Principal, Procurement, Marketing & Places

This role sits within a high-performing global Procurement team and partners with senior leaders and cross-functional experts across Global Brand Marketing, Finance, Legal, Technology, and Risk. Reporting to a Category Director, Marketing and Places, the position serves as a strategic advisor across the brand and marketing ecosystem, connecting enterprise priorities to category strategies, commercial models, and supplier partnerships. The focus is on building deep stakeholder engagement and strategic category development rather than executing sourcing work.

• Own and evolve multi-year global Creative and Media category strategies, translating enterprise and brand priorities into sourcing roadmaps, investment choices, and measurable outcomes.
• Partner with senior leaders to shape agency models, supplier portfolios, commercial structures, and make-versus-buy decisions, providing an independent point of view grounded in market intelligence and business data.
• Structure and negotiate strategic agreements covering fees, media economics, incentives, intellectual property, technology, data use, artificial intelligence (AI), payment terms, audit rights, risk allocation, and performance commitments.
• Establish category governance, decision frameworks, and performance measures that strengthen transparency, accountability, compliance, and speed across global and geographic teams.
• Anticipate shifts in media, creative technology, production, data, privacy, and artificial intelligence (AI), translating disruption into actionable opportunities and risk-mitigation strategies.
• Lead executive-level supplier relationships and supplier relationship management (SRM) programmes for critical partners, driving innovation, continuous improvement, resilience, and resolution of complex performance or commercial issues.
• Build organisational capability by coaching peers and category leads, codifying best practices, and creating reusable tools and insights that raise Procurement effectiveness across Marketing.
• Define value broadly and track outcomes across savings, cost avoidance, cash flow, growth enablement, innovation, risk reduction, supplier diversity, and operational efficiency.
• Lead the most complex and visible initiatives across the category, advising senior stakeholders on consequential commercial decisions and establishing scalable strategies, governance, and operating models that support evolving brand and business priorities.

• 8+ years of procurement, agency, media, creative, production, or equivalent industry experience, including leadership of complex global categories.
• Deep expertise in marketing procurement across creative, production, and media ecosystems, including agency operating models, media investment, production, technology, data, intellectual property, and emerging artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders, navigate ambiguity, and align cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Proven expertise using spend, performance, market, and financial data to shape enterprise category strategies and executive decisions.
• Working knowledge of sourcing.
• Deep marketing procurement expertise, enterprise perspective, and a track record of leading through influence.
• Ability to thrive in ambiguity, frame complex business challenges, and translate long-term strategy into scalable solutions.
• Commercial judgment, category expertise, and data-driven insight to shape senior-level decisions, challenge established models, and unlock value beyond cost.
• Ability to anticipate market shifts, balance brand ambition with risk and operational rigour, and build alignment across diverse global stakeholders.
• Capability to raise the capability of the broader team through thought leadership, coaching, and repeatable best practices as a senior individual contributor.
• Integrity, curiosity, courage, and accountability for enterprise-level outcomes.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, or a related field. Will accept any suitable combination of education, experience, and training.

• Advanced degree or relevant procurement certification preferred.
• Ability to connect business requirements with external supplier and market capabilities to develop and implement strategies that deliver value to the enterprise.