Associate Director - Procurement

Role Overview

Associate Director – Procurement at Aldar Education, based in Abu Dhabi. This role provides senior procurement leadership for assigned education portfolios, ensuring requirements are planned, sourced, contracted and delivered in line with procurement policy, Delegation of Authority, approved budgets, agreed SLAs and business priorities.

Company Overview

Aldar Education is the leading education group in Abu Dhabi, providing inclusive and innovative learning across a range of educational brands for learners from nursery through to adult education. The organisation educates over 38,000 students across owned and managed schools, offering the broadest choice of curricula across the largest number of locations in Abu Dhabi. Working collaboratively, the education network empowers the next generation while directly supporting the educational priorities of the Abu Dhabi Government and the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, which seeks to build a sustainable, knowledge-based economy through premium education.

Role Purpose

This role combines portfolio delivery, governance, stakeholder partnering and commercial management across schools, HQ departments and cross-functional programmes. The Associate Director supports procurement transformation through structured planning, framework agreements, standardised specifications, data-led reporting, supplier performance management, audit action follow-up and continuous improvement. The role acts as a senior escalation point, coaches assigned team members, challenges non-compliant or single-source approaches, and translates business needs into compliant, value-driven procurement outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Procurement Planning and Portfolio Delivery

• Develop, manage and monitor procurement plans for assigned portfolios to anticipate requirements, reduce emergency purchasing and improve operational readiness.
• Coordinate requirements across schools, HQ functions and departments, including confirmed and forecasted needs, scope clarification, budgets, timelines and approvals.
• Oversee complex capital and operational procurement programmes such as school expansions, specialized rooms, inclusion hubs, security, facilities, FF&E, refurbishment and technology or learning-space initiatives.
• Monitor delivery status, risks, dependencies and blockers, escalating decisions or constraints in a timely and solution-oriented manner.

Sourcing, Tendering and Award Governance

• Lead and oversee RFQs, RFPs, bidder list recommendations, tender timelines, evaluation matrices, award recommendations, negotiations and approval submissions for the assigned portfolio.
• Ensure tender strategies, evaluation criteria, disqualifiers, procurement routes and approval requirements are robust, proportionate and compliant.
• Validate specifications with requestors before tendering and challenge single-source requests where competitive sourcing is required.
• Use standard templates, trackers and weekly tender reviews to support faster cycle times and better visibility of bottlenecks.

Commercial Value, Framework Agreements and Standardisation

• Drive cost savings and cost avoidance through auctions, negotiations, demand consolidation, early stakeholder engagement and volume leverage.
• Identify high-spend and frequently purchased categories through spend analysis and convert suitable recurring requirements into framework agreements.
• Standardise specifications where appropriate to reduce fragmented requirements, avoid unnecessary customisation and improve economies of scale.
• Support catalogue-based ordering and approved reference catalogues for standardised items and school requirements.

Contract, Purchase Order and Supplier Management

• Coordinate with the Contracts Specialist, SRM Specialist, Legal, Finance and business stakeholders to support the timely execution of contracts, renewals, variations, framework agreements and purchase orders.
• Ensure purchase orders are raised to formalise approved requirements, secure budget commitment and enable compliant supplier engagement.
• Ensure procurement and award documentation is complete before handover to the relevant contract or supplier management owner.
• Escalate contract execution, purchase order or supplier delivery issues that may affect the assigned portfolio.

Stakeholder Partnership and Communication

• Act as a senior procurement partner to schools, Education, Operations, Finance, Legal, IT/Digital, HR and other HQ functions.
• Facilitate workshops and structured discussions with stakeholders and suppliers where this supports scope definition, specification alignment or catalogue development.
• Provide clear timelines, procurement route guidance and documentation requirements to help end-users progress requests efficiently.
• Maintain professional supplier engagement while ensuring all bidder communication during tenders is channeled through Procurement.

Governance, Audit, Risk and Process Improvement

• Ensure procurement activities comply with Aldar Education procurement policy, DOA, finance requirements, contract governance and audit expectations.
• Assign and follow up internal audit action owners, support evidence gathering and monitor closure of agreed action plans.
• Contribute to procurement risk registers, internal controls, policy improvements and evidence of value creation.
• Escalate material risks, policy exceptions, vendor issues, contract risks, budget constraints and delivery concerns promptly.

Team Leadership, Reporting and Transformation

• Manage, coach, guide and review direct reports within the assigned procurement portfolio, ensuring quality of outputs and alignment with department standards.
• Prepare executive-ready summaries, reports, dashboards and recommendations for management decision-making.
• Use Oracle Fusion, procurement dashboards, trackers and other digital tools to monitor activities, approvals, order status, supplier data and KPI performance.
• Support procurement transformation, AI / automation initiatives, reporting improvements and consistent procurement practices across portfolios.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in a related field and/or professional training or qualification in a related field; Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA) preferred.
• Recognised Procurement Qualification and/or professional subscription (e.g. CIPS) desirable.
• Minimum of 10 years' experience in procurement within the region. Education procurement experience is preferable.

Skills & Competencies

• Excellent communication skills, written and oral.
• Fluent English communication skills; Arabic is an added value.
• Great knowledge of ERP systems (Oracle Fusion).
• Excellent stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent usage of MS Office (PowerPoint, Excel).
• Organised with great governance.
• Ability to create dashboards.
• Proven track record of developing advanced procurement processes and methods.
• Attention to detail with diligent follow-up, able to execute in a timely manner.
• Skilled in multi-tasking and handling pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Pro-active approach.
• Agile mindset.

Additional Information

Aldar Education offers an attractive remuneration package. The organisation places special emphasis on professional development, coaching and training for all staff. Aldar Education is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment. Offers of appointment are subject to satisfactory references and police clearance. Aldar Education is an equal opportunity employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. The organisation encourages UAE Nationals to apply.