Associate Director – Source to Pay Center of Excellence – Data and Analytics

Key Responsibilities

What Success Looks Like in Year One

• Deliver the remaining data foundations – key data sources aligned, ingested into Microsoft Fabric, and integrated across the S2P value chain (Procurement, P2P, TPRM).
• Set the standard of analytics output – introduce advanced analytical methods, establish consistent standards for how insights are delivered to stakeholders, and ensure analytics outputs are trusted, reproducible, and clearly tied to business decisions.
• Proactively coach and develop the team – elevate the team’s analytical and technical depth, building from a strong business analysis / business intelligence foundation towards more advanced data and analytics capabilities. Anticipate the skills the team will need as S2P evolves and continuously invest in developing, coaching, and growing the team to meet those demands.
• Become the authority on S2P data – develop a deep understanding of stakeholder needs across Procurement, P2P, and TPRM, and leverage data to meet those needs. Stay connected to developments across industries and in emerging technologies, bringing relevant practices and approaches back to ensure our analytics capability scales appropriately for a company experiencing considerable growth.

Data Strategy & Architecture

• Own the evolution and implementation of the S2P data strategy, building on established foundations in Microsoft Fabric.
• Lead the design and governance of data products (dimensional models, pipelines, semantic layers) that serve as the single source of truth for S2P analytics.
• Ensure architectural coherence across all data products and projects – consistent naming conventions, modelling standards, and documentation.
• Identify and evaluate opportunities for advanced analytics and AI across S2P, defining the transformation roadmap from foundational analytics to predictive and prescriptive capabilities.
• Lead S2P inputs to the broader Finance Data Strategy, ensuring alignment with enterprise data architecture direction.

Analytics Delivery

• Apply best-in-class spend analytics to manage spend across the S2P organisation.
• Oversee savings tracking, cost benefit reporting, and pipeline management, ensuring all opportunities are accurate, defensible, and included in the pipeline.
• Partner with leaders and stakeholders across TPRM, Procurement, and P2P to define and deliver the reporting and analytical needs of the organisation.
• Drive the maturity of procurement-specific analytics across S2P – building from established capabilities in spend analytics, should-cost modelling, and market intelligence towards a broader suite including supplier performance and risk analytics, contract compliance and leakage analysis, demand and spend forecasting, and scenario modelling to support sourcing decisions. The expectation is to develop the roadmap and progressively build the team’s capability to deliver advanced, decision-ready analytics across the S2P value chain.
• Set best practice standards for analytics delivery, ensuring outputs are high quality, reproducible, and aligned with industry developments.
• Define realistic, measurable, time-bound goals for the analytics function and ensure reporting tells the story of a value-driven S2P organisation.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop the S2P analytics team, including an M1 manager, Procurement analytics partners, and the data infrastructure team.
• Assess and elevate the technical capability of the team – identify skills gaps and invest in development to ensure the right blend of analytics and domain expertise.
• Set and maintain high standards across the team – establish clear expectations for documentation, analytical rigour, and the quality of outputs delivered to stakeholders. Foster a culture where continuous learning is the norm, where the team is always building towards more advanced capabilities, and where the standard of work reflects a Centre of Excellence.
• Build a team that attracts, develops, and retains strong talent – support an environment where people gain genuine expertise, do meaningful work, and are recognised for the quality of what they deliver.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders across Procurement, Finance, P2P, TPRM, and Tech@LLY.

Other Information

• Full-time position based in Cork, Ireland.
• Travel: up to 10%, primarily to the U.S.
• Reports to: Sr. Director, S2P Center of Excellence.

Qualification & Requirements

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative field (Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering, Mathematics) or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of relevant experience encompassing data analytics, data engineering or architecture, with a minimum of 2 years in team leadership.
• Sufficient technical fluency in modern cloud analytics platforms to set architectural direction, evaluate technical choices, and develop team capability – with direct experience in at least one enterprise platform (Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, or equivalent).
• Strong SQL and dimensional modelling knowledge to review and direct the work of the team.
• Familiarity with SAP data structures sufficient to guide data product design in a Procurement or Finance context.
• Experience leading and developing technical teams – ability to assess capability, coach for growth, and hold a high technical standard.
• Strong communication skills – ability to present technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and influence decision-making.
• Fluency in English.

Preferred

• Experience in S2P, Procurement, or Finance domains.
• Experience with Power BI or equivalent visualisation tools, including semantic model design.
• Experience evaluating or applying AI/ML approaches in an analytics context (Procurement or Finance), including an informed view on where and when they add genuine value.
• Proficiency in at least one programming language for data work (Python, R, or equivalent), sufficient to evaluate the team’s approach, support code review, and guide development practices.
• Experience working in international, cross-functional, and highly regulated environments.

Desirable

• Experience in spend analytics, should-cost modelling, or procurement performance measurement.
• Advanced degree (MSc, MBA) in a relevant field.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement certification.

Benefits

No information available.