess licenses available, change in deployment to optimize number of licenses.
• Gather needs throughout for aggregation purposes and getting best deals for the AXA Group.
• Define negotiation strategy with internal stakeholders, involve these stakeholders, including AXA Executives, when driving the negotiations with Vendors.
• Drive the contractual negotiations with Vendors and internal stakeholders (Legal, Compliance, Data Privacy, Security, Resilience). For AXA Companies, in pull mode, the Network & Hardware Sourcing Expert may be in support / advising mode to another AXA Company buyer.
• Provide the Procurement network Groupwide with key information about the negotiated deals, being able to promote these deals to ensure AXA Companies adherence to them.
• Drive the development of new market opportunities (new suppliers, technologies, substitution products, etc.) for creating/ensuring competition between vendors for the benefit of AXA.
• As may be assigned, operate as a Key Vendor Manager at global level (for a specific vendor), ensuring relevant alignment to Key Vendor Management framework.
• Propose and implement levers for reducing or avoiding costs through vendor competition.
  
  

Expected Skills & Experience

We are looking for someone with the following experience and skills:

Experience

• Master’s degree in Procurement / MBA level / CIPS qualified.
• Significant experience (5+ years) in Procurement with at least three years spent in Network, Workplace or Datacenter categories.
• Exposure to large, multi-country company
  
  

Technical Skills

• Excellent negotiation skills, including experience with monopolistic like vendors.
• Ability to design and articulate negotiation strategies.
• A broad understanding of IT evolution.
• Deep knowledge of pricing models (software metrics, SLAs, etc).
• Knowledge of key contractual clauses.
• Awareness Asset Management and deployment.
• English - Fluent in speaking and writing - another European language is a plus.
  
  

Soft Skills / Transversal Skills

• Good Communication and teamwork, able to work in an agile mode across the IT community.
• Excellent collaboration.
• A strong colleagues and internal customers focus.
• Result orientated.
• Creative and innovative mindset to challenge established business models and approaches.
• Ability to work with the wider leadership team.
• Ability to work in an international environment.
  
  

What We Offer

We bring together the expertise, cultural diversity and creativity of over 8,000 employees worldwide and we’re committed to equal opportunities in all aspects of employment (gender, LGBT+, disabled persons, or people of different origins) and to promoting Diversity & Inclusion by creating a work environment where all employees are treated with dignity and respect, and where individual differences are valued.