Job Summary
Job Description – Director, Procurement Innovation & Operations (India)
PFI India is an exciting new innovation center. We're building a future that helps people live better lives longer— and we're looking for bold thinkers and team players to help us do it. Here, you'll tackle complex challenges, collaborate with brilliant minds across the globe, and grow your career while helping millions achieve financial security.
a Purpose Driven Company – 150 Years
While the PFI brand is new to India, you'll be a part of the Prudential Financial, Inc. family. Founded in 1875 in Newark, New Jersey, we serve 50 million customers across more than 50 countries. With $1.334 trillion in assets, we're a global leader in institutional asset management. The 2nd largest life insurer in the US and the 9th largest institutional global asset manager.
At PFI India, you'll find a high-performance culture that's flexible, collaborative and grounded in respect. We engage with candor, take calibrated risks, and hold ourselves accountable — always focused on delivering for our customers. It's the standard we choose every day as we grow, perform, and win as one team.
We offer valuable leadership, mentoring and learning opportunities, paired with the flexibility and support to help you thrive.
Whether you're just starting out or ready to take your next step, we'll help you grow with purpose and do the best work of your career.
The Director, Procurement Innovation & Operations (India) is a senior operational leadership role responsible for overseeing execution, delivery quality, and outcomes for the India‑based PI‑O team, reporting to the Head of Procurement Innovation as part of a globally integrated Procurement Innovation & Operational Excellence model.
This role does not own global strategy or enterprise‑wide direction. Instead, the Director serves as the primary operational leader for the India hub, accountable for translating US‑led strategy, priorities, and design direction into scalable, high‑quality execution through the local team.
The Director Works In Close Partnership With
- The US‑based PI‑O leadership team (strategy, roadmap ownership, governance)
- The Ireland‑based team, which initiates and designs work
- The India‑based delivery team, which executes, scales, and operationalizes initiatives
Success in this role requires strong people leadership, delivery discipline, and the ability to operate effectively in a receive, execute, and feedback global model, while remaining accountable for outcomes, throughput, and delivery excellence within India.
Key Responsibilities
Operational Leadership – India Hub
- Provide day‑to‑day operational leadership for the India‑based PI‑O team, ensuring delivery aligns to US‑defined priorities, standards, and timelines.
- Translate inbound work, guidance, and strategic direction from the US and Ireland teams into clear execution plans, resource assignments, and delivery milestones.
- Maintain accountability for delivery quality, velocity, and measurable outcomes across all India‑executed initiatives.
- Act as the primary escalation point for execution risks, capacity constraints, or delivery blockers originating in the India hub.
Global Coordination & Follow‑the‑Sun Execution
- Operate as a core node in a follow‑the‑sun operating model, supporting work that is initiated and designed by US and Ireland teams and executed or scaled through India.
- Ensure seamless handoffs, documentation standards, and communication between regions.
- Provide structured feedback loops to upstream teams on feasibility, complexity, resourcing, and optimization opportunities based on execution experience.
- Reinforce globally consistent ways of working, tooling standards, and governance expectations across time zones.
Delivery Execution & Performance Management
- Oversee execution of procurement innovation, operational excellence, automation support, and analytics enablement work assigned to the India hub.
- Ensure disciplined delivery across:
- Process deconstruction and documentation
- Lean Six Sigma–based improvement initiatives
- Automation and digital enablement support
- Performance tracking and benefits realization
- Establish and monitor execution KPIs (cycle time, throughput, adoption readiness, defect rates, realized efficiency) for India‑led workstreams.
- Drive continuous improvement in delivery methods, documentation quality, and execution maturity.
People Leadership & Talent Development (India)
- Lead, coach, and develop India‑based PI‑O talent, setting clear expectations for execution excellence, accountability, and collaboration in a global model.
- Build and sustain a high‑performance delivery culture, grounded in rigor, transparency, and continuous improvement.
- Partner with US leadership on capacity planning, skill development priorities, and role clarity.
- Support hiring, onboarding, and development of India‑based resources in alignment with globally defined role profiles and capability needs.
Governance, Risk & Compliance
- Ensure all India‑executed work adheres to enterprise governance, risk, security, and compliance standards as defined by global leadership.
- Enforce documentation, audit readiness, and control discipline across all deliverables.
- Support governance forums by providing execution status, performance reporting, and risk assessments to US‑based leadership.
- Escalate issues early when delivery constraints or risks could impact global commitments.
Stakeholder Influence & Change Leadership
- Serve as the primary operational liaison between the PI‑O team and functional stakeholders across PFI India, ensuring execution remains aligned to globally defined upstream intent and expectations.
- Manage day‑to‑day stakeholder interactions within the PFI India location related to delivery status, execution feasibility, sequencing, and operational trade‑offs, escalating issues appropriately rather than independently redefining scope or priorities.
- Reinforce globally defined change approaches, standards, and ways of working by ensuring India‑executed deliverables are adoption‑ready, well‑documented, and consistent with enterprise expectations.
- Support change adoption by coordinating execution readiness, including documentation completeness, handoff quality, and stakeholder communications required to operationalize solutions designed by US and Ireland teams, while ensuring the PFI India user base is appropriately engaged with, and informed by, the global PI‑O operating model.
- Operate effectively across time zones and cultures, ensuring clarity, responsiveness, and continuity in stakeholder engagement without introducing execution friction or misalignment.
- Act as a steady execution partner to PI‑O leadership, building trust through delivery reliability, transparency, and disciplined follow‑through rather than directional authority.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree: Business, Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Supply Chain, or a related field.
- Experience: 10–15 years in operational excellence, transformation delivery, or globally distributed delivery leadership roles.
- Leadership: Proven experience leading delivery teams within a global, matrixed, or GCC environment.
- Execution Focus: Strong background translating centrally defined strategy into scaled, repeatable execution.
- Process & Digital Acumen: Solid understanding of Lean Six Sigma, process transformation, and how process design integrates with digital platforms and automation.
- Global Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to work across time zones, manage inbound priorities, and operate effectively with upstream design and strategy teams.
CRITICAL SUCCESS TRAITS
- Execution-first mindset leading delivery; this is not a software engineering role.
- Comfort operating under direction while owning outcomes
- Strong operational judgement and delivery discipline
- Clear communicator across cultures and geographies
- Low-ego, high-accountability leadership style
- Deep understanding of procurement process, functional roles, and value levers across the sourcing and purchasing lifecycle.
