Strategic Sourcing Director

Informa is a leading academic publishing, business intelligence, knowledge, and events business, creating unique content and connectivity for customers worldwide. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.

Taylor & Francis is one of the world’s largest publishers of high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarly journals, books, e-books, and reference works. We empower learners, thinkers and doers with trusted knowledge that advances research and enriches lives. We bring together diverse people, ideas, and opinions to validate and publish the experts, theories and truths that matter. And we’ve been doing this in an unbroken arc since 1798.

Our purpose is to foster human progress through knowledge. We strongly believe that this requires us to encourage and examine different ideas and voices so that any work that meets our exacting levels of quality deserves to be included in our publications. This requires open minds, the opportunity for robust debate, and the courage to defend perspectives that stand up to scrutiny, even if they conflict with our personal beliefs or values. Because that’s the only way to find the best obtainable version of the truth and, ultimately, foster human progress. If you agree, then we’d love to hear from you.

Job Description

Taylor & Francis, a leading academic publisher, is seeking an exceptional Strategic Sourcing Director to revolutionise our procurement function and drive organisational excellence. This newly created role reports directly to the Executive Vice President Operations and offers a unique opportunity to shape our procurement strategy from the ground up. 

Key Responsibilities: 

As Strategic Sourcing Director, you will: 

• Develop and deliver a comprehensive procurement strategy aligned with our business objectives
• Build and lead a team of procurement professionals to support our global business
• Drive the delivery of multi-million-pound annual savings targets
• Establish robust procurement policies, processes, and best practices
• Create data-driven reporting systems for spend analysis and performance tracking
• Foster a cost-conscious culture throughout the organisation
• Lead high-impact sourcing projects across a range of business areas
• Implement innovative procurement tools and systems
• Collaborate with the Executive Leadership Team to embed procurement excellence
• Build synergies with procurement teams across the Informa Group

Qualifications

The Ideal Candidate Will Bring:

• Extensive senior procurement experience, preferably in publishing or media 
• Proven track record of delivering substantial cost savings and process improvements 
• Experience building and leading high-performing procurement teams 
• Strong commercial acumen and analytical capabilities 
• Outstanding stakeholder management and communication skills 
• Experience implementing procurement systems and tools 
• Change management expertise 
• Strategic mindset balanced with hands-on execution ability 
• Leadership skills to influence and motivate across all organisational levels 

This role offers the opportunity to make a substantial impact on our bottom line while working closely with senior leadership. You'll balance strategic thinking with tactical execution in a dynamic business environment, engaging directly with suppliers, negotiating agreements, and delivering measurable results. 

We're looking for a motivated self-starter who is driven by achieving excellent results and creating value. If you're ready to take a key role in our procurement function while building strong relationships at all levels, we want to hear from you. 

Additional Information

At Taylor & Francis we care about our colleagues, promoting work-life balance, wellbeing, and flexible working. You will be joining a thriving business, working alongside an exceptional group of people. We believe that the skills and experience you bring to Taylor & Francis are invaluable. We want you to have the opportunity to develop your abilities, and to innovate and develop in areas which you are passionate about. 

What we offer in return:

• A competitive salary
• An excellent work/life balance with a fantastic, flexible working culture.
• 25 days annual leave per year plus bank holidays and an extra day off for your birthday
• 3 additional discretionary days off during the holiday season at the end of the year
• 4 paid volunteering days each year
• Company funded single cover private medical insurance
• Employee assistance programme – offering 24/7 well-being support
• Share Match – Plan that matches every share purchased with two free shares.
• Pension scheme
• Life assurance, plus optical and medical care.

Closing date for applications: Tuesday 23rd September 2025.

Candidates are required to have the right to live and work in the UK.

Location:

The successful candidate will be able to utilise our balanced working model. We ask that candidates live within a commutable distance of either our Milton Park, Abingdon office or our London, Blackfriars office to ensure that as a balanced worker they can make it to our Milton Park or Blackfriars office location to collaborate as required. There is an expectation for a minimum of 3 days per week in-person time.

We believe that great things happen when people connect face-to-face. That's why we work in-person with each other, or with customers and partners, three days a week or more. When you’re not spending time together in one of our offices or other workplaces – like at conference – you get the flexibility and support to work from home or remotely.

Interviews will be completed alongside advertising, please submit your application as soon as possible. 

Training And Professional Development: 

We’re passionate about ensuring you have all the tools and resources at your fingertips to reach your short and long-term career goals. We’ll support you in your journey by working together on your own bespoke Taylor & Francis Development Plan, ensuring you have the resources, tools, support and coaching that will get you where you want to be.

Once you have submitted your application, we may get in touch with you for an initial screening conversation or ask you to complete a short video interview to enable us to better understand your skills, experience, and motivation. Following this, you will be invited to attend a competency-based interview, either virtually or in person. Typically, we’d then finish the interview process with a final, 2nd stage interview before extending an offer to the successful applicant.

We want all our candidates to shine in our recruitment process. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to ensure you are able to show us your best self. This could include having the application form in a different format, more time for questions, or anything else – please ask us, we are happy to be flexible! Please contact [email protected]

Being Yourself at Taylor & Francis:

If you’re excited about working with Taylor & Francis to foster human progress through knowledge, we invite you to apply even if your existing skills and experience don’t fit every item listed above. At Taylor & Francis, we are at our best and most successful when colleagues can be themselves and make a contribution regardless of their identity or background. As a colleague, you will have the opportunity to further innovate and develop in areas that you are passionate about. Our goal is to empower you with the resources, incentives, and flexibility you need to enjoy success at work and to live a healthy, balanced life. 

Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in and value diversity of people and thought, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all colleagues can learn and succeed as their true selves. Taylor & Francis recruits, develops, and retains colleagues without regard to any protected personal characteristics or other non-merit based factor. 

We genuinely care about our colleagues, promoting work-life balance, wellbeing, and flexible working. We believe that the skills and experience you bring to Taylor & Francis are invaluable. We want you to have the opportunity to develop your abilities, and to innovate and develop in areas which you are passionate about. To find out more about our business and the great career opportunities please go to our Careers Site: 

Or better yet check out our LinkedIn ‘Life’ Page, highlighting our accomplishments, employees, and company culture. It’s also a good way of meeting our recruitment team, who will be happy to advise you on your journey here at T&F.