Director, Indirect Procurement Transformation

Smith+Nephew•Indianapolis, IN

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Life Unlimited. At Smith+Nephew we design and manufacture technology that takes the limits off living. Smith+Nephew is accelerating a multi-year transformation of its Indirect Procurement function—simplifying processes, elevating decision quality, and increasing the speed and consistency of value delivery across the enterprise. To drive this ambition, we are hiring a Director, Indirect Procurement Transformation, a critical execution leader who will serve as the operational and strategic right hand to the SVP, Global Indirect Procurement. This role is the central orchestrator ensuring vision becomes reality —turning strategy into action, orchestrating cross-functional alignment, and embedding modern procurement processes, capabilities, and ways of working. You will drive structure, discipline, and visibility across the function while enabling teams to deliver impact with greater speed and consistency. This is not an administrative support role. It is a highly strategic, hands-on leadership position suited for a strong procurement process expert with exceptional orchestration, influence, and delivery capability. What will you be doing? 1. Transformation Leadership & Execution Lead the design, management, and execution of the Indirect Procurement transformation roadmap, ensuring clarity on milestones, owners, success metrics, and governance. Co-create and embed standard ways of working across the global organization, partnering closely with the Procurement Excellence team and OpEx Business Partner. Identify execution risks early, escalate where needed, and proactively remove barriers. Serve as the central integration point across workstreams to ensure alignment, sequencing, and resource coordination. Drive operational rigor and accountability for transformation progress. 2. Strategic Program Management for the SVP Indirect Procurement & Leadership Team Manage functional priorities, ensure follow-through on leadership decisions, and maintain clarity of direction across the Indirect Procurement organization. Prepare and facilitate Leadership Team meetings, ensuring discussions lead to clear decisions, action owners, and measurable progress. Provide strategic insight and analysis to support enterprise-aligned decision making. Lead capability-building efforts, including training programs and the long-term Strategic Workforce Plan in partnership with HR. Help cultivate a culture of collaboration, accountability, continuous improvement, and high performance. 3. Business Alignment & Strategic Prioritization Integrate Indirect Procurement inputs into enterprise processes including annual planning, financial cycles, and strategic planning. Ensure Indirect Procurement priorities are aligned to business needs, growth goals, and value creation opportunities. Partner with senior Finance, HR, Commercial, and functional leaders to strengthen transparency, trust, and alignment. Ensure quantitative reporting and metrics are accurate, consistent, and enable corporate objectives. 4. Performance Management & KPI Governance Build and maintain a unified Indirect Procurement KPI framework—covering savings, value, working capital, risk, performance, and transformation milestones—in partnership with Global Procurement Excellence and our operating system. Drive consistency and rigor in reporting cycles, including annual planning and financial submissions. Enable visibility of performance and progress across global teams. 5. Best Practices, Benchmarking & Process Excellence Lead or support business reviews, opportunity assessments, and top-down planning. Benchmark against external best practices to ensure Smith+Nephew stays ahead of evolving procurement standards. Drive implementation of core methodologies and frameworks (e.g., stakeholder mapping, process governance, “Our Way to Win”). Promote adoption of digital tools and simplification initiatives together with cross-functional business partners 6. Stakeholder Management & Functional Enablement Build a structured and consistent approach to stakeholder engagement across the Indirect Procurement ecosystem. Drive alignment across global and regional procurement teams on priorities, delivery expectations, and ways of working. Act as a communicator of progress, impact, and expectations across the organization. What will you need to be successful?

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
12+ years of procurement or relevant business experience, with a minimum of 5 years in a process and/or functional leadership role
Significant experience leading cross-functional decision making and complex transformation in a global, matrixed environment.
Demonstrated ability to influence and engage senior stakeholders.
Proficiency in English (written and oral).

Nice To Haves

Deep expertise in procurement process design, procurement transformation, and modern procurement tools/systems.
Demonstrated success embedding new processes, governance, and operating models across global teams.
Strong commercial and analytical skills, with experience building business cases and evaluating value creation.
Advanced problem-solving, financial modelling, and risk mitigation capabilities.
Experience partnering with COE, OpEx, and technology teams to drive process and digital enablement.
Exceptional communication, collaboration, and influencing skills.
Proven experience building or developing high-performing global teams.
Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment with ongoing transformation.

Responsibilities

Transformation Leadership & Execution Lead the design, management, and execution of the Indirect Procurement transformation roadmap, ensuring clarity on milestones, owners, success metrics, and governance.
Co-create and embed standard ways of working across the global organization, partnering closely with the Procurement Excellence team and OpEx Business Partner.
Identify execution risks early, escalate where needed, and proactively remove barriers.
Serve as the central integration point across workstreams to ensure alignment, sequencing, and resource coordination.
Drive operational rigor and accountability for transformation progress.
Strategic Program Management for the SVP Indirect Procurement & Leadership Team Manage functional priorities, ensure follow-through on leadership decisions, and maintain clarity of direction across the Indirect Procurement organization.
Prepare and facilitate Leadership Team meetings, ensuring discussions lead to clear decisions, action owners, and measurable progress.
Provide strategic insight and analysis to support enterprise-aligned decision making.
Lead capability-building efforts, including training programs and the long-term Strategic Workforce Plan in partnership with HR.
Help cultivate a culture of collaboration, accountability, continuous improvement, and high performance.
Business Alignment & Strategic Prioritization Integrate Indirect Procurement inputs into enterprise processes including annual planning, financial cycles, and strategic planning.
Ensure Indirect Procurement priorities are aligned to business needs, growth goals, and value creation opportunities.
Partner with senior Finance, HR, Commercial, and functional leaders to strengthen transparency, trust, and alignment.
Ensure quantitative reporting and metrics are accurate, consistent, and enable corporate objectives.
Performance Management & KPI Governance Build and maintain a unified Indirect Procurement KPI framework—covering savings, value, working capital, risk, performance, and transformation milestones—in partnership with Global Procurement Excellence and our operating system.
Drive consistency and rigor in reporting cycles, including annual planning and financial submissions.
Enable visibility of performance and progress across global teams.
Best Practices, Benchmarking & Process Excellence Lead or support business reviews, opportunity assessments, and top-down planning.
Benchmark against external best practices to ensure Smith+Nephew stays ahead of evolving procurement standards.
Drive implementation of core methodologies and frameworks (e.g., stakeholder mapping, process governance, “Our Way to Win”).
Promote adoption of digital tools and simplification initiatives together with cross-functional business partners
Stakeholder Management & Functional Enablement Build a structured and consistent approach to stakeholder engagement across the Indirect Procurement ecosystem.
Drive alignment across global and regional procurement teams on priorities, delivery expectations, and ways of working.
Act as a communicator of progress, impact, and expectations across the organization.