Senior Associate, Category Procurement

Circles; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Circles in Bengaluru seeks a strategic Senior Associate for Category Procurement, focusing on Professional Services. You will manage vendor lifecycles, negotiate MSAs and SOWs, and optimize spend across the organization.

The role requires deep knowledge of staffing agency markups, co-employment risks, and digital workforce management platforms, with strong analytical and stakeholder engagement skills.

Qualifications

• Strong negotiation and contracting skills.
• Experience in managing vendor relationships and performance.

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain strategic relationships with vendors and service providers.
• Develop and implement vendor performance and risk management frameworks.
• Monitor vendor compliance with contract terms, SLAs and KPIs.
• Lead contract negotiations and renewals with favorable terms and risk mitigation.
• Draft and manage MSAs and SOWs across projects.
• Coordinate with legal, compliance, and finance to align contracts with policies.
• Maintain a centralized repository of vendor agreements and data.
• Drive RFPs for complex MS projects and staffing services.
• Negotiate and enforce standardized vendor rate cards and markups.
• Analyze spend patterns to identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Support budgeting and forecasting for services spend.
• Standardize agency rate cards and consolidate vendors.
• Work with IT, Finance, Legal to align purchasing strategies.
• Establish and monitor KPIs and SLAs for third-party vendors.
• Ensure procurement practices adhere to regulatory and policy requirements.
• Conduct due diligence and risk assessments for vendors.
• Support audits and data analysis related to vendor management.
• Collaborate with executive teams to define service requirements.

Skills

Vendor Management

Negotiation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, HR, or Supply Chain

Job description

Job Summary

Senior Associate, Category Procurement
Department: Corporate Planning Regulatory
Employment Type: Full-time

We are seeking a strategic and detail-oriented Procurement Sr.Associate with a specialisation in Professional Services Category. This role will be responsible for managing the lifecycle of vendor relationships, negotiating and managing end to end contracts optimizing category -related spend across the organization. The ideal candidate will have strong analytical, negotiation skills and stakeholder engagement skills, with a thorough understanding of procurement and vendor performance management.

Will manage the strategic sourcing, contract frameworks, and compliance infrastructure for the organisations and independent contractors. Unlike broader categories, this role requires deep knowledge of staffing agency markup structures, co-employment legal risks, and digital workforce management platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Vendor Management
  • Establish and maintain strategic relationships with the vendors and service providers.
  • Develop and implement vendor performance and risk management frameworks.
  • Monitor vendor compliance with contract terms, SLAs, and KPIs.
  • Facilitate regular vendor reviews and business reviews.
• Contract Lifecycle Management
  • Lead contract negotiations and renewals, evaluating and ensuring favorable terms and risk mitigation.
  • Draft, review, and manage contracts to structure Master Services Agreements (MSAs) and milestone-based Statements of Work (SOWs)
  • Coordinate with legal, compliance, and finance teams to ensure contract alignment with organizational policies.
  • Maintain a centralized repository of vendor agreements and contract data.
• Professional Services Spend Optimization
  • Drive end-to-end Request for Proposals (RFPs) tailored for complex MS projects and human capital services.
  • Establish, negotiate, and enforce standardized vendor rate cards, pay caps, and staffing agency markups across diverse skill sets.
  • Analyze the spending patterns to identify cost-saving opportunities.
  • Support budgeting and forecasting for Services spend categories.
  • Standardize agency rate cards and consolidate vendors to optimize spend.
  • Work with internal stakeholders (IT, Finance, Legal, etc.) to align purchasing strategies with business goals.
  • Establish and monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for third-party vendors
• Governance and Risk Management
  • Ensure procurement practices adhere to regulatory, legal, and internal policy requirements.
  • Conduct due diligence and risk assessments for new and existing vendors.
  • Support audit requests and data analysis related to vendor and contract management.
  • Collaborate closely with internal executive teams like Engineering, Legal, and IT to define service requirements.

Qualifications

Education and Experience

• Bachelor s degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Supply Chain, or a related field.
• 6+ years of overall experience in procurement, category management preferably in Professional Services, IT Services or Contingent Labour with a minimum 3 years of Category experience in a Telecom or IT industry.
• Strong understanding of legal risk clauses,staffing agency cost-breakdown structures, local employment compliance, and relationship-driven vendor management.

Skills and Competencies

• Proven negotiation and contracting skills.

Disclaimer: This job posting has been aggregated from external source. Role details, content, and availability are subject to change. Applicants are advised to confirm the latest information directly on the company website before applying.