Global Director, Supplier Agency Performance & Innovation

UCB•Atlanta, GA

13h•$184,000 - $241,500•Hybrid

About The Position

In this newly created role, you will establish and run supplier/agency performance management, and procurement best practices across the marketing and indirect procurement organization. You will drive continuous improvement and supplier-enabled innovation across the ecosystem — turning performance insight into measurable improvement, new capabilities, and strategic value-creation projects with our most important agencies and suppliers. This role spans > $800M in marketing and indirect spend across a wide range of strategic suppliers and agencies in the U.S. and EU.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred, in business or a related discipline
12+ years in procurement, supplier/vendor management, or contract management, ideally within marketing or indirect procurement
Experience building supplier performance management frameworks, scorecards, and supplier-enabled innovation / continuous-improvement programs that delivered measurable value
Strong analytical and reporting skills; experience with BI/dashboard tools.
Track record of leading cross-functional, agile value-creation and supplier-innovation initiatives with senior stakeholders
Ability to influence senior-level stakeholders through clear, concise, executive-ready communication

Nice To Haves

Experience in pharma or life sciences procurement or in strategic consulting in a related field.
Experience establishing governance frameworks in a matrixed, multi-region organization
Strong digital and innovation fluency
Known for elevating organizational clarity through structured reporting and narrative leadership
Experience designing supplier and agency innovation ecosystems and new operating models

Responsibilities

Build performance standards into contracts at signature
Elevate agency and supplier performance through continuous improvement after signature
Establish enterprise-wide governance and best practices
Report performance results with clear, data-driven narratives
Drive supplier-enabled innovation and new agency/supplier operating models across the ecosystem
Design and lead a structured continuous-improvement program across the supplier and agency ecosystem — benchmarking, maturity assessment, and joint improvement roadmaps that raise quality, speed, and effectiveness year over year
Build a supplier-/agency-led innovation pipeline — source new capabilities, ways of working, and emerging technologies from partners; run innovation forums and pilots; and scale what works across markets
Segment suppliers and agencies into strategic, preferred, and transactional tiers with differentiated engagement — executive sponsorship and joint business planning that turn top partners into sources of competitive advantage
Shape how agentic and generative AI is deployed across the agency and supplier ecosystem as an innovation and productivity lever — setting standards for quality, data privacy, IP, brand safety, and human oversight, and reflecting AI-driven productivity in commercial models and ways of working
Partner with category leadership. Establish and document procurement best practices, playbooks, and standards across the function, and embed a continuous-improvement capability within the category teams so improvement and innovation become business-as-usual
Lead with top-tier agencies and suppliers, presenting performance data and improvement plans. Run a tiered cadence where each review drives a decision (retain / expand / reduce / remediate / exit) and advances a joint innovation and improvement agenda — not a read-out
Identify underperformance trends and drive corrective action plans in partnership with category leads, using structured root-cause / CAPA methodology with timelines, measurable targets, and tracking to closure
Develop agile methodology to partner with adjoining Marketing & Selling Procurement teams to assist with major PR/RFP processes with best practices / performance improvement. Stand up and lead cross-functional agile squads that deliver strategic value-creation projects with our most important agencies and suppliers — e.g., agency-model redesign, ways-of-working and speed-to-market improvements, and co-innovation initiatives — mobilizing the right experts, running in sprints, and delivering measurable outcomes
Advance ESG and supplier-diversity goals as part of the improvement and innovation agenda — partnering with suppliers and agencies on responsible, sustainable, and inclusive practices