VP Procurement Operations Lead

About M&G India

We are M&G India, the strategic innovation and digital hub for M&G. Established in 2003, we have offices in Mumbai and Pune.

Our teams work closely with colleagues across the Group worldwide to drive transformation, build digital capability, and support sustainable growth. By leveraging technology, AI, automation, and process excellence, we bring new ways of thinking to improve outcomes for both customers and colleagues.

Grounded in a vibrant culture with strong foundations, we are central to how M&G is transforming as a business.

About M&G

Our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.

Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now, and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

1. Commercial Data and Intelligence
• Build and curate the function's proprietary commercial dataset, in partnership with category leads across the UK and India, ensuring rate card data, RFP pricing and vendor commercial terms are captured consistently and systematically through the eSourcing platform
• Own the normalisation and curation framework that makes commercial data comparable across suppliers, categories and time periods, partnering with Technology Data Architecture on data structure and design
• Track vendor rate inflation and SaaS cost trends over time, translating this into clear reporting for category leads and Finance to inform negotiation positioning and renewal planning
• Build SaaS cost benchmarking capability, giving the function an independent and evidence-based view of market pricing
• Work with the CPO to apply AI-assisted analysis to the dataset as it matures, surfacing trends, flagging anomalies and sharpening sourcing strategy

2. Purchase-to-Pay Governance
• Oversee the end-to-end purchase-to-pay process, ensuring purchase requisitions are reviewed, correctly routed and compliant before progression to purchase order
• Own the governance framework for PR approval, delegation of authority compliance and exception handling
• Drive continuous improvement in P2P cycle times, compliance rates and user experience, in partnership with Finance and the Oracle Fusion system team
• Develop and maintain clear operating procedures and training materials for business users

3. Third-Party Risk Management and Vendor Onboarding
• Act as a key compliance checkpoint in the TPRM process, ensuring that confirmation of Information Requirements Questionnaire completion is in place before supplier engagement progresses
• Manage the vendor onboarding background check process, ensuring due diligence is completed accurately and on time for all new suppliers
• Partner with the Risk and Controls Lead and the second line Risk function to ensure compliance checkpoints are operating effectively and exceptions are escalated appropriately
• Maintain accurate records of onboarding and screening activity, supporting audit and regulatory requirements as they apply to third-party risk

4. Procurement MI and Reporting
• Own the procurement MI framework, defining what the function needs to measure, setting the standard for how performance is reported and ensuring outputs are accurate, timely and commercially relevant
• Direct the team's delivery of reporting across spend, savings, compliance and operational metrics, ensuring the reporting suite gives the CPO, Finance and senior stakeholders a clear and useful view of function performance
• Own data quality and integrity across the procurement data estate, including spend classification, supplier master data and contract data
• Define the reporting cadence and ensure it is maintained consistently, escalating data quality issues and driving resolution

5. eSourcing Platform Management
• Own and manage the eSourcing platform on behalf of the global function, ensuring it is well configured, actively used and fit for purpose
• Support category managers across the UK and India in running sourcing events, ensuring the platform is used as standard practice
• Ensure the platform is configured to capture commercially useful data consistently, feeding the function's commercial dataset as a matter of course rather than as an afterthought
• Maintain an active understanding of the procurement technology landscape and bring forward well-reasoned proposals for tooling improvements

6. Quality and Continuous Improvement
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve the quality and speed of procurement operations through process redesign, automation and AI tooling
• Build a culture of operational rigour within the team, where accuracy, timeliness and continuous improvement are expected standards
• Develop and track operational KPIs that give the CPO and Head of India Procurement a live view of function health

7. People and Team Leadership
• Lead and develop the Procurement Operations team, covering Data and Reporting, Tooling, P2P and Risk and Controls functions
• Manage team capacity and workload, maintaining a live view of the operational backlog and prioritising effectively
• Act as a coaching presence within the team, modelling high standards and developing individual capability
• Contribute to the broader India Procurement leadership team and to the global procurement function as a whole

Essential Experience 

• 17+ experience in a procurement operations, shared services or similar operational leadership role 

• Demonstrated experience owning and improving purchase-to-pay processes in a complex, matrixed organisation 

• Experience owning and directing management information and reporting frameworks, with the ability to define what good looks like and hold a team accountable for delivering it 

• Experience building or managing structured commercial or operational datasets, with demonstrable attention to data quality and normalisation 

• Experience operating within or alongside third-party risk or supplier onboarding processes, with an understanding of compliance checkpoint responsibilities 

• People leadership experience, with the ability to build and develop a team 

• Comfortable operating at the start of a build journey, able to create structure and process where little currently exists 

Desirable Experience 

• Experience with Oracle Fusion or similar ERP systems in a procurement or finance operations context 

• Familiarity with eSourcing platforms and their administration and configuration 

• Experience in a regulated environment such as financial services or insurance 

• Exposure to AI tooling, robotic process automation or workflow automation in an operational context 

• Experience working as part of a global or hybrid onshore/offshore team 

Behaviours and Attributes 

• Operationally rigorous, with high personal standards for accuracy, completeness and timeliness 

• Analytically capable and intellectually curious, comfortable working with data and motivated to find patterns and insight within it 

• Inquisitive about technology and automation, keen to identify better ways of working and confident bringing proposals forward 

• Credible with senior stakeholders, able to present operational performance clearly and handle challenge constructively 

• Collaborative and globally minded, operating as part of a wider function rather than a standalone team 

• Resilient and self-directing, comfortable managing a broad operational remit with competing priorities 

Education

• Graduation (either in Engineering, Accounting, Finance, Business Management, Management Studies, etc.) is a must
• A diploma in supply management, finance, or business or MBA would be preferred
• Certifications from Procurement domain (CIPS, CPSM, CSCP, SCPC, CSCM, CIPP, CPP, CPOS, CPOP, CPOM, CPOE) would be an advantage

We have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture at M&G Global Services, regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, nationality, disability or long term condition, we are looking to attract, promote and retain exceptional people. We also welcome those who take part in military service and those returning from career breaks.