Group Head of Partner Management

Location: UK - London, UK - Hatfield, UK - Manchester, UK - Milton Keynes, UK - Mobile England, UK - Nottingham, UK - Reading | Job-ID: 214246 | Contract type: Standard | Business Unit: Partner Management
Life on the team
At Computacenter UK, we pride ourselves on fostering a culture that emphasises diversity, inclusivity, and collaboration. We are committed to building supportive and rewarding relationships, celebrating success, and treating everyone with respect. Our focus is on putting customers first, keeping our promises, and considering long-term sustainability in all our decisions As we look to scale our Group Professional Services business, the role of Head of Partner Management will be responsible for leading, shaping and delivering the resourcing partner and agency strategy and service for Group Professional Services (GPS) Working as the Group Head of Partner Management your role is pivotal in maximizing the value derived from your relationships with partners and agencies in the UK, France and Germany, as well as developing, managing, and providing access to a Professional Services international partner network in regions and territories outside of the core operating countries. You will be responsible for leading a team that builds and maintains strong, strategic and operational relationships with key partners, negotiating and managing high-value partner contracts, in addition to being both contractually and commercially accountable for all partners under GPS ownership. You will own and evolve the overall partnering strategy and offering to the business to drive profitable growth. Working collaboratively with the Resource Management team and other key stakeholders across GPS and the wider organisation, you will lead and manage a high-performing team, ensuring a cost-effective, transparent, and easily accessible partner network. You will provide expert support in partner selection and usage
What you’ll do
Partner Management Operations and Planning

• Working with GPS stakeholders and key contacts within the Country Units to shape, evolve and deliver the GPS partnering strategy and offering that augments our internal delivery capability, ensuring that we can provide the highest quality and most cost-effective delivery solutions for our customers.
• Embed the use of our VMS tool to analyse and develop our partner eco-system to respond to market demand, define partnering direction, and agree the strategy and vision for where partner capabilities can deliver a competitive advantage.
• Work in collaboration with the Resource Management team to drive system and process improvements in the way we supply partner and agency delivered services.

Commercial Management

• Design and set the direction for partner commercial planning that drives competitive advantage, developing frameworks, leading negotiations on agreements and pricing strategies that keep us relevant and competitive in the market
• Manage, monitor and analyse partner spend and performance, including trends and direct activity to provide insight and support workforce planning activities

Contractual Management

• Own, direct and negotiate key strategic contractual renewals, including setting agency strategy across the Group
• Direct and set out contractual standards with our partners to support quality delivery, mitigate our risks in service delivery and ensure that ethical business and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) standards are maintained
• Manage the partner onboarding criteria and parameters and engage and agree GPS and Group Legal standards

Relationship Management

• Own and develop relationships with internal stakeholders within the GPS practice teams and the Country Units as well as senior leaders in our key strategic partners, ensuring service/business reviews are conducted on a regular basis and relationships are developed that drive our partners to favour Computacenter as a route to deliver services
• Develop the team’s ability to provide expert advice to sales and service management, in conjunction with the resource management business partners, on partner capabilities and offerings to ensure optimal resourcing options to service customer needs
• Maintain alignment and understanding of practices within GTS and GMS Partner Management functions and collaborate in the development of a single Partner eco-system for the organisation, with a particular focus on how we drive and develop an international partner network.

Team leadership and management

• Lead and manage the Group team members, including defining their roles and responsibilities, setting and agreeing targets and objectives, and managing their performance
• Define key success criteria for the team, and allocate resources, skills and capabilities to maximise performance
• Manage the team's P&L to ensure maximum return on investment of the team, and the value to the business

What you’ll need

• Partner/Supplier management on a global scale, ideally within the Professional Services / IT services industry
• Excellent relationship management skills
• Commerciality with strong negotiation and contract management skills & experience
• Strategic thinker with a deep understanding of market dynamics and partner eco-systems
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and drive global initiatives.
• Excellent communication, business planning and analytical skills
• Proven track record of successfully leading, developing and inspiring others
• Experience of working at a strategic level to embed new processes and drive engagement
• Knowledge and experience of working with a Vendor Management System (such SAP Fieldglass)
• Knowledge and experience of working with and negotiating with Master Service Providers (MSPs)

About us With over 20,000 employees across the globe, we work at the heart of digitisation, advising organisations on IT strategy, implementing the most appropriate technology, and helping our customers to source, transform and manage their technology infrastructure in over 70 countries. We deliver digital technology to some of the world’s greatest organisations, driving digital transformation, enabling people and their business.