Director, Procurement - Travel

Tait

Lititz, PA

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JOB DETAILS

JOB TYPE

Full-time

SKILLS

Adoption, Amusement Parks, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automation, Category Management, Change Management, CoS (Class of Service), Cost Control, Creative Design, Diversity, Embedded Systems, Expense Management, Finance, Financial Compliance, Financial Operations, Financial Reporting, Geography, IP (Internet Protocol), Leadership, Leading Edge Technology, Legal, Maintain Compliance, Negotiation Skills, Olympics, Performance Metrics, Pricing, Purchasing/Procurement, Reimbursement, Reporting Dashboards, Reporting Skills, Request for Proposals (RFP), Risk, SAP, SAP Administration, Service Level Agreement (SLA), Sourcing Strategy, Training Program Development, Travel Industry, Travel Policy, Variable Costs, Vendor/Supplier Evaluation, Vendor/Supplier Selection, Willing to Travel

LOCATION

Lititz, PA

POSTED

3 days ago

TAIT partners with artists, brands, IP holders and place makers to bring culture-defining, never-before-seen experiences to life. With a legacy of innovation spanning over 45 years, TAIT has grown from pioneering in rock ‘n’ roll concert staging to setting the global standard for extraordinary live events and experiences through cutting-edge technology, precision engineering, and creative design. TAIT’s 20 global offices have developed iconic productions and experiences in over 30 countries, all seven continents, and even outer space for renowned performers, theme parks, exhibits, and venues across the globe, including partnerships with Taylor Swift, Cirque Du Soleil, Royal Opera House, Nike, NASA, Bloomberg, Google, Beyoncé, and The Olympics

The Director of Procurement – Travel, Events & AI-Enabled Spend Control is responsible for leading the strategy, governance, and optimization of a global travel and events spend portfolio exceeding $46M annually. This role is charged with delivering 10–20% sustainable, measurable savings across addressable spend while enhancing financial discipline, compliance, and operational efficiency. The position combines strategic sourcing, category management, policy and governance transformation, demand management, and advanced SAP Concur optimization to drive enterprise-wide cost control. This leader will identify and eliminate spend leakage, reduce unnecessary cost variability, and leverage AI-enabled workflows and controls to streamline decision-making, improve compliance, and minimize reliance on subjective approval processes—all while maintaining business productivity and a positive traveler experience.

Partnering closely with business leaders, Finance, Operations, and functional stakeholders, this role will drive organization-wide adoption of travel and expense policies, embed sustainable behavioral change, and establish a culture of disciplined spend management. This is a highly visible, enterprise-impact role with direct exposure to senior leadership. Success will strengthen governance, improve spend transparency, enhance decision quality through automation and AI, and deliver meaningful, recurring value across one of the organization's largest indirect spend categories.

Key Responsibilities

1. Spend Diagnostics and Baseline Establishment

Leverage SAP Concur data (expense, travel, audit, and approval workflows) to establish a defensible spend baseline and identify leakage, non-compliance, and behavioral savings opportunities.
Establish a credible baseline by category, geography, and business unit
Identify addressable vs non-addressable spend and quantify savings levers
Develop transparent reporting dashboards for Finance and senior leadership

2. Travel and Events Policy Redesign

Review and redesign travel and event policies to:
- Reduce premium travel behaviors
- Tighten discretionary spend
- Clarify eligibility rules, approval thresholds, and escalation paths
Align policies with executive expectations, risk appetite, and operational reality
Partner with HR, Legal, Capability leadership and Finance to ensure enforceability and adoption

3. Governance and Spend Control Enhancement

Redesign governance to reduce leakage and maverick spend, including:
- Clear ownership of approvals and exceptions
- Reduced manual intervention
- Strong linkage between booking, expense, and reimbursement systems
Introduce controls that prevent non-compliant spend rather than correcting it after the fact
Configure and optimize SAP Concur approval workflows, audit rules, and exception logic to reduce manual intervention and enforce policy by design.
Ensure tight integration between Concur Travel, Concur Expense, and the TMC to prevent off-policy bookings and post-trip leakage.
Work with capability leadership to develop training programs and information sessions to ensure all travelers understand the

4. Strategic Sourcing and RFP Execution

Lead end-to-end RFPs for:
- Travel Management Company (TMC)
- Airlines and airline alliances
- Global and regional hotel programs
- Event venues and production partners
Design preferred vendor programs for selected categories
Negotiate pricing, rebates, SLAs, service guarantees, and compliance mechanisms
Ensure sourcing outcomes deliver both rate savings and behavioral savings

5. Demand Management and Behavioral Savings

Implement demand-shaping levers, including:
- Advance booking requirements
- Class-of-service restrictions
- Preferred supplier enforcement
- Trip justification and pre-approval rules
Partner with business leaders to balance cost discipline and productivity
Reduce price dispersion and unnecessary travel demand

6. Performance Management and Savings Tracking

Define KPIs for savings realization, compliance, vendor performance, and traveler experience
Lead quarterly business reviews with key suppliers
Track savings versus baseline in partnership with Finance
Ensure savings are measurable, sustainable, and auditable
Use SAP Concur reporting and analytics, supplemented by Finance validation, to track compliance, savings realization, and policy effectiveness versus baseline.

7. AI-Driven Travel Approval and Spend Control Automation

Design and implement an AI-based travel and expense approval agent, embedded within or layered on top of SAP Concur, modeled on best-in-class corporate deployments such as those implemented at Sanofi, to eliminate routine, subjective human review of travel expenditures and enforce policy consistently at scale.

Translate travel and expense policies into SAP Concur rules, audit checks, and automated approval logic, minimizing manual touchpoints.
Integrate AI decisioning with Concur Audit, Concur Travel, and expense reimbursement workflows, ensuring end-to-end control from booking through payment.
Ensure AI decisions executed via Concur are fully traceable, auditable, and Finance-approved.

Define AI decision rules and thresholds, including:
- Class-of-service eligibility
- Advance booking compliance
- Preferred vendor usage
- Spend caps and exception tolerances

Shift human approvers to exception-only oversight, focused on:
- Outliers
- High-risk spend
- Legitimate business-critical deviations
Partner with IT, Finance, HR, and Legal to ensure:
- Auditability and traceability of AI decisions
- Compliance with internal controls and SOX requirements
- Effective change management and employee adoption
Quantify and track incremental savings generated through AI-driven enforcement and reduced policy leakage

TAIT is an equal opportunity employer fully committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran or any other protected characteristic as outlined by international, national, state, or local laws.

About the Company

Tait

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