Director of Procurement

Xplore Inc. is Canada’s fibre, 5G and satellite broadband company for rural living. Xplore is committed to the relentless pursuit of an improved broadband experience for all Canadians. Xplore is building a world-class fibre optic and 5G wireless network to enable innovative broadband services for better every day rural living, for today and future generations.

Xplore is building a procurement function fit for a national telecommunications operator: disciplined spending, strong supplier relationships, strategic partnerships with the business, and strong governance over all external spend. The Director, Procurement will lead that build.

The successful candidate will be accountable for designing, standing up and then running Xplore's procurement capability end to end including the operating model and processes, team, the framework and the systems that underpin them. You will inherit pockets of good practice and a committed set of stakeholders, and you will be expected to turn those into a cohesive, scalable function within a defined roadmap.

Reporting to the Vice President, Strategic Supplier Partnerships, you will own tactical and strategic procurement across Xplore's network, technology, operations and corporate spend, and act as the company's senior authority on sourcing, contracting and supplier management.

Key Responsibilities Include:

Build the procurement capability

• Operating model. Define the target operating model for procurement at Xplore — scope, structure, decision rights and interfaces with Finance, Legal, Engineering, Network Operations, IT and the business units — and lead the roadmap to get there.
• Process. Design and implement the end-to-end source-to-contract and procure-to-pay processes: demand planning, sourcing, evaluation, negotiation, contracting, purchase order management, receipting and supplier performance review. Document them, embed them and measure adherence.
• Team. Assess current capability, design the team structure, and recruit, develop and retain the category management, sourcing and procurement operations talent the function needs. Build the skills, career paths and performance standards that make procurement a destination role at Xplore.
• Governance. Establish the procurement governance framework: delegation of authority and approval thresholds, sourcing and tendering policy, contract standards, supplier onboarding and due diligence, conflict-of-interest and ethics controls, and the reporting cadence to the executive team and Board committees.
• Systems and data. Own the procurement technology roadmap. Select, implement and drive adoption of sourcing, contract lifecycle management, supplier management and procure-to-pay tooling, integrated with Xplore's ERP and finance systems, with the data model and reporting to support spend visibility and control.
• Roadmap and measurement. Define the maturity model and milestones for the function, report progress transparently, and adjust the build plan as the business evolves.

Run strategic and tactical procurement

• Category management. Lead category strategies across network infrastructure (fibre, fixed wireless, satellite capacity and ground equipment, towers and structures, civil works and construction), network electronics and radio access, customer premises equipment, IT hardware, software and cloud, professional and managed services, logistics, fleet and facilities, and corporate indirect spend.
• Sourcing and negotiation. Run competitive sourcing events — RFI, RFP, RFQ and reverse auctions — with rigorous total-cost-of-ownership evaluation, and lead complex, high-value negotiations on commercial terms, service levels, warranties, intellectual property and liability.
• Contracting. In partnership with Legal, own the commercial terms of supply, master services, construction, licensing and capacity agreements; maintain the contract repository and manage renewals, amendments and obligations.
• Supplier management. Build and maintain a supplier segmentation and performance management program — scorecards, quarterly business reviews, corrective action and continuous improvement — in close alignment with the Strategic Supplier Partnerships team's management of tier-one relationships.
• Supply risk and resilience. Identify, assess and mitigate supply risk across the supplier base: financial health, concentration and single-source exposure, geopolitical and trade-compliance risk, lead times, cybersecurity and data-protection posture, and business continuity.
• Value delivery. Set and deliver annual savings, cost-avoidance and working-capital targets; own spend analytics and ensure procurement data is accurate, complete and actionable for Finance and operational leaders.
• Compliance. Ensure procurement activity complies with Canadian procurement, competition, trade, privacy and anti-corruption law, applicable federal and provincial program requirements (including funded broadband build obligations), and Xplore's own policies.

Lead and influence

• Act as a trusted commercial advisor to the executive team and functional leaders, bringing procurement into decisions early rather than at the purchase-order stage.
• Champion the value of structured procurement across the organisation and lead the change management needed to shift behaviours, adopt new processes and tools, and sustain them.
• Represent Xplore externally with suppliers, industry bodies and peers, and bring market intelligence and best practice back into the business.
• Model Xplore's values and build an inclusive, high-performing, accountable team.

The ideal candidate will possess:

• 10+ years of progressive procurement, strategic sourcing or supply chain experience, including 5+ years leading a procurement function or major category portfolio at the senior manager or director level.
• Telecommunications, network infrastructure or a comparable capital-intensive technology industry background, with direct experience sourcing network equipment, infrastructure construction and large managed-service or capacity agreements.
• Demonstrated experience building or substantially transforming a procurement function, i.e., designing operating models, processes and governance, implementing procurement systems and growing a team
• Proven track record of leading complex, multi-year, high-value negotiations and delivering measurable savings and risk reduction.
• Strong command of contract law fundamentals, commercial terms and risk allocation, and experience working closely with in-house and external counsel.
• Hands-on experience selecting and implementing procurement technology (source-to-pay, CLM, supplier management, spend analytics) integrated with ERP platforms.
• Excellent financial and analytical skills, including TCO modelling, spend analysis and business-case development.
• Outstanding stakeholder management, influence and communication skills up to executive level, with the resilience to lead change in a growing organisation.
• Bachelor's degree in business, supply chain management, engineering, finance or a related field.

Preferred

• Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP) designation, CIPS, CPSM or equivalent; MBA or relevant graduate degree.
• Experience in a rural or regional broadband operator, or with government-funded broadband programs and their procurement and reporting obligations.
• Familiarity with ESG and supplier diversity requirements, Indigenous procurement considerations and modern-slavery reporting in Canada.
• Bilingual English and French is an asset.

Condition of Employment:

As a condition of employment and in order to comply with industry related data security standards, this position is subject to the successful completion of a Criminal Background Check. Details will be supplied to applicants as they move through the selection process.

Xplore is committed to creating an accessible environment and will accommodate disabilities during the selection process. Please let your recruiter know during the selection process of any accommodation needs.