Executive Partner - Chief Procurement Officer (CPO)

Executive Partner (EP) serves as a trusted advisor to our clients who are CPOs from Global 1000 organizations and government agencies. They are the Heads of Procurement in an organization.

The EP’s role is to engage each client-client, and to help him/her identify mission critical priorities and key initiatives and to achieve specific enterprise goals.

Partnering with the client can include activities such as: defining, developing, coaching and/or critiquing strategies; helping develop and/or transform their organizations; assisting/advising with the development and execution of vision & strategy; aggregating and delivering Gartner research insights on key initiatives, priorities, and implementations; and in general, becoming a consigliore for the client.  

With the support of their EP, our clients can achieve their goals more quickly and more cost effectively and with a higher assurance of success.

Relationship Management

The EP manages a portfolio of senior executive client relationships and participates in account planning with Account Executives.  These individuals collectively and individually have responsibility for each assigned account.

The EP participates in all phases of the client lifecycle: pre-sale, on-boarding, relationship management, delivery, review, and renewal.

Success is defined by:

• executing a smooth hand-off from the sales team,
• regularly engaging the client in a substantive manner,
• creating a complete client profile,
• accurately identifying the client’s agenda,
• developing an engagement (value) plan,
• participating with Sales in quarterly account reviews and preparing value-added client interactions.

Sales and Marketing Support

The EP is responsible for client retention and for contributing toward growth in the product/region through direct support of Gartner Sales in prospect cultivation, account plan development and value demonstration activities.

Research Support

The EP supports research activities, such as facilitating client participation in research studies or case panels.  The EP will be aligned with and leverage Gartner research positions and initiatives as well as provide feedback from the client base to the research organization.  The EP works with research analysts to develop and deliver CPO relevant research.

Program Delivery

• Define and deliver innovative solutions by assessing client needs and developing a customized value plan in accordance with overall Gartner Procurement strategy and Gartner Procurement product deliverables. 
• Work with clients to further their levels of procurement maturity through delivery of research, peer networking, and coaching. 
• Critique client strategies, guide clients in building their organizations, and assist in developing Procurement strategies, establishing priorities, and planning for implementation around key Procurement initiatives.
• Establish and maintain working relationships with various internal groups to create a comprehensive, well designed sustainable set of key deliverables for clients (including targeted research, personal coaching sessions, scripted analyst sessions, etc.)
• Direct and facilitate client peer group calls and/or meetings

Content Development and Management

• Participate in presentations
• Participate in relevant research communities to keep topic area knowledge current and share client experiences with analysts
• Facilitate client interaction and collaboration through the Procurement client community portal and assisted client connections
• Lead and participate in roundtables and Gartner Exec Series Webinars

Subject Matter Expertise

The EP must be a senior business executive and have demonstrated topic knowledge in developing and delivering overall Procurement strategy, execution, and performance improvement. 

The EP will be an accomplished current or former CPO (Head of Procurement) who has managed a significant P&L, direct reports, and significant total number of associates.  

Candidate must have a broad base of expertise that has operated at a senior leadership level and driven change at all levels. 

The EP is responsible to retain clients in accordance with established Gartner Retention Metrics.  In addition, to work closely with Sales to vet and close “new’ CPO business.

Other requirements

• A university graduate (Masters preferred) with 10+ years’ experience working in a senior management role, as a CPO, typically as a SVP, or EVP capacity.
• Candidates must have excellent interpersonal skills; no whiff of arrogance about them and the ability and experience working with C level executives. 
• This individual should have a strong EQ and ability to demonstrate reflective listening skills and the ability to adjust to client cues and needs
• An in-depth understanding of Procurement industry and the role of the CPO (including leadership, operations management, strategy and trends, use of metrics, and overall Procurement strategy understanding etc.)
• In depth understanding of the business value of Procurement and the alignment of Business and Procurement strategies.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills to assess client situations and provide actionable, outcome-based business advice, and the ability to leverage appropriate (Gartner and other) resources to help clients achieve business results
• Ability to lead and manage ambiguous situations
• Superior verbal and written communication skills and strong facilitation and presentation skills with the ability to pivot to best serve the client.
• Energetic, Sales savvy
• Collaboration and team leadership
• Sales and / or business development experience or ability with CXO level executives
• Strong time/project management skills

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