Associate Director - Procurement - Business Partnering

About Dubai Holding Group Services:

Group Services is Dubai Holding’s shared business services arm that provides consolidated business solutions in procurement, finance and human capital across the Group. With a commitment to talent, digital innovation and continuous improvement, it delivers best-in-class service, enhancing the Group's overall performance. Group Services is dedicated to transforming operations, elevating service quality and cultivating specialized teams focused on excellence and innovation

Group Services comprises of:

Group Services Procurement delivers end-to-end value through strategic sourcing, supplier management, and contracting. Enabled by advanced technology, streamlined processes, strong governance, and data-driven insights, it ensures responsible sourcing, cost efficiency, and operational excellence.

Group Services Finance manages financial transactions, budgeting, and reporting to ensure strong fiscal health and cash flow. It empowers informed decision-making through insights that drive sustainable growth and profitability.

Group Services Human Capital manages the full employee lifecycle, ensuring a smooth journey from recruitment to offboarding while fostering a culture that values and supports people—the Group’s greatest asset.

Empowering talent for the future : Group Services’ greatest strength lies in its people; their collective capabilities serve as the driving force of the company. Dedicated to creating a vibrant talent hub where challenging the norm leads to innovation, collaboration fuels creativity and caring for people and partners cultivates strong relationships, Group Services aims to build a foundation for sustained success. As a business that views success as a shared journey and celebrates every achievement along the way, Group Services offers the opportunity to grow, develop skills and make a meaningful impact.

Dubai Holding Group Services proudly supports a diverse portfolio of companies:

• Dubai Holding Real Estate

• Dubai Holding Entertainment

• Dubai Holding Community Management

• Dubai Holding Land Estates

• Dubai Holding Hospitality

• Dubai Holding Investments

• Dubai Holding Asset Management

About the role:

The Associate Director – Procurement Business Partnering acts as a strategic bridge between Dubai Holding’s business units and the central procurement function. Reporting to the Director of Business Partnering, this role leads a team of Senior Managers and Managers to ensure early engagement, translate business needs into actionable insights, and enable procurement to deliver commercial value through aligned category strategies. In this position, you'll take on key responsibilities that include:

• Act as the strategic conduit between business units and the procurement function, ensuring business needs are accurately reflected in procurement priorities.
• Support category teams in shaping category strategies by providing deep business insight, context, and alignment with operational goals.
• Translate business transformation initiatives into procurement opportunities, enabling procurement to proactively support change.
• Identify and escalate cross-business synergies, risks, and opportunities to inform procurement planning and transformation efforts.
• Advocate for procurement’s role in enabling business strategy, ensuring visibility and integration at the right decision-making forums.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior stakeholders across all five businesses, acting as their primary procurement contact.
• Influence business leaders to engage early with procurement, ensuring alignment and proactive support for strategic initiatives.
• Facilitate two-way communication between the business and procurement, ensuring mutual understanding of priorities, constraints, and opportunities.
• Represent procurement in business planning cycles, governance forums, and leadership meetings.
• Navigate complex stakeholder environments, resolving competing priorities and fostering collaboration across functions.
• Provide business-aligned commercial advice to category teams, ensuring sourcing strategies reflect operational realities and risk appetite.
• Act as a sounding board for contract structuring, supplier selection, and negotiation approaches, bringing business context to procurement decisions.
• Support risk identification and mitigation by connecting procurement with business continuity, compliance, and operational risk teams.
• Ensure procurement activities are aligned with business risk frameworks and escalation protocols.
• Monitor supplier performance issues and escalate business-critical risks to category leads and governance bodies.
• Track and report on procurement value delivery from a business perspective, ensuring transparency and alignment with business expectations.
• Support the development of value realization plans and benefit tracking models in collaboration with category teams and finance.
• Champion procurement’s contribution to business outcomes, including cost savings, service quality, innovation, and ESG goals.
• Identify and escalate delivery risks or gaps in procurement performance, ensuring timely resolution and stakeholder engagement.
• Facilitate post-implementation reviews and feedback loops to continuously improve procurement service delivery.
• Support the Director of Procurement business partnering in leading a team of Procurement Business Partners, ensuring consistent engagement, alignment, and delivery across all supported businesses.
• Set clear expectations for stakeholder management, business insight, and collaboration with category teams.
• Coach and develop team members to build strong influencing skills, commercial acumen, and business understanding.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on stakeholder satisfaction, value delivery, and continuous improvement.
• Manage team capacity and resource allocation to ensure effective coverage and responsiveness across the business portfolio.

About you:

The preferred candidate for this role should possess the following experience and credentials:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance, or a related field.
• Master’s degree or MBA preferred, especially with a focus on strategy, procurement, or operations.
• Professional certifications such as CIPS, CPSM, or PMP are advantageous.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, or business partnering roles.
• Proven experience in leading cross-functional teams and managing senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success in developing and executing category strategies that deliver commercial value.
• Experience in non-operational, strategic procurement environments, ideally within large, complex organizations.

About the Benefits:

At Dubai Holding, we're committed to nurturing the success and well-being of our colleagues. Join our dynamic and diverse team, and enjoy a comprehensive benefits package that includes competitive compensation, career development opportunities, and a collaborative work environment. We strongly believe in creating an empowered Classification: Internal workforce that will help us build a connected city for tomorrow. We are committed to attracting the brightest minds and nurturing the most pioneering candidates who desire to make a great impact on the future of Dubai