Director, Global Category Lead - Cybersecurity

About the role

A leading global organisation seeks a Director Global Category Lead - Cybersecurity to define and execute the worldwide procurement strategy for cybersecurity technology spend. The role shapes category direction, drives commercial excellence and partners with senior stakeholders across regions, acting as a trusted advisor on supplier portfolio management, cost optimisation, risk management and supplier performance.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the development and execution of a multi-year global cybersecurity category strategy aligned with enterprise technology roadmaps and business priorities.
• Act as the primary commercial advisor to technology stakeholders, advising on market intelligence, commercial frameworks, supplier selection, contract negotiations and risk mitigation.
• Monitor market trends, supplier developments and industry benchmarks to identify opportunities for rationalising suppliers, standardising services and consolidating spend.
• Lead complex sourcing initiatives, conduct competitive sourcing events, supplier selection and commercial negotiations to set enterprise-wide frameworks and strategic agreements.
• Drive total cost of ownership optimisation and value realisation for major technology transformation programmes.
• Build executive-level relationships with key suppliers, including segmentation plans, business reviews and accountability against contractual commitments.
• Ensure sourcing strategies comply with enterprise risk, resilience and regulatory requirements by partnering with Legal, Risk, Compliance, Information Security and Third Party Risk functions.
• Support supplier risk assessments, remediation and visibility of renewal pipelines and supplier commitments.

Required profile

• Minimum 12 years of relevant experience in technology procurement or strategic sourcing, with significant exposure to cybersecurity and software-related sourcing.
• Proven experience managing complex sourcing initiatives and high-value contract negotiations in large multinational organisations.
• Demonstrated experience leading strategic supplier relationships and engaging executive-level stakeholders.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Finance, Technology or a related discipline.
• Experience in large multinational environments is preferred; direct experience in financial services is advantageous but not mandatory.

Required skills

• Strong commercial acumen, financial analysis and deep contractual expertise.
• Professional certifications such as CIPS, CPSM or CPSD are considered beneficial.
• Experience negotiating with major software suppliers adds value.