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KPMG provides Audit, Tax and Advisory services to clients with these client-facing functions supported by a central function, KPMG Business Services (KBS). Within KBS, the firm has an established Procurement function resourced with qualified procurement professionals, supported by an outsourced procurement services provider, responsible for supporting the firm’s £450m+ expenditure on bought-in goods & services.



The Procurement function‘s objectives are:

- To be regarded as an invaluable business partner by the firm’s Infrastructure functions (in particular Facilities, HR , Marketing and IT) and by the wider business functions (Audit, Tax, Advisory and Markets)
- To drive the continuous improvement of third-party goods & services and minimise the risks associated with commercial contracting activities through the application of best-practice procurement across the firm
- To support the business with technology investments to enable profitable revenue growth
- To deliver year-on-year financial benefit to the firm


Overview of the Position


Procurement’s sourcing activities are managed by three core category teams; Corporate Services (Facilities & Marketing Services, HR & Professional Services), Technology Services and Travel Services. The Head of Technology Category, reports to the Chief Procurement Officer.

Technology spend overall for KPMG LLP is circa £90m per annum, incapsulating both internally and externally focussed Technology spend. Whilst internally focussed Technology spend represents a large proportion of this spend, the externally focussed technology spend, also encompasses a revenue exposure as the services are more directly associated to external KPMG client delivered solutions.

The Head of Technology Category is responsible for maximising the contribution of the Technology Services category to the firm. Leading and working together with the retained KPMG procurement leadership team and outsourced Procurement service provider to provide commercial, contractual and risk management expertise to the firm’s KBS and Client facing functions, including Client facing teams including Technology, Tax, Audit, Risk and Management Consultancy capability groups.

Providing strategic support of the key stakeholders and budget-holders responsible for expenditure and supplier relationships in related category supply chains. Stakeholders will operate in multiple business market sectors and deploy a broad range of services and solutions often underpinned by third party technologies and via strategic business partnerships.



The Head of Technology Category main responsibilities are:


Relationship Management

- Develop and deliver strategies which deliver enablement-focussed sourcing and commercial advisory expertise to KPMG Client-services teams to provide a low-friction procurement service which optimises quality, cost, and time to market outcomes for KPMG and its Clients.
- Delivering quality client service careful management of potential tensions between business requirements and the application of procurement best practice
- Operate as a trusted business advisor to the Technology function and become accepted as an integral member of the internal functions’ governance and management structure
- Contribution to the overall strategic direction of Procurement through active participation on the Procurement Leadership Team (PLT)

People Management

- Where applicable, provide management & leadership of category team resources (direct and remotely deployed). Activities may include implementation of Managing for Excellence methodologies in respect to recruitment, staff retention and personnel development (including goal-setting & appraisal) and optimal allocation of resources to projects & activities. People management responsibilities will not apply in respect to the outsourced providers’ resource.

Strategy and Innovation

- Strategic management of the category including analysis, planning, target-setting and performance monitoring, working in conjunction with the outsourced provider to seek the optimum strategic approaches and maximising value add.
- Embedding wider Firm or team-driven innovation into category management and client support activities

Execution

- Execution of a category plan; oversight and effective management of all sourcing & contracting activities (including support of applicable client activities & projects, contract renewals, extensions, variations, terminations etc.) and category development activities
- Application of the firm’s independence & reciprocity policies, and application of the department’s standard processes, tools, templates & systems to all sourcing & contracting activities
- Appropriate consideration of CSR & diversity criteria in all sourcing & contracting activities and active participation in the firm’s Sustainable Procurement & CSR Programme

In particular the position requires:

- Broad procurement experience with a proven track-record of successfully delivering and/or contributing to the development & implementation of procurement solutions across the spectrum of people, policy, process, systems etc.
- Proven track-record of successfully creating category strategies, leading and executing sourcing projects within the Technology category to deliver quality, service risk and commercial benefits across the spectrum of IT software (purchase, development, support), hardware & infrastructure (End User Services, Server/Storage, Data Centre & Cloud), services (applications development, on & off-shore managed services, support & maintenance, integration services etc.) and Network & telecoms (voice, data, mobile, networks) etc.
- Service-centric approach, evidence of using commercial acumen as well as a clear understanding of objectives and priorities to consistently deliver positive outcomes for Stakeholders, including the realisation of solutions delivered both internally and directly to a client of the firm.
- Experience in complex solutions and services engagements, including strong experience in complex Information Protection and Risk Assurance processes
- Experience of working in a leveraged Procurement function, supported by an outsourced provider, within a blended delivery service of both on-shore, nearshore and off-shore

Qualifications and Experience

- Preferably a fully qualified member of applicable national Procurement institute (e.g. CIPS, NEVI etc.)
- Substantial demonstrable experience in procurement or equivalent commercial roles, preferably with the majority within the Technology Services category, with direct exposure leading innovative Technology solutions
- Relevant industry experience; Professional Services, Financial Services etc.

Technology Programme Lead – B Grade

Role Purpose
The Senior Technology Project Lead will work as part of a central programme and project management centre of excellence within Technology, working with internal and external clients to deliver end-to-end solutions across our digital platforms. The purpose of the role is to manage the project, client expectations, and support delivery from the other functions of the team. Each of our Project Managers are consummate team players who know when to lead and when to step back and support their team and are comfortable with both roles. They are problem solvers who enjoy immersing themselves in new domains.
The role involves working across Technology and the wider KPMG client and internal facing community to drive delivery excellence; agility in our delivery approach to ensure the business can remain highly responsive to market demand and can bring services to market quickly and safely.

Role Responsibilities
• Track record of shaping and leading teams to successful delivery of significant technology, data and business transformation initiatives.
• Experience of managing multi-faceted programmes and mutiple projects, co-ordinating tasks and activities, managing to deadlines, anticipating challenges, difficulties and pressure points.
• Experience of identifying and mitigating delivery risks, as well as leading the resolution of issues / blockers.
• Experience in managing third party vendors and providers.
• Manage programme / project procurement.
• Adept at working closely with business, technology and data teams.
• Understands relevant legislation, governance models and processes.
• Protects against scope creep against the solution design and establishes robust change control processes.
• Cost management, including the establishment of baseline costs and tracking, and contingency planning. Expected to manage budgets of significant value that attract significant investment (£xm)
• Delivery excellence; agility in our delivery approach to ensure the business can remain highly responsive to market demand and can bring services to market quickly and safely; a culture to re-enforce technology as a technology enabler for our clients
• Manage programme and project deliveries to time, budget and quality, directly and indirectly through oversight of other project managers
• To be seen amongst peers as a role model and SME in hybrid - agile/waterfall programme / project management
• Deliver robust and business relevant project reporting – to include Steering committee packs.
• Lead the Technical, Product Owner, Business Analyst and Design Leads throughout a project
• Ability to build/drive the project assurance capability
• Has thorough knowledge of Technology wider strategy and how project assurance fits into the strategy
• Ability to coach the organisation and key stakeholders relating to the benefits and advantages of relevant programme / project methodologies, thereby contributing towards the overall organisation's maturity.
• Ability to coach and guide other team members relating to every aspect of the programme and/or project so that the team members can understand their tasks fully and act on them efficiently.
• To develop tools and techniques for disturbing distributing tasks according to the skills of every team member and also to evaluate the performance of all the team members
• To provide clarity around priorities and goals of programme – also quick wins where appropriate
• Ability to identify all internal/external resources required in completing the programme successfully
• To keep an eye on the latest strategies, tools, terminologies used in project management – i.e. a commercial lens - so that you may adopt those to increase productivity
• To develop and execute an efficient internal communication strategy for ensuring communication with all levels of management within the team
• To have excellent stakeholder management and ability to challenge the status quo in an innovative way
• Participate in sales and contribute to winning engagements
• Ensure the project delivery team complies with KPMG standards and frameworks
• Forecasting of resource utilisation, time, costs, and other commitments required.

Knowledge, Skills & Qualifications
• The successful person will drive strategic offerings which position our programme management capability as a function of knowledge and expertise, supporting the wider business objectives.
• A track record of delivering complex technology programmes on time and on budget
• Programme management experience in one or more of the following technologies/platforms; end-to-end system integration, data analytics, digital and web, .Net/C#/SQL, network, server and storage infrastructure, data-warehousing, Appian and BI, cloud hosting, Oracle environments including Fusion, eLearning.
• Have an industry recognised project management qualification, ideally Prince 2, APM Practitioner or Certified Scrum Master
• Expert in the use of standard project management tools (e.g. MS Project, JIRA)
• Budget management experience
• The ability to work in a fast-paced environment with minimal supervision, handle quickly changing priorities on multiple projects, and be capable of managing resources to achieve maximum results
• A history of building solid relationships with senior stakeholders including customers and teammates
• Experience interfacing with a customer’s C-level executives and senior internal stakeholders
• Vendor management experience
• Exceptional organisational skills – able to work without supervision
• Commercial in engagement style and thought; good negotiator
• Excellent leadership qualities and a passion for technology

If you're applying to this graduate scheme, there is no doubt you'll be aware of the vast, unstoppable reach of technology. Present and potent in every industry and every household, technology and the use of data, shape the way we live and work. As a graduate at KPMG, you'll learn the skills to analyse, advise and deliver digital solutions for some of our clients’ most pressing business issues. This could mean helping an inves... View full job description