The procurement centre of excellence (CoE) is at a crossroads. For years, it has been the function that kept processes tidy, maintained compliance frameworks, and ensured teams followed the rules. That work still matters. But it is no longer enough.
AI is automating the transactional and tactical tasks that once justified large procurement headcounts. The CoE leader who focuses solely on maintaining the present is already behind. What procurement needs now is a different type of person entirely: a visionary who can see where the function is heading and fight to keep it relevant.
What the Procurement CoE has traditionally looked like
For most of its existence, the procurement CoE has been staffed by detail-oriented, technically strong professionals. These are people who excel at process design, policy documentation, and governance frameworks. They are meticulous, thorough, and reliable.
If you are familiar with colour personality tests, you will recognise the type.
The four main profiles are broadly described as follows:
- Blue personalities are analytical, detail-focused, and process-driven. They value accuracy and structure above all else.
- Red personalities are direct, results-oriented, and decisive. They focus on outcomes and can be combative under pressure.
- Yellow personalities are enthusiastic, creative, and people-oriented. They thrive in collaborative, fast-moving environments.
- Green personalities are calm, steady, and relationship-focused. They prioritise harmony and consistency.
Procurement CoEs have historically skewed heavily blue. That makes sense. Execution, accuracy, and risk management were the job. These teams were built to maintain standards and run processes well.
The problem is that execution without vision is a liability in a period of rapid change. Being great at running the present does not help you design the future.
Here, I make the case for why CoE leaders must increasingly be a mixture of red and yellow personalities.
Why the Status Quo is no longer enough
AI is moving fast. Tactical sourcing, purchase order processing, invoice matching, and supplier onboarding are already being automated in forward-thinking organizations. The administrative backbone of procurement is being systematically replaced by software.
CoE leaders can no longer simply optimise existing processes. The processes themselves are changing. Some are disappearing entirely.
The real job of the CoE leader today is to ensure procurement remains a relevant and valued function five years from now. That is not an exaggeration. It is an existential question that most CoE teams are not currently equipped to answer.
Procurement has spent decades trying to move from a cost centre to a strategic value driver. AI is both the biggest threat to that ambition and the biggest enabler of it. The CoE leader who understands this, and can act on it, will be worth their weight in gold. The one who does not will manage a shrinking team into obsolescence.
The New CoE Leader Profile
The CoE leader of the future is a visionary thinker, not a process guardian. This is not about being disorganised or reckless. It is about having the ability to see where procurement is going and reverse-engineer the steps needed to get there.
The ideal profile looks something like this.
- Entrepreneurial by nature, perhaps someone who has run their own business, worked in a startup, or comes from a consulting background.
- Comfortable with ambiguity and energised by change rather than threatened by it.
- Articulate, often extroverted, and at ease when presenting to senior stakeholders.
- Able to make a compelling case to the CFO for procurement investment in plain financial language. Does not hide behind procurement jargon.
- Has a deep understanding of the procurement technology ecosystem. They don’t need to be software developers, but they do need to know what tools exist, what problems those tools solve, and what a credible investment case looks like.
- The ability to triage a tech budget and make smart recommendations is non-negotiable.
Now, I’m not saying that the more detail-oriented process expert isn’t important. They are, and you need them on your team. I just don’t think they should be in this critical leadership role.
You need a talented diplomat, a gregarious marketer, and an enthusiastic futurist who can competently drive change.
A great example of this archetype in action is Gaurav Sharma, a CoE lead you should definitely follow on LinkedIn. He represents exactly the type of personality this role demands going forward.
The best people in this role share one trait above all others: curiosity.
They are constantly asking:
- What is coming next?
- Which new tools are emerging?
- What could the procurement function could look like if constraints were removed?
Curiosity is the engine that drives everything else.
The Key Competencies that will define Success
These are people who can see the end destination. They are philosophical enough to think long-term, and practical enough to map the steps to get there. The detail-oriented executors belong in the team, but not at the top of it.
Here is what the role now demands:
- Boldness: a willingness to challenge the CFO and CPO, push back on IT, and fight for the tech and resources the team needs.
- Relationship building: the ability to challenge respectfully, build trust across the organisation, and earn genuine credibility with senior stakeholders.
- Communication and internal marketing: the ability to sell procurement’s value to the wider business, in simple language that resonates.
- Business case fluency: speaking finance’s language rather than procurement’s. That means talking about margin protection, working capital, and revenue enablement rather than cost avoidance, SRM, and P2P.
- Technology literacy: knowing what tools are available, what they do, and how to build the ROI case for investment.
- Strategic vision: the ability to see the end destination and map a credible path to get there.
None of these competencies, sadly, are taught in a CIPS qualification. Most of them are, in fact, learned outside of procurement entirely.
The Business Case Fighter
One of the most important things a CoE leader must be able to do is fight for investment.
Not politely request it. Fight for it.
They’re the right-hand to the CPO in this sense. A Cinderella personality, the one that quietly accepts whatever budget and tools they are given without pushing back, is the wrong fit for this role entirely.
Many procurement teams still rely way too much on Excel and SharePoint to run critical tasks. Someone who accepts this as normal is the wrong person for this role.
The CoE leader must be comfortable challenging the CPO and other senior leaders. They need to present a clear, finance-led business case. They need to connect procurement investment to outcomes that appear on board reports:
- Working capital ratios
- Operating margin
- Supply chain risk
- Revenue growth
CFOs readily approve multi six-figure investments for CRM systems and ERP implementations. Procurement spending typically represents 50% or more of a company’s revenue. The investment case is there. The problem is that most CoE leaders, and even CPOs, don’t know how to make it convincingly.
Procurement’s future is in value delivery and enabling the business to move faster and more efficiently. You cannot cost-cut your way to greatness. The CoE leader must believe this and communicate it with conviction.
Should CPOs look outside the function for this talent?
This is the uncomfortable question that more CPOs need to sit with.
Many current CoE leads are strong operators. They are knowledgeable, experienced, and well-regarded within their organisations. But the visionary skill set described in this article is not evenly distributed across the function.
The honest answer is yes. CPOs should actively consider candidates from outside procurement for this role. That doesn’t mean they should hire an outsider for the role, but they should certainly be open-minded towards it.
Someone who has led a tech startup, run a consulting practice, or worked in sales and marketing will often bring exactly the entrepreneurial mindset and communication skills that this role demands. They may not know the difference between an e-auction and an RFP on day one. But they will know how to build a business case, how to market an idea internally, and how to challenge a CFO without losing the relationship.
It’s possible to close that knowledge gap around procurement specifics relatively quickly. The personality traits and communication skills required for this role are much harder to develop in someone who does not naturally have them.
Diversity of experience, background, and thought will only strengthen the procurement function. The best CoE teams will combine visionary leadership from the top with deep procurement expertise in the ranks.
What happens if you get this wrong?
The stakes here are high. Procurement risks becoming a forgotten corner of supply chain or finance. Whether the function reports into operations or sits under the CFO, that risk is real regardless of the reporting line. Without a CoE leader who can articulate and demonstrate strategic value, teams will lose budget, lose headcount, and lose influence.
AI will automate the transactional and tactical. Only the strategic and relational aspects of procurement will survive at scale. The function stagnates without someone fighting to prevent it. Junior roles disappear first. Then senior ones follow. The CPO finds themselves running a skeleton operation that nobody in the business particularly notices or misses.
Getting the CoE hire right is arguably the most important talent decision a CPO can make right now. The person in this role is not just managing a department. They are responsible for ensuring procurement has a future.
Conclusion
The procurement CoE leader of the future is not a technocrat keeping the wheels turning. They are a strategist, a communicator, and a visionary who understands both the technology landscape and the language of the business.
Organisations that hire this type of leader now will be the ones running effective, respected, and well-funded procurement functions in five years’ time.
Those that promote the most technically proficient process manager into the role because it feels like the safe option will find themselves asking what went wrong.
Our very existence as a function depends on getting this right.
