Procurement Operations Lead

Confidential; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential in the UAE is building a digital-first, AI-enabled financial services organisation from the ground up. This role leads procurement operations, supplier onboarding, contract administration, and governance to support the new platform.

You will collaborate with Risk, Compliance, Information Security, Finance, and Legal to ensure due diligence, performance management, and effective vendor oversight across technology and general spend.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in procurement operations, vendor management, or third-party risk management in banking/financial services.
• Deep expertise in sourcing execution, supplier onboarding, due diligence, SLA management, and contract administration.
• Experience building vendor lifecycle processes and risk controls in regulated environments.
• Knowledge of CBUAE outsourcing expectations and data-protection standards.
• Exposure to AI-enabled vendor monitoring and analytics.

Responsibilities

• Maintain supplier inventory across technology, digital, operations, and general-spend categories with clear ownership and criticality classifications.
• Run end-to-end sourcing including RFPs, evaluation, negotiation, and contracting with input from Tech and General Category Leads.
• Coordinate due diligence and risk-tiering for new/renewing suppliers with inputs from Risk, Compliance, IS, Finance, Legal, and stakeholders.
• Onboard suppliers into procurement, contracting, POs, and payment processes with proper documentation and master data.
• Operate supplier governance routines: service reviews, scorecards, issue logs, escalation paths, and improvement plans.
• Monitor supplier performance against SLAs and KPIs; drive corrective actions with service owners.
• Maintain vendor data including contract end dates, materiality classifications, and exit plans.
• Coordinate periodic third-party risk reviews covering continuity, data protection, subcontracting, and remediation.
• Manage contract administration including change requests, renewals, and invoices using AI-enabled tooling.

Skills

Procurement operations

Vendor management

Third-party risk management

SLA management

Contract administration

Sourcing execution

Vendor governance

AI-enabled procurement

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business or related field

Procurement certification (CIPS/CTPRP)

Tools

AI-enabled procurement tooling

Vendor monitoring tooling

Job description

We're excited to be partnering with a leading institution in the UAE that is building a digital-first, AI-enabled financial services organisation from the ground up. This is a unique opportunity to join at an early stage and help shape the people, operational, and service foundations of a business with significant institutional backing and long-term ambition. If you're passionate about HR operations, payroll excellence, and creating exceptional employee experiences, we'd love to hear from you.

Role Purpose:

Runs the procurement operations and vendor lifecycle management across all spend categories, spanning sourcing execution, supplier onboarding, contract administration, and vendor governance. Ensures suppliers are onboarded, governed, monitored, and remediated effectively from Day 1, working with the Tech and General Category Leads, who own business requirements and category strategies.

Key responsibilities:

• Maintain a complete inventory of the bank's suppliers across technology, digital, operations, and general-spend categories, with clear ownership and criticality classifications.
• Run the sourcing process end-to-end, including RFP issuance, evaluation coordination, negotiation support, and contracting, using business requirements and evaluation input from the Tech and General Category Leads.
• Coordinate due diligence and risk-tiering for new and renewing suppliers, obtaining auditable inputs from Risk, Compliance, Information Security, Finance, Legal, and business stakeholders.
• Onboard appointed suppliers into operational, contract, purchase-order, and payment processes, ensuring complete documentation, correct delegations, accurate master data, and clear service handover.
• Operate supplier governance routines, including service reviews, scorecards, issue logs, escalation paths, and improvement plans proportionate to vendor criticality.
• Monitor supplier performance against SLAs and KPIs, drive corrective actions with service owners, and elevate persistent underperformance to the appropriate governance forum.
• Maintain vendor and outsourcing-register data, including materiality classifications, control requirements, contract end dates, regulatory notification needs, and exit plans.
• Coordinate periodic third-party risk reviews covering continuity, data protection, subcontracting, concentration risk, and remediation tracking.
• Manage contract administration, including approved change requests, renewals, extensions, terminations, requisitions, purchase orders, and invoice validation, using approved AI-enabled procurement and vendor-monitoring tooling.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 8+ years in procurement operations, vendor management, or third-party risk management within banking or financial services, including senior leadership of a procurement operations team.
• Deep expertise in sourcing execution, supplier onboarding, due diligence, SLA management, contract administration, and structured vendor governance.
• Proven record building vendor lifecycle processes, outsourcing registers, performance scorecards, and third-party risk controls in a regulated environment.
• Strong knowledge of relevant CBUAE outsourcing expectations and applicable third-party risk, data-protection, and operational-resilience standards.
• Exposure to AI-enabled vendor monitoring, workflow automation, and advanced vendor performance and risk analytics.

Qualifications & Certifications (Preferred)

• Bachelor’s degree in business, supply chain, or a related field preferred.
• Procurement or third-party risk certification (for example, CIPS or CTPRP) preferred.
• CBUAE Fit & Proper requirements and any applicable controlled-function eligibility criteria, where required.