Sr Director Analyst, Direct Procurement

Gartner•Irving, TX

1d•$172,000 - $202,500•Hybrid

About The Position

The Gartner Analyst Role focuses on creating innovative, thought-provoking, and highly leveraged "must-have insights" content. This involves developing new insights and ideas through thought leadership, offering compelling and actionable approaches to client needs and requests to accelerate their ability to act. Analysts conduct in-depth analysis to identify root causes of client barriers or overall needs, reframing thinking to drive strategy forward. They demonstrate thought leadership in establishing Insights positions across a team of analysts and bring provocative, independent insights to Gartner leaders that can evolve the course of a research agenda. The role involves researching, analyzing, and predicting market trends and shifts to provide clients and vendors with actionable insights. Analysts provide clients and prospects with actionable advice aligned to their designated content area via virtual or face-to-face interactions. They create and deliver high-value presentation materials on and off stage for Gartner events, industry and professional association conferences, and client briefings. Support is provided to research and Sales teams, serving as the voice of the market to help Insights teams create content and drive engagement with clients to make progress against their critical priorities to grow their business. The role also includes providing high-quality and timely content peer review, building credibility as an industry expert to represent Gartner insights, methodology, and strategy. Active participation in innovation, ideation, and research discussions, and effective collaboration with peers in the Insights community are expected. Analysts identify research process improvements or develop new processes that help the team and research provide excellent service delivery. They act as mentors and coaches by supporting more junior team members and are client-centric, actively seeking to help clients engage regularly and often with Gartner insights and interactions.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in supply chain, Procurement, Engineering, Business, Economics or related field.
15+ years of progressive experience in direct procurement and supply chain leadership.
Executive advisory experience supporting CPOs, CSCOs, CFOs, and senior executives.
Recognized expertise in direct materials sourcing, commodity strategy, and procurement transformation.
Exceptional analytical, presentation, research, and communication skills.
Proven manufacturing background (CPG, heavy industry) within global procurement footprints.
Experience in global organizations with hybrid, regional and global procurement operating models.

Nice To Haves

Should Cost Analysis & Cost Modeling
Inventory Management & Supply Continuity
Geopolitical Risk & Trade Policy
Regulatory Impact Analysis
Commodity Markets & Commodity Risk Management
Supplier Relationship & Lifecycle Management
Supplier Quality
Supplier Innovation
Industry & Commodity Trend Forecasting
Supplier Ecosystem Management
Procurement Technology & AI
Supply Chain Agility and Resilience

Responsibilities

Create innovative, thought provoking, and highly leveraged “must-have insights” content
Develop new insights and ideas through thought leadership and offer compelling, actionable approaches to client's needs and requests that accelerate the client's ability to act
Develop in-depth analysis to identify the root cause of a client’s barriers or overall needs and reframe thinking to drive strategy forward
Demonstrate thought leadership in establishing Insights positions across a team of analysts
Bring provocative, independent insights to Gartner leaders that can evolve the course of a research agenda
Research, analyze and predict market trends and shifts to provide clients and vendors with actionable insights
Provide clients and prospects with actionable advice aligned to their designated content area via virtual or face-to-face interactions
Create and deliver high value presentation materials on and off stage for Gartner events, industry and professional association conferences, and client briefings
Support research and Sales: Provide sales support serving as voice of the market to help Insights teams create content and to drive engagement with clients to make progress against their critical priorities to grow their business
Provide high quality and timely content peer review
Build credibility as an industry expert to represent Gartner insights, methodology and strategy
Actively participate in innovation, ideation, and research discussions and collaborate effectively with peers in the Insights community
Identify research process improvements or develop new processes that help the team and research provide excellent service delivery
Be a mentor and a coach by supporting more junior team members
Be client-centric while actively seeking to help clients engage regularly and often with Gartner insights and interactions
Develop and execute global direct procurement and commodity strategies that ensure cost competitive, agile supply chains aligned with business objectives
Advise on leveraging strong cross-functional collaboration across Operations, Finance, R&D, Engineering, Supplier Quality, and Quality to optimize the end-to-end supply chain through joint governance, shared KPIs, and change management—enhancing inventory and working capital optimization, VMI, sustainability, and risk management.
Advise clients on Should Cost Analysis, clean-sheet costing, total cost of ownership, and supplier economics.
Analyze commodity markets, industry trends, cost drivers, and supply market dynamics (not looking for specific categories or markets, but the mechanics of such analyses).
Assess geopolitical, tariff, sanctions, trade policy, and regulatory impacts on sourcing decisions.
Translate complex market developments into actionable executive guidance.
Provide guidance on inventory optimization, supply continuity, working capital tradeoffs, and VMI.
Lead supplier risk, dependency, qualification, onboarding, development, and performance strategies.
Advise on procurement technology, analytics, AI, and transformation initiatives.