Head - Sourcing & Procurement

Reliance Retail; Mumbai; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 8,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL) seeks a senior procurement leader to centralize and elevate its sourcing CoE across formats and geographies. The role drives AI-enabled decision making, vendor ecosystem development, and governance frameworks to optimize cost, quality and risk at scale.

Reporting to the Business Head, this transformation mandates cross-functional alignment with merchandising, supply chain, operations, technology and corporate functions, embedding ethics and ESG into every

Qualifications

• 18-22+ years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing/procurement, including significant leadership experience building or scaling a procurement CoE.
• MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification from a leading institute; engineering or supply chain background preferred.
• Experience across retail, FMCG, manufacturing or large conglomerate environments with multi-category, multi-BU procurement exposure.
• Demonstrated experience building or leading global vendor ecosystems and driving large-scale procurement transformation, including digital/AI-enabled procurement.
• Strong exposure to procurement governance, ethics, compliance and ESG frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Define and institutionalize an enterprise-wide sourcing & procurement strategy and build a centralized CoE standardizing processes, tools and decision frameworks across business units.
• Harmonize sourcing practices across formats and drive demand consolidation and cross-business synergies.
• Build a global supplier ecosystem across geographies to strengthen cost competitiveness, innovation and supply risk diversification.
• Develop long-term strategic vendor partnerships and institutionalize vendor segmentation and performance management frameworks.
• Establish procurement governance, policies, approval matrices, audit frameworks and controls, while driving ethical sourcing, transparency and ESG compliance.
• Drive enterprise-level cost optimization and deliver sustainable cost advantage without compromising quality or service.
• Own the end-to-end procurement lifecycle, sourcing, contracting, vendor onboarding and execution, aligned to business needs like store expansion and technology rollouts.
• Deploy AI/ML tools for spend analytics, demand forecasting, vendor benchmarking, automated RFQ/RFP evaluation and contract intelligence.
• Build frameworks for vendor risk assessment, supply continuity and contingency sourcing, monitoring concentration and geopolitical risk.

Job description

You will lead the transformation of procurement into a centralized Center of Excellence (CoE) for Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), driving strategic sourcing, procurement governance, vendor ecosystem development and commercial optimization across all business units. Reporting to the Business Head, RRVL, you will operate as a cross-functional integrator, harmonizing sourcing practices across merchandising, supply chain, operations, technology and corporate functions, while building a global sourcing network and embedding ethics, compliance and ESG standards into every sourcing decision.

You will own what to source, from whom, at what cost, and under what governance framework, balancing cost, quality, speed, innovation and risk across a diversified retail portfolio. This is also a transformation mandate: you will spearhead AI-led procurement transformation, enabling data-driven decision-making, predictive sourcing, automated workflows and real-time vendor intelligence across the enterprise.

It is a rare opportunity to build a procurement function from a first-principles CoE model at one of India's largest retail conglomerates, with the mandate, scale and cross-business reach to reshape how sourcing is done.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and institutionalize an enterprise-wide sourcing & procurement strategy, building a centralized CoE that standardizes processes, tools and decision frameworks across business units.
• Harmonize sourcing practices across formats (offline, online, B2B, premium, value) and drive demand consolidation and cross-business synergies.
• Build a global supplier ecosystem across geographies to strengthen cost competitiveness, innovation and supply risk diversification.
• Develop long-term strategic vendor partnerships and institutionalize vendor segmentation and performance management frameworks.
• Establish procurement governance, policies, approval matrices, audit frameworks and controls, while driving ethical sourcing, transparency and ESG compliance.
• Drive enterprise-level cost optimization and deliver sustainable cost advantage without compromising quality or service.
• Own the end-to-end procurement lifecycle, sourcing, contracting, vendor onboarding and execution, aligned to business needs like store expansion and technology rollouts.
• Deploy AI/ML tools for spend analytics, demand forecasting, vendor benchmarking, automated RFQ/RFP evaluation and contract intelligence.
• Build frameworks for vendor risk assessment, supply continuity and contingency sourcing, monitoring concentration and geopolitical risk.

Job Specification / Candidate Requirements

• 18-22+ years of progressive experience in strategic sourcing/procurement, including significant leadership experience building or scaling a procurement CoE.
• MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification from a leading institute; engineering or supply chain background preferred.
• Experience across retail, FMCG, manufacturing or large conglomerate environments with multi-category, multi-BU procurement exposure.
• Demonstrated experience building or leading global vendor ecosystems and driving large-scale procurement transformation, including digital/AI-enabled procurement.
• Strong exposure to procurement governance, ethics, compliance and ESG frameworks.

Required Skills