Job Description

Telenor Group is a leading telecommunications company across the Nordics and Asia with 172 million customers and annual sales of around NOK 110 billion (2021) We are committed to responsible business conduct and driven by the ambition of empowering societies. Connectivity has been Telenor's domain for more than 160 years, and our purpose is to connect our customers to what matters most.

We have a leading Nordic position in mobile, broadband and TV services, as well as substantial activities in subsidiaries and joint venture operations, including mobile financial services and online classifieds in the Asia region. Worldwide, Telenor Group and our operations' teams are 16,000 people strong.

Telenor Procurement Company (TPC), established in 2017 and headquartered in Singapore, operates as a subsidiary of the Telenor Group. We deliver Global Category Management as a service to the Telenor Business Units, taking full responsibility for the end-to-end Sourcing process and performance of global spend categories. Functioning as one Global Procurement team across all Telenor markets, we enable Telenor's strategic ambitions by becoming a centre of expertise in the pursuit of efficient operations. TPC seeks qualified procurement professionals that are comfortable working in a global setup in the fast-paced Telecom field.

For more information, please visit our website (https://www.telenor.com/about-us/global-presence/telenor-procurement-company/)

About the Role

Tower Infra is one of the largest spend area in the Network domain (having annual spend of several billion NOK). The Head of Tower Infra category is a high impact, highly visible position that will develop and execute global/local plans utilizing the strategic sourcing process. This position serves as a key strategic role within Telenor's Network domain, providing strategic support in terms of both setting up the relevant Tower category strategy and its execution.

The role is responsible for bringing the best ideas, talent and capability to support the company's Tower Infra related business needs. Working closely with the different stakeholders within TPC, Business Units, Group Tower and other relevant Group functions - the role shall be responsible for implementing new strategies and plans in the Tower Infra related spend area. Role will also be responsible to engage stakeholders to review business needs and spend drivers, support strategic choices ensuring optimal value in the long-term, define and develop capabilities needed to deliver value for the category.

Main tasks

• Develop and execute category strategies ensuring long-term benefit for the company
• Translate strategy developed into objectives and priorities for the category
• Use appropriate category board to develop, approve, and adjust/update Category strategy.
• Develop strong relationships with local and global stakeholders throughout Telenor domain to stay connected, develop/influence category strategy and support individual business unit needs and strategies.
• Implement and drive changes to engage others to initiate and embrace change in order to build on current strengths, move business initiatives forward, and capitalize on new opportunities
• Ensure transparency and governance in all process. Ensure Telenor Sourcing principles (TSP) as well as other relevant policies is strictly adhered to in all sourcing process.
• Take lead and drive to meet KPIs e.g. spend migration, realized saving etc.
• Accountable for the bottom-up aggregation of all category data to set up top-down target setting process
• Implement robust supplier selection processes and when it is appropriate to have single source, single supplier with multiple sources and multi-supplier strategies.
• Build strong relationships with key suppliers in order to negotiate more innovative and beneficial contractual agreements and service levels - manage negotiation process, content and results. Lead the negotiation team to define the desired outcome of a sourcing process.
• Develop procurement strategies, which meet quality requirements, optimize cost savings, delivery and services, and guarantee supply assurance. Identify and mitigate supplier and sourcing risks and challenges effectively to ensure there is a Strategic process in place for Supplier development,
• Develop relevant virtual category team (VCT) with relevant members from business unit to develop well-aligned category strategy, troubleshoot operational issues and share learning of best practices.
• People Management - Lead, develop, motivate and assign people to appropriate tasks. Ensure career development and succession planning is in place for the procurement function - Ensure the right people are in the right place with the appropriate support to contribute to the category strategy and organizational benefit. Ensure the ongoing training and development of self and team in procurement best practices and skills.
• Positive thinker with a persistent mind-set of resolving issues. Ability for conflict resolution, build collaboration, data processing and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated ability to recognize, hire & develop the best people for the organization
• Handle conflicts and disputes with the suppliers & stakeholders
• Foresee business risks related to role, highlighting to leadership and work towards mitigating risks in best manner

• Strong business knowledge in telecommunications landscape
• 10+ years of experience in the Strategic sourcing, with minimum 3-year experience of having senior role in Global sourcing category management.
• Minimum 3 years demonstrated leadership in the Tower Infra sourcing category (construction of tower, lease of tower etc.)
• Strong experience in developing and executing category strategy for category having annual spend of more than several billion NOK.
• Strong process and project management skills and an ability to lead, manage and adopt change.
• Demonstrated experience of being target oriented and achiever under stressful situation
• Strong relationship-management skills and ability to communicate effectively, and collaborate with, senior-to-executive management. Ability to tell compelling stories through insights and data
• Strong analytical, systems thinking and problem solving capabilities
• Demonstrated contract and agreement negotiation experience, including development of negotiating plans and strategies.
• Demonstrated experience of building systematic supplier relationship management process
• Knowledge of sourcing techniques and demand management & demand forecasting methods
• Highly creative and innovative mindset

• A university degree, preferably within business administration, finance, supply chain or equivalent
• More than 10 years extensive experience in senior procurement/contract management/ vendor/negotiations/supply chain management role preferably in Services related categories
• Minimum 5 years of leadership experience and preferably in a global and matrix environment
• Solid leadership experience from setting up and managing high performing multi-cultural teams