Strategic 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

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.