Rishabh Khullar

khullarrishabh@gmail.com | Toronto

SYNOPSIS

• Accomplished Senior Sourcing Manager with over 12 years of expertise in global strategic sourcing, procurement, and contract management across IT, Cloud, AI, SaaS, Marketing, Professional and Corporate Services categories.
• Proven ability to lead global teams, drive cost optimization initiatives, and manage high-value contracts while building collaborative relationships with internal stakeholders and suppliers.
• Adept at driving transformational procurement strategies and vendor management and delivering exceptional savings, process efficiencies, and risk mitigation.
• Driven and determined to think through and resolve complex issues while leading complex procurement initiatives.
• Well-versed in RFx (RFP, RFQ and RFI) management and electronic purchasing technologies.
• Extensive experience in strategic sourcing, audit, compliance management, SOW creation, contract negotiations & management, cost management, planning, requirement consolidation and solutions delivery.
• Identify projects leading to savings/business value creation.
• Effective organizational skills, outstanding technical knowledge in various segments and a commitment to keep updated with the latest developments.
• Experienced in providing motivation, guidance and up-to-date technical consultancy service to colleagues and clients.

CORE COMPETENCIES

RESPONSIBILITIES COMMON ACROSS PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Knowledgeable in supplier management, managing technicalities, schedules, commercials, terms and conditions, compliance, reporting, industry standards and best practices and conducting fair and transparent procurement.
• Development and execution of the Category Strategy and Operating Model for Technology Procurement – Cloud, Software/Application Integration & Maintenance and conduct the negotiations within these categories.
• Review the contents of tender bids, technical specifications, cost comparison, procurement analytics and market analysis, and negotiate commercial, legal and standard terms and conditions for the Technology, Software and Cloud Outsourcing.
• Prepare and maintain the vendor database with the qualification criterion and prequalification lists for repeatedly purchased products and services.
• Set up and support the interactions between internal teams – Sourcing team, Legal Counsel, External Vendors and the Business users; interfacing at every level in the organization including Senior Management and Leadership.
• Provide day-to-day coaching, consultation, guidance, oversight and directions and assign tasks to the Procurement Staff and Analysts.
• Drive a competitive edge in contracts and arrangements with vendors and vendors. Build and maintain strategic relationships with the key IT suppliers.
• Deliver key IT sourcing initiatives and annual procurement savings targets for technology sourcing and contracting activities.
• Lead the sourcing, commercial and contractual negotiations with third parties and resolve disputes and vendor performance issues and manage supplier management lifecycle.
• Deliver an exceptional client experience with relevant solutions while working collaboratively.
• Organize and structure work with informed decisions based on data and deliver a high level of service.
• Well-versed in working with multiple electronic procurement platforms – Coupa, Ariba, ConnectWise etc.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Senior Sourcing Manager (Technology Sourcing) | Thomson Reuters | November 2021 - Present

• Develop Category Plans and sourcing strategies containing a portfolio of key initiatives which deliver the IT Strategy.
• Deliver the key IT sourcing initiatives, achieving the best value within the acceptable risk.
• Contribute to the development of the annual pipeline of IT sourcing initiatives, integrating with the financial planning process.
• Draft, redline and negotiate supplier contracts within Thomson Reuters’s contracting standards and business objectives.
• Rationalize the number of IT suppliers and reduce fragmentation in the spend base in order to simplify the supplier landscape and drive commercial efficiency
• Provide support and coaching to Sourcing Managers within the Technology Sourcing teams.
• Represent Procurement in governance forums with strategic IT suppliers to ensure that all contractual obligations are met, initiatives are performing against business cases and issues and disputes are resolved in a timely manner.
• Build and enhance relationships with strategic IT suppliers along with the vendor and service delivery management teams to deliver high levels of service whilst maintaining best-in-class commercial terms and conditions.
• Develop High-quality sourcing collateral at each stage of the sourcing lifecycle to facilitate informed decision-making amongst the stakeholder community.
• Significantly reduced third-party risks with active risk management implemented for each IT sourcing initiative.
• Significant and sustainable annual reduction in Thomson Reuters cost-base demonstrated using a robust savings methodology that is consistently applied and rigorously approved.

Global Procurement Manager (Software and Cloud) | KPMG | June 2019 - October 2021

• Have been recognized multiple times by the Global Leadership for the efficiency in work and reflecting Core Organization Values through work and conduct.
• Lead strategic, high risk and high dollar value, complex procurement projects in Software and Professional Services.
• Work with stakeholders to understand their technology sourcing needs and manage vendors to meet their requirements and develop SLAs.
• Primary responsibilities have been to strategically support business customers in their sourcing initiatives, provide leadership and advice in Software, Information Technology, Professional Services, Knowledge, Subscriptions and Management procurement categories and implement the contract negotiation framework.
• Lead and support the category initiatives and oversee the end-to-end procurement lifecycle while performing vendor management activities including, but not limited to, selection, contracting, purchasing, renewals and termination.
• Purchasing Lead for complex Global Projects pertaining to Software and SaaS solutions.
• Projects handled include RFx process for procurement of a SaaS solution, spend valued at more than USD 30M with likes of ServiceNow, Appian, HP, Salesforce etc.
• Have been a touch point for the team to resolve problems related to the procurement platform and provide effective solutions.
• Lead Negotiations in Agreements, SOWs, SLAs and complex contract terms and conditions, throughout the contract life cycle and term renewal with bidders and vendors.
• Identify the contractual risks and educate the business stakeholders; balance the business needs and commercial value while mitigating the risks and proactively managing the IT sourcing initiatives and contracts pipeline.
• Proactively manage the risks and coordinate with legal counsel to develop terms and conditions, liaison with stakeholders and subject matter experts, to bring the best vendor negotiation outcome and minimize the litigation.
• Work with cross-functional teams to identify, streamline and support internal process standardizations and improvements.

Analyst (Technology Procurement & System Engineering) | Fusion Computing | May 2018 - June 2019

• Work with business users to define their IT sourcing needs and identify vendors to meet their requirements.
• Identify projects leading to savings/business value creation.
• Targeting and convincing business users to evaluate the project approach leading to greater value creation.
• Coordinate vendor management activities across the business to ensure “one voice” to the vendor.
• Work with the Director of IT as well as cross-functional teams, to support internal process improvements for the organization.
• Assist sales and presales in responding to clients’ RFXs by negotiating prices and T&Cs with partnering vendors.
• Creation of best contract practice/process and ensuring continuous improvement

Central Orchestrator (formerly Network Administrator) | 91springboard | July 2015 - September 2017

• Lead the IT department to serve more than 5000 customers pan India.
• Contributed to 30% cost reduction in procurement of IT hardware and services of top quality across all segments by in-depth market analysis and informed data-based decisions.
• Procurement and implementation of all services and technology at the firm, maintaining inventory
• Negotiated the legal and commercial terms and conditions for professional services and procurement.
• Auditing, task allocation and tracking the usage of services to build an efficient system.
• Vendor identification and management across multiple locations and maintaining vendor support.
• Lead the planning, procurement, installation and management of the network services.
• Implemented “Zonal Support Structure” to maintain the SLA and provided fast and reliable services to the customers.
• Develop and deliver executive presentations.
• Manage integration with various systems to ensure end-to-end integration meets the business requirements.
• Developed processes for new project implementation and employee training.
• Manage the company domains and website.

Sr. Customer Engineer (promoted from Customer Engineer) | HCL Infosystems | July 2012 - January 2015

• Assess sourcing opportunities in order to develop, implement and institutionalize various sourcing strategies. 
• Research, select and onboard vendors that are competitive, flexible, agile, and provide global reach.
• Signing contracts with the different vendors as per the company’s strategic needs.
• Project handover specialist; an integral part of every project transition team and led many handovers.
• Understand the operational challenges during different project operations and minimize them for future contracts.
• Manage, supervise and renew the 3rd party contracts to generate savings for the clients.
• Technology trainer and responsible for preparing various modules of technical training.
• Performed regular system audits for HCL’s 17 major revenue-generating customers and provided consulting to them on hardware and software services.
• Formulated Standard IT Operation Procedures for many clients including KPMG India.
• Prepare various documentation and training modules on different network and security platforms.

VOLUNTEERING

• Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), Toronto: Mentor (Present)
• Southern Africa Embrace Foundation, Toronto: Executive Assistant (April 2018)
• National Services Scheme, India: Student Volunteer (August 2008- April 2012)

EDUCATION