Procurement Lead – Telco

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United Kingdom.

📋 Description

• Develop and implement Airalo's procurement policies, delegation-of-authority thresholds, supplier onboarding procedures, and standards for competitive tendering.

• Create efficient and proportionate approval workflows that provide control while ensuring business agility.

• Manage category strategies for key spending areas including network and infrastructure expenditures, S&M (agencies, media, martech), IT and SaaS, as well as professional services.

• Establish a single source of truth for spend visibility and vendor categorization to track purchases, suppliers, and terms; implement standardization and a framework to comply with credit terms.

• Oversee a validated savings pipeline in collaboration with Finance, ensuring a clear segregation of duties, an audit trail, and anti-fraud measures aligned with the SOX-lite framework.

• Spearhead competitive sourcing initiatives and high-value negotiations on a total-cost-of-ownership basis, setting and achieving savings targets while enhancing working capital.

• Collaborate with Finance on zero-based budgeting and processes to transform sourcing successes into budgeted savings.

• Manage master agreements, maintain a renewals calendar, evaluate supplier performance, and conduct third-party risk assessments and due diligence.

• Ensure compliance with the PO/PR process and three-way matching, support accurate accruals, and integrate procurement into the ERP as a key stakeholder.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, or commercial/category management, including the development or significant scaling of a procurement function in a rapidly growing company.

• Extensive category knowledge across indirect spend (marketing, IT/SaaS, professional services); essential experience in network, telecom, or infrastructure spending such as capacity, routing, and wholesale.

• Proven success in managing competitive tenders and complex negotiations with demonstrable, validated savings.

• Practical experience in designing PO/PR and purchase-to-pay processes, ideally within an ERP environment (SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft).

• Strong understanding of procurement policies, delegation of authority, supplier risk, and control measures.

• Ability to influence without formal authority: respected by senior leaders in Networks, Marketing, and Technology, capable of changing purchasing behavior through data-driven insights.

🏝️ Benefits

• Health Insurance

• Work-from-anywhere stipend

• Annual wellness & learning credits

• Annual all-expenses-paid company retreat in a beautiful destination & additional benefits