Global Director, Supplier Agency Performance & Innovation

UCB; Atlanta (GA); Hybrid; USD 184,000 - 241,500; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

UCB seeks a strategic, detail-oriented procurement leader to drive supplier and agency performance across the marketing and indirect spend. This hybrid role based in Atlanta, GA establishes performance standards, drives continuous improvement, and delivers innovation with top agencies and suppliers across the US and EU.

You''ll lead KPIs, scorecards, governance, and joint business planning with category leads to embed best practices and accelerate value-creation.

Qualifications

• Minimum 12+ years in procurement or supplier management with marketing/indirect focus.
• Experience building performance management frameworks and supplier-driven innovation.
• Strong analytics and executive-level communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Establish KPIs, SLAs, and scorecards tied to MSA/SOW commitments across cost, quality, service, innovation and sustainability.
• Design and lead a structured continuous-improvement program across supplier and agency ecosystems.
• Build a supplier-/agency-led innovation pipeline with pilots and scale successful initiatives.
• Segment suppliers into strategic, preferred and transactional tiers with differentiated engagement.
• Shape agentic AI deployment standards and reflect AI-driven productivity in commercial models.

Skills

Procurement leadership

Data-driven reporting

Cross-functional leadership

Stakeholder influence

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

BI/dashboard tools

Job description

Make your mark for patients

We are seeking a strategic, detail-oriented procurement leader to serve as our Director, Supplier & Agency Performance & Innovation – Global. This is a hybrid position in Atlanta, GA.

About The Role

In this newly created role, you will establish and run supplier/agency performance management, and procurement best practices across the marketing and indirect procurement organization. You will drive continuous improvement and supplier-enabled innovation across the ecosystem — turning performance insight into measurable improvement, new capabilities, and strategic value-creation projects with our most important agencies and suppliers. This role spans > $800M in marketing and indirect spend across a wide range of strategic suppliers and agencies in the U.S. and EU.

Who You’ll Work With

• Build performance standards into contracts at signature
• Elevate agency and supplier performance through continuous improvement after signature
• Establish enterprise-wide governance and best practices
• Report performance results with clear, data-driven narratives
• Drive supplier-enabled innovation and new agency/supplier operating models across the ecosystem

What You’ll Do

• Supplier/Agency Performance Management Framework : KPIs, SLAs, and scorecards tied directly to MSA/SOW commitments, balanced across cost, quality, service, innovation, and sustainability — used to surface improvement and value-creation opportunities, not only to monitor
• Continuous Improvement Program : Design and lead a structured continuous-improvement program across the supplier and agency ecosystem — benchmarking, maturity assessment, and joint improvement roadmaps that raise quality, speed, and effectiveness year over year
• Supplier-Enabled Innovation : Build a supplier-/agency-led innovation pipeline — source new capabilities, ways of working, and emerging technologies from partners; run innovation forums and pilots; and scale what works across markets
• Strategic Partnerships & SRM : Segment suppliers and agencies into strategic, preferred, and transactional tiers with differentiated engagement — executive sponsorship and joint business planning that turn top partners into sources of competitive advantage
• Agentic AI & Emerging Technology in the Ecosystem : Shape how agentic and generative AI is deployed across the agency and supplier ecosystem as an innovation and productivity lever — setting standards for quality, data privacy, IP, brand safety, and human oversight, and reflecting AI-driven productivity in commercial models and ways of working
• Contracting/Procurement Best Practices : Partner with category leadership. Establish and document procurement best practices, playbooks, and standards across the function, and embed a continuous-improvement capability within the category teams so improvement and innovation become business-as-usual
• Quarterly/Annual Business Reviews (QBRs) : Lead with top-tier agencies and suppliers, presenting performance data and improvement plans. Run a tiered cadence where each review drives a decision (retain / expand / reduce / remediate / exit) and advances a joint innovation and improvement agenda — not a read-out
• Vendor Improvement Plans : Identify underperformance trends and drive corrective action plans in partnership with category leads, using structured root-cause / CAPA methodology with timelines, measurable targets, and tracking to closure
• Agile Teams & Strategic Value-Creation Projects : Develop agile methodology to partner with adjoining Marketing & Selling Procurement teams to assist with major PR/RFP processes with best practices / performance improvement. Stand up and lead cross-functional agile squads that deliver strategic value-creation projects with our most important agencies and suppliers — e.g., agency-model redesign, ways-of-working and speed-to-market improvements, and co-innovation initiatives — mobilizing the right experts, running in sprints, and delivering measurable outcomes
• Sustainability & Supplier Diversity : Advance ESG and supplier-diversity goals as part of the improvement and innovation agenda — partnering with suppliers and agencies on responsible, sustainable, and inclusive practices

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred, in business or a related discipline
• 12+ years in procurement, supplier/vendor management, or contract management, ideally within marketing or indirect procurement
• Experience building supplier performance management frameworks, scorecards, and supplier-enabled innovation / continuous-improvement programs that delivered measurable value
• Strong analytical and reporting skills; experience with BI/dashboard tools.
• Track record of leading cross-functional, agile value-creation and supplier-innovation initiatives with senior stakeholders
• Ability to influence senior-level stakeholders through clear, concise, executive-ready communication

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in pharma or life sciences procurement or in strategic consulting in a related field.
• Experience establishing governance frameworks in a matrixed, multi-region organization
• Strong digital and innovation fluency
• Known for elevating organizational clarity through structured reporting and narrative leadership
• Experience designing supplier and agency innovation ecosystems and new operating models

This position’s reasonably anticipated base salary range is $184,000 to $241,500 per year. The actual salary offered will take into account internal equity and may also vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, among other factors.

Are you ready to "go beyond" to create value and make your mark for patients? If this sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!

About Us

UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company, focusing on neurology and immunology. We are over 9,000 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.

Why work with us?

At UCB, we don’t just complete tasks, we create value. We aren’t afraid to push forward, collaborate, and innovate to make our mark for patients. We have a caring, supportive culture where everyone feels included, respected, and has equal opportunities to do their best work. We "go beyond" to create value for our patients, and always with a human focus, whether that’s on our patients, our employees, or our planet. Working for us, you will discover a place where you can grow, and have the freedom to carve your own career path to achieve your full potential.

Benefits

• At UCB, we’ve embraced a hybrid-first approach to work, bringing teams together in local hubs to foster collaborative curiosity. Unless explicitly stated in the description or precluded by the nature of the position, roles are hybrid with 40% of your time spent in the office.

UCB is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions will be made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. UCB invites you to voluntarily self-identify during the application process. Provision of self-identification information is entirely voluntary and a decision to provide or not provide such information will not have any effect on your application for employment, your employment with UCB, or otherwise subject you to any adverse treatment. Any information you provide will be considered confidential and will be kept separate from your application and/or personnel file and will only be used in accordance with applicable laws, orders, and regulations.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on [e-mail] for application to US based roles. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments; we will not be able to support you through this channel.