Contract Type:RegularSchedule:Full-timeDescriptionContext: The Category Expert IT Services develops and maintains professional working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, especially: CPO s and Opco procurement teams Group IT leaders Major Objectives: The Services Category is responsible for developing and maintaining holistic Procurement Strategies for the considered Category. Such strategies are built with proper transparency and stakeholder engagement to get Buy-in and traction for implementation. These strategies result from a deep understanding of the business needs and evolution the market trends and risks. The Category strategy deployment should allow significant benefits: from innovation for business, reduced risk exposure, to cost reduction. The successful candidate will cover IT services vendors, projects and /or sub-categories. The team will be triggered by AXA GO own needs and/or Opco needs (?pull? mode). Scope of the role: IT services Time & Material except originating from France (managed within MSP) Services linked to editors (case by case arbitration of leadership between services and SW) Fix price, offshoring, outsourcing (in sync with Professional services and Outsourcing Competence Center) Support local projects (Sw+integration services of entities in a pull mode) Main activities: The Category Expert IT Services is responsible for: Global category strategies: He/She will manage all the Sourcing requests for the allotted sub- categories and vendors; CATEGORY EXPERT will co-build with stakeholder (Business, IT) the relevant strategies taking into account (whilst challenging) business needs, market trends and risks. Benefits will be delivered on a dynamic basis, including cost, innovation, service support with the right level risk. The strategy will anticipate and encompass key contract renewals. Link with Entities? procurement: He/She will work closely with all entities to understand their IT services sourcing plans and jointly develop strategies to deliver value Challenging the needs: He/She will challenge the needs and have a dialog with business to set the right conditions to optimize benefits. This dialog, with the help of Sourcing Business Partners, will be not be a simple ?push? of Procurement agenda, but a mature and positive discussion enhancing trust. Market knowledge: He/She will constantly keep abreast of market and vendor trends, detecting disruption in the market and vendor strategies in order to anticipate and mitigate risks as well as seize opportunities. Market scouting will allow for a dynamic refresh of our supplier ecosystem, allowing for innovative approaches: new vendor, new geographies with talent pool, new sourcing approaches Negotiation and procurement process: He/She will make sure the Procurement process is respected, taking into account the right stakeholders at the right time, including Risk framework, Legal, Data Privacy. He/She will lead or support key negotiation with large / high stake vendors. Tools and governance: In order to enhance productivity, auditability and knowledge management, CATEGORY EXPERT will leverage the use of the relevant tools and methods in the team: e RFx, Contract databases, data analytic, project trackers. CATEGORY EXPERT will also be a key member of various governance in order to align internally within Procurement and with our Business Partners Local support ? compliance: He/She will organize proper hand-over to contract manager, when relevant. He/She will organize support and act as escalation point or advisory for operational ? performance issues in the category. QualificationsThe Category Expert will work in a global -yet decentralized- and multi-cultural work environment Experience: Graduate caliber with significant experience (8-10 years) in Procurement or IT Vendor management Previous successful experience in Category management and high stakes IT services vendor negotiations Team working in multi-country context Technical and professional skills: Negotiation skills Ability to design / articulate a strategy / a plan Project Management Broad understanding of IT topics Knowledge of IT services (T&M, fix price, outsourcing, offshoring, internal Center of Competence and BTO approaches) Exposure to VMS or MSP is a plus Knowledge of key contractual clauses and stakes English - Fluent in speaking and writing - another European language is a plus Soft skills: Interest in technologies Strategic thinker Integrity Ability to synthetize and communicate efficiently, adjusting to technical / procurement audience Collaborative Negotiator, Influence, convincing skills vis-a-vis peers and senior stakeholders Strong leadership communication skills About AXAWould you like to wake up every day driven and inspired by our mission of acting for human progress by protecting what matters? Here at AXA we strive to be a responsible employer, placing employee engagement at the heart of its business strategy. Achieving this means creating a workplace built on AXA's Values that foster diversity and equal opportunities for all, promotes employee participation, encourages professional development, and supports employee well-being. We are looking for talented individuals who come from varied backgrounds, think differently and want to be part of this exciting transformation by challenging the status quo so we can push AXA - a leading global brand and one of the most innovative companies in our industry - onto even greater things.