Procurement and Travel Manager

• Join the principal development organisation in the region

The Pacific Community (SPC) is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region, supporting development since 1947. We are an international development organisation owned and governed by our 27 country and territory members. In pursuit of sustainable development to benefit Pacific people, our organisation works across more than 25 sectors. We are known for our knowledge and innovation in such areas as fisheries science, public health, geoscience, and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

The Operations and Integration (O&I) collective delivers essential enabling services that support the organisation’s scientific and technical portfolio. Our key functions include corporate services, programme support, partnerships, resource mobilisation, and strategic engagement. These services are coordinated through our regional and satellite offices across the Pacific and Europe. Additionally, the O&I collective leads a dedicated workstream focused on organisational change and transformation to drive continuous improvement and adaptability.

The role – Procurement and Travel Manager will lead the Procurement and Travel Team under Implementation Support Services (ISS) in providing high quality advice and service for procurement and travel activities; to provide expert and specialist advice to influence the strategic direction of SPC’s procurement and travel activities; to strengthen internal understanding and capabilities of SPC staff in procurement and travel processes;

and to drive procurement and travel improvements as part of the ‘One O&I’ workplan, with a particular focus on improvements in processes, procedures and systems and building excellent relationships internally and externally. The role will also lead the digital transformation of SPC’s procurement function under the ISS transformation programme, including implementation of an eProcurement and the shift to a category-management and business-partnering model.

The key responsibilities of the role include:

• Lead SPC’s procurement and travel functions to deliver high quality customer service advice.
• Provide harmonised and consistent service across SPC to the agreed service standards and in accordance with SPC’s Procurement Policy and Travel Policy.
• Lead on organisation-wide procurement and travel planning, including strategic planning.
• Lead on the management of organisation-wide procurement and travel risk management.
• Lead the shift to a category-management and business-partnering model.

• In collaboration with Head of ISS and with participation of key stakeholders (e.g. divisions), drive procurement and travel improvements as part of the one O&I business plan, with a particular focus on improvements in processes, procedures and systems.
• Harmonise processes, systems and procedures across all SPC locations for procurement and travel.
• Lead the implementation and embedding of the eProcurement (source-to-contract) SaaS platform, including its integration with Business Central (requisition-to-pay).
• Establish integrated procurement tracking and management information across the source-to-contract lifecycle.

• Provide advice to influence the strategic direction of SPC’s procurement processes.
• Provide advice to decision-makers on complex procurement and travel issues (contracts, exceptions, protests, management of COI etc.).
• Provide recommendations on policy and process updates.
• Advise on aligning procurement practice with donor and international frameworks.

• Manage procurement and travel staff and resources.
• Lead SPC’s training plan…