Procurement - Technology Lead inc. Infrastructure and Professional Services

Responsible to: Procurement Director UK & Europe

Department: Finance

Location: JD Sports Fashion plc, Bury Head Office

Role Background: This is a senior leadership role within the JD Group Procurement function, accountable for all Technology procurement activity across the Group.

The Tech Procurement Lead will have direct ownership of the Infrastructure and Professional Services category whilst also providing strategic direction and day-to-day leadership to the Procurement Manager for Digital (SAAS & Digital) and the Technology Supplier Relationship Manger, ensuring a cohesive and commercially aligned Technology procurement strategy is delivered across all categories.

The Tech Procurement Lead will operate at executive level, acting as a key commercial partner to the CTO and Technology leadership team. This role requires the confidence and gravitas to engage credibly at C-suite level — advising on commercial strategy, challenging technology investment decisions, and representing the Procurement function in senior forums.

The successful candidate will be comfortable sitting alongside the CTO in supplier negotiations, steering groups and Exec led discussions, bringing commercial insight that directly shapes the Group's Technology agenda.

Within the role, the successful candidate will drive margin, operational, and performance improvements to support our Technology sourcing strategy.

This will primarily involve expenditure managed from our UK and European businesses but may expand globally where Group leverage opportunities exist.

The successful candidate will bring both category expertise and people leadership capability — able to work alongside, develop, and challenge experienced colleagues to collectively improve sourcing processes, commercial terms, supplier performance and innovation across the full Technology spend portfolio.

Responsibilities: This is an exciting opportunity to lead Technology Procurement at a critical point in the business's transformation. The category is diverse, spanning Infrastructure, Data Centres, Networks, Managed Services, Professional Services, Consultancy, SAAS, and Digital platforms. We are looking for a dynamic leader with deep procurement expertise and a genuine passion for Technology to define and deliver the end-to-end Tech Procurement strategy.

Acting as the commercial lead for all Technology sourcing, the successful candidate shall ensure that negotiation, contract work and ongoing vendor management activities are delivered in accordance with Group and sector best practice, including but not limited to:

Lead, develop and provide day-to-day direction to the Procurement Manager – Digital (SAAS & Digital), ensuring consistent procurement standards, commercial rigour and strategic alignment across all Technology categories.

Refine and own the overarching Technology Procurement strategy, aligning Infrastructure, Professional Services and Digital categories into a coherent, prioritised plan.

Operate as the primary commercial interface for the CTO and Technology leadership team, providing executive-level counsel on supplier strategy, commercial risk, and investment decisions — with the presence and credibility to influence at the highest levels of the business.

Close engagement with senior colleagues including Technology leadership, Finance and Legal on matters including revenue/capex budgets, embedding savings, and supporting business cases for new projects and/or investments.

Utilising 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 activity contributes to Group ESG goals such as: i) Climate Change, ii) Sustainable Sourcing and iii) Recycling and the Circular Economy.

Act as a trusted adviser and subject matter expert, leading complex procurement projects and providing strategic guidance across all Technology services.

Own and drive the Technology procurement pipeline, ensuring the team has visibility of upcoming renewals, re-tenders and new requirements across both Infrastructure and Digital categories.

Set and maintain procurement process and policy standards across the Technology team, holding team members to account for delivery and compliance.

Partner with the relevant teams to formulate complex service requirements and scope, identify vendors, manage end-to-end RFP processes, provide supplier evaluation frameworks, and make recommendations on vendor selection.

Key Relationships:

CTO and Technology leadership team — primary commercial partner, providing executive-level counsel on supplier strategy, commercial risk and investment decisions.
Group Procurement Director and wider Procurement leadership team — peer collaboration on category strategy, governance, reporting and savings delivery.
Procurement Manager – Digital (SaaS & Digital) and Technology Supplier Relationship Manager — direct reports; day-to-day leadership, coaching and performance management.
Technology function leads across Infrastructure, Networks, IT Operations, Core Tech and Transformation — business partners on demand planning, sourcing pipeline and supplier performance.
Finance, Legal, Risk and Group Sustainability — cross-functional partners on budgets, contractual risk, savings validation and ESG alignment.
UK and international colleagues across the JD Group, including recently acquired businesses, to surface and convert Group leverage opportunities.
Strategic external suppliers and partners across the Technology supply base — relationship ownership, performance management, governance and innovation engagement.

Skills/Experience/Knowledge required:

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 natural relationship builder — able to establish credibility quickly with senior internal stakeholders (including C-suite), peers across the Group, and strategic suppliers, and to sustain those relationships through both commercial negotiation and day-to-day delivery.

Organised and deadline-driven, bringing strong project management and analytical skills.

Autonomous self-starter with high levels of drive and energy — comfortable setting own direction, prioritising across a broad portfolio and progressing multiple workstreams in parallel without close supervision.

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 and credibility to constructively challenge senior business and Technology stakeholders — pushing back on assumptions, surfacing commercial risk, and holding the line on procurement governance while preserving strong working relationships.

The Successful Applicant

Degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance, Engineering or a related discipline; relevant professional accreditation (e.g. CIPS / MCIPS) preferred.

A minimum of 4+ years' experience as a Procurement Manager (or equivalent senior category role) leading Technology procurement, with deep category knowledge across Infrastructure and Professional Services and exposure to SaaS & Digital categories.

Demonstrable track record of leading high-value, high-complexity Technology negotiations and contract structures — including managed services, multi-year SaaS, professional services and outsourcing arrangements.

Proven people leadership experience, including direct line management or matrix leadership of experienced procurement professionals, with the ability to coach, develop and hold to account.

Excellent decision-making and strategic thinking, with the ability to balance commercial, operational and risk considerations under tight deadlines and in ambiguous situations.

Proven track record of building and sustaining complex stakeholder relationships at senior leadership and C-suite level, both internally and across the supplier base.
Thorough understanding of end-to-end procurement procedures, governance frameworks and best-practice category management, with the judgement to know when to apply rigour and when to flex.
Confident user of Microsoft Office (particularly Excel and PowerPoint); experience with sourcing, contract lifecycle and spend analytics tools (e.g. Coupa, Ariba, Ivalua, SAP) is advantageous.
Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, rapidly changing omni-channel retail environment with shifting priorities and high stakeholder visibility.