Director: Procurement - Chicago, Illinois, United States

Overview · Mayer Brown is an international law firm positioned to represent the world's major corporations, funds, and financial institutions in their most important and complex transactions and disputes. We are recognized by our clients as strategic partners with deep commercial ...

Job description

Overview

Mayer Brown is an international law firm positioned to represent the world's major corporations, funds, and financial institutions in their most important and complex transactions and disputes. We are recognized by our clients as strategic partners with deep commercial instincts and a commitment to creatively anticipating their needs and delivering excellence in everything we do.

We are a collegial, collaborative firm where highly motivated individuals with an unwavering commitment to excellence receive the opportunity, support, and development they need to grow, thrive, and realize their greatest potential all while supporting the Firm's client service principles of excellence, strategic partnership, commercial instinct, integrated strengths, innovation, and collaboration across our international firm.

If you enjoy working with team members whose defining characteristics are exceptional client service, initiative, professionalism, responsiveness, and adaptability, you may be the person we are seeking to join our Procurement department in our Chicago office, as a Director: Procurement.

This position provides strategic leadership for the Firm's global procurement and sourcing function with a mandate to deliver measurable commercial value - including cost reduction, supplier-driven innovation, risk mitigation, and operational efficiency. The Director: Procurement will design and execute a global procurement strategy that optimizes total cost of ownership, increases Firm-wide leverage, accelerates contract velocity, and enhances the Firm's ability to scale. The role requires close collaboration with leadership across offices and functions to ensure procurement decisions align with Firm objectives, improve financial performance, and support long-term growth.

Responsibilities

Essential Functions:

Set and Execute a Commercial Procurement Strategy

• Leads the development and transformation of a Firm-wide procurement and strategic sourcing strategy that aligns with financial, operational, and risk priorities.
• Partners with Firm leadership to ensure procurement contributes directly to margin improvement, cost discipline, and operational resilience.
• Establishes category ownership model with dedicated strategies for high-value/high-complexity categories.
• Implements triage criteria, self-service models, and process improvements that balance control with user experience.
• Builds preferred supplier programs and framework agreements that deliver recurring cost reduction through volume consolidation and strategic partnerships.
• Implements spend analytics and demand management capabilities to identify and eliminate low-value, unnecessary, or excessive spending across all categories.
• Implements strong policies, defined roles, and approval processes to enable consistent prioritization of procurement activities.

Drive Enterprise-Level Value and Global Leverage

• Coordinates sourcing and procurement efforts across countries, offices, practices, and administrative functions to maximize total Firm buying power.
• Establishes global category strategies that deliver multi-year savings, mitigate risk, and capture economies of scale.

Deliver Measurable Cost Optimization

• Identifies, prioritizes, and executes opportunities to reduce Firm spend across major categories (technology, facilities, professional services, travel, subscriptions, office products, etc.).
• Works with stakeholders to eliminate low-value and unnecessary spend and redesign processes that drive cost leakage.
• Uses data and analytics to track savings, validate impact, and publish commercial performance metrics.

Lead High-Value Negotiations and Supplier Relationships

• Serves as the Firm's lead negotiator for enterprise-level contracts; strengthens supplier performance, commercial terms, and service delivery.
• Builds a supplier relationship management (SRM) framework that drives innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Optimize Contract Management and Compliance

• Develops, implements, and enforces Firm-wide contracting standards, playbooks, and lifecycle management
• Partners with Finance, Risk, IT, and Legal to ensure commercial compliance, performance transparency, and contractual risk mitigation

Accelerate Digital and AI-Enabled Procurement

• Introduces automation and AI solutions that streamline the procure-to-pay lifecycle, improve visibility into global spend, and reduce manual effort.
• Leads the selection and implementation of procurement technologies that elevate operational efficiency and reduce cycle-time.

Establish Commercial KPIs, Reporting & Performance Management

• Creates a robust reporting structure, dashboards, and performance measurement tools that quantify procurement's commercial impact.
• Provides monthly executive-level summaries of commercial performance, risks, and value pipeline.

Build and Lead a High-Performance Global Team

• Recruits, develops, and mentors procurement professionals to enhance commercial capability and business partnering skills.
• Sets clear goals, evaluates performance, and fosters a culture of analytical rigor, negotiation excellence, and commercial thinking.

Additional Responsibilities

• Supports continuous improvement initiatives, organizational change, and Firm-wide operational priorities.
• Performs other duties as required to meet Firm strategic and financial

Qualifications

Education/Training/Certifications:

• Bachelor's degree required in Supply Chain Management, Business or Finance
• Graduate degree in business (MBA) or equivalent work-related experience preferred not required
• Professional designation as a Certified Purchasing Manager (CPM) and membership in the National Association preferred not required.
• Purchasing Managers is highly desirable not required

Professional Experience:

• A minimum of twelve years of progressive purchasing and sourcing management experience in a corporate or consulting environment; senior or executive management level experience preferred
• Demonstrated success leading procurement transformation initiatives in complex, matrixed professional services organisations (law firms, consulting firms, accounting firms preferred)
• Track record of implementing triage criteria, self-service models, and process improvements that balance control with user experience
• Experience managing stakeholder expectations, communicating priorities transparently, and building trust across geographically dispersed teams
• Skilled at developing training programmes, playbooks, and communication strategies that drive adoption of new procurement processes and technologies

Technical Skills:

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products

Performance Traits:

• Demonstrated ability to deliver bottom-line savings, cost avoidance, and value creation through strategic sourcing and negotiation.
• Strong commercial instincts with a deep understanding of pricing models, cost structures, contractual risk, and TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).
• Sophisticated negotiation skills with proven success managing high-value supplier relationships and complex contracts.
• Expertise in spend analytics, demand management, and modeling the financial impact of sourcing decisions.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to influence stakeholders, drive consensus, and lead Firm-wide initiatives.
• Strategic thinker capable of designing systems, frameworks, and processes that scale globally.
• Strong understanding of procurement and supplier technologies and the ability to translate them into commercial outcomes.
• Ability to influence and gain buy-in from senior partners, practice leaders, and business services leaders.

Management Accountabilities:

• Leads staffing, performance, and development for the procurement team with a focus on commercial capability building.
• Manages operational budgets and provides recommendations for financial improvement
• Conducts ongoing analysis of staffing models, workloads, and productivity to ensure optimal resourcing.
• Drives organizational change to improve efficiency, enhance stakeholder experience, and strengthen commercial performance.
• Ensures priorities are aligned with financial and operational impact; delegates effectively to accelerate execution.

The typical pay scale for this position is between $195,000 and $281,000, although the actual wage or salary could be lower or higher if the candidate's education, experience, skills and internal pay alignment are different from those specified. 

The above is a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

The Firm may modify and amend this job description at any time at its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including medical/dental/vision/life/and AD&D insurance, 401(k) savings plan, back-up childcare and eldercare, generous paid time off (PTO), as well as opportunities for professional development and growth.

Thank you for your interest in Mayer Brown. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities and disabled veterans. To request a reasonable accommodation related to the application process and/or job interview, please email  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

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