Director of Strategic Procurement — Interim, Omnichannel Retail

The mandate

An investigation found undisclosed relationships in facilities and last-mile awards, leading to suspension of the procurement director and two category heads. ₹900 crore of spend now needs independent review without interrupting store openings or customer delivery.

The interim must begin within two weeks for a fixed twelve-month remediation. A permanent director search begins once the first retenders close, with six weeks for supplier and control transition.

Handover requires retender of six high-risk categories, ₹85 crore of finance-validated annualised value, complete beneficial-ownership screening for critical suppliers, and the successor chairing two sourcing councils without exception backlog.

The director may pause sourcing, exclude conflicted suppliers and approve awards below ₹3 crore within the new process. Awards above ₹10 crore, supplier litigation and settlements need committee approval; the interim cannot prejudge the employment investigation or select merchandise for resale.

Direct merchandise buying, store-location strategy and customer pricing are excluded. The brief covers indirect, technology, facilities and logistics procurement where governance confidence must be rebuilt.

Why this seat is open

The investigation created an authority gap across categories that cannot wait for its legal conclusion. Delegating awards to existing category teams would not provide sufficient independence. A time-bound procurement leader will retest the supply base, recover defensible value and hand over a transparent council system.

What you will own

• Map the six high-risk categories by incumbent, beneficial ownership, award history, dependency and renewal date.
• Decide which sourcing events pause, proceed under enhanced review or require immediate competitive retender.
• Establish bid custody, conflict declarations, scoring evidence and independent approval for material awards.
• Run clean-sheet or should-cost challenges across facilities, logistics, technology and marketing services.
• Validate savings with finance after implementation, separating price, demand, scope and cost avoidance.
• Resolve critical supplier continuity while preserving investigation evidence and competitive fairness.
• Transfer supplier dossiers, sourcing calendars and council authority through two successor-led award cycles.

Candidate qualifications

• Eighteen-plus years in strategic procurement with large retail, consumer, logistics or technology spend responsibility.
• Led sourcing remediation following fraud, conflict, collusion or material supplier-governance failure.
• Demonstrated delivery of finance-validated value from competitive retender and clean-sheet cost analysis.
• Strong knowledge of beneficial ownership, bid integrity, third-party risk and evidence-preservation requirements.
• Ability to protect operational continuity while suspending or replacing high-dependency suppliers.
• Experience testifying to ethics, audit or board committees on sourcing decisions under investigation.

Non-negotiables

• Available in Bengaluru within two weeks and for national supplier negotiations.
• No relationship with incumbents in the six categories or the investigation advisers.
• Will preserve evidence and avoid interfering with employment or legal findings.
• Commits to the twelve-month remediation and permanent-director transfer.

1. 49 words maximum. Confirm your availability and disclose any supplier relationships relevant to retail indirect spend.
2. 49 words maximum. Which conflicted sourcing event did you retender, and what validated outcome followed?
3. 49 words maximum. How did you maintain an essential supplier service while preserving investigation integrity?