Head of Procurement M%26A Practice

In an increasingly complex environment and fast-moving world, success will also come from our ability to work as One AXA with all our colleagues within a moving perimeter of the AXA Group due to divestments, acquisitions, joint ventures and/or various forms of partnerships.

In that respect, we have set up a dedicated team to develop and run AXA’s procurement M&A practice aiming at giving Group Operations the tool boxes, expertise and frameworks to increase pace of synergies identification & delivery and foster smoother integration within or exit from AXA’s ecosystem.

Team will work to add value by:

1. Widening jointly with its stakeholders the sourcing benefits identification and delivery globally and/or only locally with certain AXA Entities.
2. Mitigating impact of divestiture/acquisition on existing ecosystems.
3. Integrating newly acquired Entities/partners within AXA processes, policies (e.g outsourcing), risk frameworks (e.g vendor risk), medium and long-term Category Strategies’ onboarding, global and multi-country vendors program, … to ensure trusted partnership between new teams and existing AXA teams but also faster operational integration.
4. Supporting innovation through harnessing the experience and creativity of acquired entities/partners for the common good of the wider Group and to derive, if possible, benefits for existing AXA Entities from acquisition/ new form of partnerships.
5. Leveraging the lessons learned/post mortem of each such operation to build up the contractual and operational toolboxes/frameworks and/or checklists expertise of the team.
6. Rooting One AXA mindset within existing and new colleagues.

The final aim is to industrialize our approach towards Acquisition/Divestiture/Partnerships to transform this practice, once built up, into a global asset for the Group and become an enabler for faster integration/execution.

POSITION MAIN ACTIVITIES

The Head of GPS M&A practice contributes to the strategy implementation at Group level by translating strategy and concepts into action; ensuring tangible synergies and business results or preventing as much as possible dy-synergies and acquisition indigestion. In more details, the role has specific objectives:

1. Deliver value to the Group as a whole rather than only to one part of it.
2. Become a real sparring partner for acquired Entities/partners and divested Entities and their trusted partner in negotiations with AXA GPS and if need be Group Operations.
3. Ensure upstream strategic alignment between Procurement and Sourcing decisions at acquired Entity/Partner with AXA’s ones and highlight any discrepancy to relevant stakeholders on both sides.
4. Identify and leverage the governance bodies at acquired entity/divested ones and AXA Group to support & ensure delivery of AXA’s strategic priorities but also expected synergies.
5. Influence/support stakeholders in the operational integration of newly acquired Entities, especially with regard to building out Entities appropriation towards AXA’s strategic sourcing orientations.
6. Advise on the set-up of the function in the new Entity/Partner such as implementation of the new organization chart, Procurement operating model design & evolution (front/middle/back office, onshore/offshore), review of processes ... to homogenize working practices throughout the Group.
7. Develop a real Procurement & Sourcing M&A asset that will benefit the whole Group.

Scope: It embeds IT/Claims/Non IT & Non claims procurement activities, as also Extended workforce, procurement & outsourcing processes, procurement tools, legal templates and approaches, procurement data and target operating models.

Team structure: The position is heading the M&A practice team taking the lead on acquisition/divestiture and any form of partnership with capital participation in a form or in another. The position is a manager position, with direct management and indirect management of many different stakeholders, on which the position holder has no direct authority.

Stakeholders: Stakeholders are Chief Procurement Officers at Group or in divested/acquired Entities as their teams as also many Entity’s Chief Procurement Officers depending on the local synergies identified and to be delivered. Additionally, the Head of GPS M&A practice will have to be able to influence and interact with different senior stakeholders at divested/acquired Entity level but also at Group Operations level (Legal, Finance, Operations,…..).

The Head of GPS M&A practice must combine technical and soft skills in a global, multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment. He/She works with a high level of autonomy, defines his/her priorities, structures challenges, establishes action plans, and drives momentum. A large level of autonomy and self-governance is required. The Head of GPS M&A has only very limited own resources therefore will be expected to work closely with his/her peers in GPS to get the required level of support and drive the expected synergies.

Technical skills:

1. Strategic vision being able to think strategically and challenge the status quo.
2. Broad business acumen: strong knowledge of procurement activities and processes but also of AXA’s operating model in other areas (Finance, Risk, …).
3. Experience in negotiating with suppliers (BAU/projects) and how to drive suppliers’ relationships.
4. Large project/program management in a global environment.
5. Negotiation, communication and mediation skills.
6. Capable to structure large quantities of information and to translate abstract content into action.
7. Innovation savvy with analytical skills to identify opportunities for improvement especially in non-familiar domains.
8. Strong ability to explain, to communicate and to federate in order to structure the environment in the way that is necessary to drive actions.
9. English - Fluent in speaking and writing.