From firefighting to future-ready: Rebuilding procurement from transactional to strategic at Arm

What does it actually take to transform a procurement team that's been reduced to processing transactions into a high-performing, strategic function — at one of the world's most fast-moving technology companies? In this episode, Tom Mills sits down with David Simmons, Procurement Director at Arm, to hear the story of how he's done exactly that over the last 18 months.

David shares how he found a team that had been downsized to a skeleton crew, stuck in a cycle of firefighting and reactive purchasing — and what he did to turn that around. From running a facilitated session to define the team's purpose and operating principles, to deploying a business partnering model, to implementing seven or eight new tools, David opens up about the messy, non-linear reality of transformation and why the best ideas were already sitting inside his team all along.

The conversation digs into the practical and the human: how to win hearts and minds within your own team before you can influence the wider business, why "principles not rules" creates a more agile and trusted function, and how Arm's internal 10x mindset has shaped David's approach to leadership. He's also refreshingly honest about the self-doubt that comes with stepping into a new environment, and the importance of backing your own convictions once you've done the listening.

There's also a sharp and grounded discussion on AI and technology — what's genuinely working, how to avoid being oversold, and David's ambitious goal of creating a "consumer grade" procurement experience where anything requiring no judgment is fully automated, freeing the team to focus where human expertise truly matters.

Whether you're leading a procurement transformation, building a team from scratch, or trying to move your function up the value curve, this episode is full of honest, hard-won lessons from someone who's in the thick of it.

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