Head of Category Management

Director, Technology Strategic Sourcing

Welcome to Warner Bros. Discovery… the stuff dreams are made of.

Who We Are…

When we say, “the stuff dreams are made of,” we’re not just referring to the world of wizards, dragons and superheroes, or even to the wonders of Planet Earth. Behind WBD’s vast portfolio of iconic content and beloved brands, are the storytellers bringing our characters to life, the creators bringing them to your living rooms and the dreamers creating what’s next…

From brilliant creatives, to technology trailblazers, across the globe, WBD offers career defining opportunities, thoughtfully curated benefits, and the tools to explore and grow into your best selves. Here you are supported, here you are celebrated, here you can thrive.

The Director, Technology Strategic Sourcing (TSS) will lead a sourcing team to develop and execute strategic sourcing initiatives that drive value creation, optimize costs, and enhance business capabilities across the global Technology organizations.  This role will oversee the acquisition of products and services across various technology categories from WBD’s partners. Key responsibilities include people management, strategic planning, supplier selection, deal negotiation, contract management, and relationship management.  This role will be based out of the WBD office in Hyderabad, India.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to

People Manager: ~1-3

Team & Workload Management, Client Engagement: 20%

• Provide leadership and direction through managers and advises management of contractual rights and obligations.
• Subordinates may be located in multiple geographic territories / international countries, requiring multi-cultural and multi -language skills. Influences decisions regarding the hiring, disciplinary action, promotional activity, and pay decisions for subordinates.
• Inspire and motivate direct reports to perform at their best through positive encouragement and incentive initiatives
• Responsible for performance management of team, defines and manages goals
• Provide leadership on best practices and processes
• Builds relationships with clients the team is supporting, establishes role as a trusted advisor.

Team Operations and Strategy: 20%

• Responsible for the effective and efficient operation of all business functions assigned
• implementation of fiduciary controls, consistent application of existing policies, process improvements, management of contractual agreements and organizational effectiveness.
• Ensures compliance with WBD policies.
• Identifies areas for process improvement, providing recommendations, and working within cross-functional teams to implement changes and improvements to create operational efficiency, savings, improve partner relationships, or mitigate risks for areas within functional remit
• Be a point of escalation when issues arise
• Long-term planning to create initiatives that further WBD’s overall goals

Complex Negotiations & Escalations: 50%

• Responsible for grooming business relationships with strategic suppliers and key executive clients and stakeholders.
• Serve as escalation point for team deals. Manage vendor and internal stakeholder escalations. Challenge internal blockers and problem solve to overcome challenges, drive deal strategy to resolution. Must be willing to take decisive action while balancing the needs of the business and mitigating risks.
• Serve as negotiation lead for top tier enterprise deals as needed developing terms, counters, and developing fallbacks to produce material savings, improved terms and conditions, and risk reduction for WBD.

Processing & Operations: 10%

• Overseeing the request for proposal/quote/information (RFX) process and the competitive bid process for technology vendor selection, where applicable.
• Identifying and assessing technology vendors/products from a strategic perspective, to ensure that vendor/product selection is aligned with WBD Technology objectives and strategies.
• Ensures compliance with WBD sourcing & procurement policies.

Required Skills

• 15- 20 years in sourcing, procurement, business development, or related field preferably in the technology/media space with supervisory experience
• Bachelor’s Degree in related field
• Advanced negotiation & contracts experience
• Understanding of business/industry and financial/cost management.
• Strong Leadership and communication abilities.
• Data driven decision making.
• Exceptional Enterprise negotiation skills and the ability to coach and develop others to do the same
• Must be a leader and decision maker that seeks, identifies & implements process improvement and efficiencies
• Must be flexible and adapt to the ever-changing business needs of technology and advertising clients, be able to work well under pressure in a fast-paced and evolving environment, and capable of setting team priorities to meet deadlines.
• Ability to own and drive deals to execution and will need to build collaborative relationships in multi-functional teams and have a problem-solving mindset to do so.
• Team player, self-starter, and quick learning with interpersonal and solution-oriented attitude and an ability to effectively operate with high energy and flexibility in a fast-paced cross functional environment; able to prioritize tasks and projects accordingly.
• Keen analytic, organizational, and problem-solving skills that enable sound decision making.
• Ability to identify and deconstruct issues to overcome obstacles.
• Exceptional written and verbal communications/interpersonal skills, research/analytical skills, and presentation communication skills
• Highly organized, with strong attention to detail, clarity, accuracy, and conciseness
• Ability to work non-traditional hours, as needed, to support global clients.
• Advanced proficiency in MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint.

Preferred

• MBA/JD preferred
• Experience using Ariba, Workday Strategic Sourcing/Scout preferred.
• Experience in the category of third-party professional services & contingent labor

Key Dimensions

Size of Team: 1-3

Breadth of Responsibilities: Global

How We Get Things Done…

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

Championing Inclusion at WBD

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, disability or any other category protected by law.

If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.

Experience Level

Executive Level