Contingent Workforce Management Lead - Gurugram or Mumbai

Oliver Wyman is looking to bring onboard a seasoned professional to lead the Contingent Workforce strategy for the IMEA (India, Middle-East, South Africa) region!

This role can be based out of our Gurugram or Mumbai office.

Job Overview:

We are looking for an exceptional senior, hands-on leader to lead the IMEA Contingent Workforce function. This is a highly visible position in a fast-paced professional services environment.

The role is accountable for the strategy, governance and end-to-end management of the region's contingent workforce model, covering external talent access, procurement and vendor management, commercial frameworks, lifecycle service, data, technology and reporting.

The role partners closely with business and people leadership, leads the operational CWR team, acts as the senior escalation point for material matters and continuously improves the function's contribution to the firm.

This role is integral to establishing a consistent, commercially disciplined, and high-performing external workforce capability across IMEA.

Key Responsibilities:

Function Strategy, Governance and Leadership

• Responsible for the IMEA contingent workforce strategy, policies, operating model, standards and priorities
• Advise People and business leadership on the appropriate role and use of external workforce capacity
• Connect CWR population, deployment and utilization insights with broader staffing, recruiting and workforce discussions
• Responsible for the governance, control and exception framework, ensuring required standards and approvals are consistently applied
• Lead, coach and prioritize the CWR Operations Specialists and ensure resilient day-to-day service delivery
• Represent IMEA in relevant global CWR forums and align regional practices with global standards and local requirements

External Talent, Vendor and Commercial Management

• Develop the external sourcing approach, channels and reusable talent pools required to access consulting, specialist, expert and support capacity
• Responsible for the IMEA CWR vendor portfolio, senior vendor relationships and adherence to preferred-vendor arrangements
• Lead vendor frameworks, fees, service expectations and material commercial discussions in coordination with the relevant functions
• Establish appropriate market rate, fee and vendor-performance transparency to support business and leadership decisions
• Ensure vendors and commercial deviations are challenged and routed to the appropriate decision-maker

CWR Service, Lifecycle and Performance

• Be accountable for the quality and integrity of the end-to-end CWR service, from initial request through sourcing, contracting, onboarding, active engagement, extension and offboarding
• Ensure the function acts as a consistent internal and external point of contact for the business, CWRs, vendors and enabling teams
• Oversee complex, material or sensitive engagements and intervene where decisions, controls or cross-functional coordination require senior judgment
• Ensure approval, contractual, lifecycle and operational guardrails are consistently applied, coordinating with Legal, Finance, Procurement and other functions where their authority is required
• Responsible for the CWR performance record and future-engagement framework

Data, Technology and Operational Excellence

• Responsible for the business requirements for CWR data, workflows, technology and reporting
• Establish transparent management information on the CWR population, deployment, capacity equivalent, utilization, rates, vendor fees, expenses and total spend
• Monitor service performance, data quality, control adherence, process bottlenecks and recurring exceptions
• Coordinate the resolution of cross-functional issues and ensure failures between organizational boundaries do not remain unresolved
• Continuously improve the function's capabilities, service quality, controls, technology and stakeholder experience

Experience Required:

• Bachelor's or master's degree in business, management, human resources, operations, procurement, finance or a related field
• Significant experience leading or managing a complex cross-functional workforce, business service or operational agenda
• Demonstrated ability to combine strategic direction with hands-on operational leadership
• Experience leading people and coordinating delivery across teams in a matrixed organization
• Demonstrated procurement and vendor-management experience, including commercial frameworks, supplier performance, cost transparency, negotiation and portfolio management
• Proven ability to engage, influence and constructively challenge senior business and functional stakeholders
• Strong analytical capability and experience using data, reporting and technology to improve decisions and service performance
• Experience in professional services or another project-based, fast-paced and matrixed organization is strongly preferred
• Direct experience in contingent workforce management, external talent or contractor management would be advantageous

Skills and Attributes:

• Strategic and operational leadership, with the ability to translate business and People priorities into clear strategies, standards and actions
• Ability to move effectively between long-term direction, senior stakeholder dialogue and detailed operational problem solving
• Strong procurement, commercial and analytical judgment, including an understanding of vendor economics, rates, fees and workforce-spend drivers
• Ability to use workforce, utilization, service and spend information to develop actionable insights and recommendations
• Excellent stakeholder influence and communication skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively and escalate material issues with sound judgment
• Proven team and service leadership, including setting expectations, developing team members and creating consistent service standards
• Ability to create accountability while enabling collaboration across organizational boundaries.
• Strong control awareness and the ability to identify recurring weaknesses and drive sustainable corrective action
• Highly self-motivated, pragmatic and willing to roll up their sleeves in complex, sensitive or operationally demanding situations
• High integrity and discretion when working with confidential workforce, contractual and commercial information
• Regional experience in IMEA or another complex multinational environment would be advantageous

Technical Skills:

• Fluent in English (written and verbal)
• Strong proficiency in management reporting, analysis and executive communication
• Strong Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook skills
• Experience working with workforce, procurement, data/reporting or workflow systems as well as embedding AI into processes is highly desirable