Assistant Director / Senior Assistant Director, Procurement Operations

About the role

NTU is looking for a seasoned procurement leader to lead and oversee the university's day-to-day procurement operations across all categories, particularly lab equipment and consumables. The role provides strategic and operational leadership to procurement teams, ensuring efficient, compliant and cost-effective acquisition of goods and services, and covers governance, category management, stakeholder engagement, supplier relationship management, staff development and continuous process improvement.

Key responsibilities

• Analyse spending patterns, partner with stakeholders and develop the overall sourcing strategy and category management plan
• Lead transformation projects, deploy processes and systems, and manage governance and compliance
• Manage key suppliers and stakeholders, set KPIs and SLAs, track vendor performance and communicate feedback
• Conduct market research and analyse industry trends to minimise supply risk and secure competitive prices
• Manage complex RFPs, RFQs and RFIs and drive supplier negotiations using lowest bid, lowest cost per quality point or best value approaches
• Lead the tender process and tender roadmap to meet NTU deliverables, and report progress regularly to management
• Work with suppliers and customers on continuous cost and performance improvement
• Lead, oversee and manage the purchasing and strategic sourcing function, including daily management and support of the team
• Collaborate closely with other functions for smooth information exchange and process flows
• Use purchasing tools such as spend analytics, e-sourcing, auctions and contract management in line with sourcing standards and policies

Required profile

• Minimum 10-12 years of relevant procurement experience
• At least 5 years in a leadership role managing procurement teams
• Experience in public sector, higher education, research institutions, healthcare, statutory boards or large complex organisations is preferred
• Demonstrated experience in strategic sourcing, contract management and procurement governance