Interim Procurement Change Director

Christie's; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading art business in Greater London is seeking an Interim Procurement Change Director to establish a global procurement function. Responsible for managing a £230M spend, the successful candidate will drive vendor consolidation, improve process compliance, and implement new systems. Ideal applicants will have over a decade of procurement experience and strong leadership skills. This position offers a flexible working model and a variety of employee benefits including generous leave and health insurance.

Benefits

25 days annual leave plus birthday leave

Flexible Fitness Fund - £400 per year

Private Health Insurance

Cycle to Work scheme

Discretionary Bonus

Qualifications

• Must have over 10 years of experience in an operational role.
• Experience managing a procurement function with significant budgets.
• Proven leadership in contract delivery at a significant budgetary level.

Responsibilities

• Lead the interim procurement team and manage a £230M+ spend.
• Design and launch vendor consolidation and system integration projects.
• Improve process compliance and set up new KPIs.

Skills

Procurement management

Leadership

Data analysis

Contract management

Process improvement

Education

10+ years in procurement

Tools

PowerApps

Data management systems

Job description

The Company

Christie’s, the world’s largest Art Business, is an incredibly exciting & enriching place to start or continue your career. Whether you work within one of our Specialist Art Departments, or in one of our more Operational teams, we are all working together with one common goal in mind: to continue the success of this 250 year old company, steeped in history, bringing fresh ideas whilst not forgetting our shared values; Integrity, Excellence, Innovation, Responsibility & Relationships. Colleagues across all departments are truly passionate about what they do and it is inspiring to work with industry leaders across our business.

Why This Role Matters

As a foundation-stone in the improvement plan for Procurement in Christie’s, this new role will be a first of its kind. The role will be central to the evolution of the Procurement function in Christie’s, representing the first step to establishing a global procurement function with standardised, efficient processes, engaging with a lean, consolidated supplier base.

The candidate taking this role will be responsible for setting up the interim procurement team. Annual spend in scope is in excess of £200M across the full range of Christie’s business services. There are currently over 1,000 suppliers in the vendor portfolio for addressable spend.

This role can be hired on a fixed term, or per diem rate.

How You'll Make an Impact

This new role will set the foundations for the procurement operating model and will be responsible for two major improvement projects.

The first of these areas will be designing and initiating a vendor consolidation programme. This programme will initially identify duplicate services currently being delivered by multiple suppliers across the Christie’s global vendor landscape. The successful candidate will work through the team or directly with business representatives to begin to consolidate vendors to a list of preferred suppliers, supported by a wider, but limited set of tertiary suppliers for specific service delivery.

The second of these areas will be delivering integrated system support for procurement processes. The base data for procurement is present, but in fractured systems. The candidate will be responsible for bringing a team together to bridge the system and data gaps through the deployment of a suite of PowerApps. This will include the development of standard contracting workflows and the initiation of a single global document repository.

Alongside these two improvement projects, the Interim Procurement Change Director will be responsible for improving process compliance to reduce business risk and spend leakage, and identifying appropriate procurement and vendor management staff and practices by category. The candidate will provide technical and functional support to the existing Procurement Managers and ensuring they are fully engaged in the design and deployment of the new PowerApps tool and also the vendor rationalisation programme.

At the end of the temporary contract the Interim Procurement Change Director will use the performance metrics collected during their tenure to define the new procurement team. They are expected to assist the sourcing of new external hires should they be required.

• Lead the interim procurement team and manage a £230M+ spend

• Design and launch vendor consolidation and system integration projects

• Improve process compliance, reduce spend leakage, and set up new KPIs

• Coach and develop the procurement team, ensuring engagement with new tools and processes

• Define the future procurement operating model and support hiring for permanent roles

What you’ll bring to the team

• The person fitting this role with be an experienced Procurement Specialist with over 10 years’ experience in an appropriate decision making operational role. Must have experience of successfully managing a procurement function, as well as setting the parameters for suppliers and their performance in the order fulfilment process to global locations

• Must provide leadership in the delivery of effective contracts at a significant budgetary level. Must have hands-on approach to the configuration and setup for all contracting workflows and support processes.

• Will drive the roadmap and communicate the plan for a swift roll out of the new procurement processes and systems to all Christie’s departments.

• Sets out the personal targets to the Procurement team to fulfil the business requirements in Source to Contract and also in supplier management.

• Builds an exceptional data foundation (including consistent master data, SoW and contract templates) to support the new systems.

• Helps train and coach staff in all supporting functions in the procurement improvements including future global visibility of contracting status. Will become an engaged change advocate with ability to listen and resolve challenges in a highly collaborative manner.

• Promotes the benefits of agility and productivity in procurement by leveraging data and clear evidence of smoother operations in support of the Christie’s business community. Acts as a clear voice for positive change. Prioritises and plans process improvement with Christie’s functional leads.

• Supports the evolving design of the new operating model and brings in deep procurement thinking to improve the future process model. Will design and drive AI-enhanced improvements to the Christie’s procurement function for the future.

What’s great about working for us (Not applicable if hired on a per diem rate)

• 25 days annual leave + 1 day Birthday leave

• Christie’s Christmas office closure (guaranteed between 25th Dec – 1st Jan) – in addition to annual leave: almost two weeks to fully switch off and spend time with friends and family

• Additional 1 week’s annual leave within the year of a 5-year anniversary i.e. 5th, 10th, 15th and so on

• Volunteering day: Take an additional day of annual leave to volunteer for a charitable organisation that’s important to you

• Donation matching of up to £500 per annum to help you support the organisations you care about

• Flexible Fitness Fund - £400 per year expense allowance for health and wellness related activity (taxable)

• Access to world-renowned art: with regular exhibitions in our galleries to wander around and exclusive guided tours hosted by specialist colleagues

• Discretionary Bonus (dependent on the business and employee performance payable in March each year)

• Generous retirement plan: We will double match your pension contribution up to 5% of your basic salary (Max 10% contribution from Christie’s)

• Private Health Insurance – no employee contribution needed, subsidised for other family members

• Dental Insurance – (may be extended at personal cost)

• Generous Income Protection Insurance in the event of accident, sickness or injury after 12 months

• Competitive Life Insurance policy from first day

• Employee Assistance Programme – access to personal advice and support services including counselling

• Eyecare vouchers (once a year)

• Cycle to Work scheme

• Christie’s Extras – discounts on over 800 retailers, holiday packages, dinners and weekly shops

• Seniorcare by Lottie, a comprehensive eldercare solution

• Robust family first policy:

Ø 16 weeks full pay on Maternity Leave

Ø Eligible to return to work for 80% of your agreed normal weekly working pattern while being paid as though you were working 100%, post a minimum of 16 weeks of leave

Ø Dependent back-up care: 10 sessions/ days of childcare or eldercare per year

Ø Christies Family Network : Our community of parents who meet regularly over breakfasts, lunch, afternoon tea…

*Christie’s reserves the right to change company benefits at any time

Closing Date: 4th January 2026

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