Senior Director - Centralized Purchasing

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**Role**

Procurement and Category Strategy

• Develop and lead the enterprise procurement strategy aligned with the company’s business priorities, growth plans, and operating model
• Establish a category management framework covering category segmentation, spend analysis, opportunity assessment, sourcing wave plans, and governance
• Own category strategies for key spend areas, including supply market analysis, demand management, supplier positioning, pricing models, and risk mitigation plans
• Drive value creation through cost optimization, specification improvement, standardization, demand aggregation, and total cost of ownership analysis
• Build multi-year category roadmaps with measurable savings, service, quality, and risk outcomes

Strategic Sourcing and Commercial Delivery

• Lead high-value and complex sourcing initiatives, negotiations, and contract awards across priority categories
• Ensure robust sourcing methodologies are applied, including RFx, e-auctions where appropriate, should-cost analysis, benchmarking, and scenario evaluation
• Approve sourcing recommendations and commercial strategies within delegated authority
• Ensure contracts are commercially sound, compliant, and structured to protect value, service levels, and supply continuity

Supplier Relationship and Performance Management

• Develop a supplier segmentation approach that distinguishes strategic, preferred, approved, and transactional suppliers
• Build supplier relationship management practices for strategic suppliers, including performance reviews, executive governance, risk reviews, business continuity, and innovation pipelines
• Define and monitor supplier KPIs covering cost, service, quality, lead time, responsiveness, compliance, and sustainability
• Lead supplier development and rationalization programs to improve capability, competitiveness, and resilience

Procurement Transformation and Analytics

• Lead the transformation from transactional purchasing to a category-led procurement organization
• Improve procurement processes, systems, data quality, reporting, and digital enablement to increase visibility and decision quality
• Establish procurement dashboards tracking savings, cost avoidance, contract coverage, compliance, supplier performance, working capital, and risk exposure
• Use market intelligence and spend analytics to identify trends, sourcing opportunities, and category actions

Business Partnering and Demand Governance

• Partner with customers and stakeholders to challenge demand, clarify requirements, and align procurement strategies with operational and commercial needs
• Initiate, chair or support cross-functional category committees to guide sourcing priorities, standardization decisions, and supplier selection
• Promote early procurement involvement in budgeting, new initiatives, product introductions, and major projects
• Drive compliance with approved buying channels, contracts, and category strategies

Risk, Controls, and Governance

• Ensure procurement policies, approval matrices, delegation of authority, and sourcing controls are consistently applied
• Strengthen procurement governance across competitive bidding, supplier onboarding, contract management, and ethical sourcing
• Identify and mitigate supply, commercial, operational, geopolitical, and concentration risks across key categories
• Maintain appropriate audit trails, documentation standards, and policy compliance across procurement activities

Team Leadership and Capability Building

• Build and lead a high-performing procurement and category management team with clear roles, responsibilities, and development plans
• Define capability requirements in strategic sourcing, analytics, negotiation, SRM, and stakeholder management
• Coach team members on category planning, commercial acumen, and value delivery
• Create a performance culture focused on accountability, continuous improvement, and business impact

• Executive Leadership Team

• Finance

• KAM / Sales

• Logistics
• Operations
• Legal

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• Strategic suppliers and service providers
• Contract manufacturers / distributors / logistics partners
• Industry bodies and market intelligence providers
• Auditors / regulators, where applicable

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Business Administration, Engineering, Finance, Economics, or related field
• MBA or master’s degree preferred
• Professional certifications such as CIPS, CPSM, CSCP, ISM, or equivalent are advantageous
• 15++years of progressive experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, or supply chain, including senior leadership responsibility
• Proven experience leading category management in a multi-site, multi-business-unit, or large complex organization
• Demonstrated success in delivering savings, supplier performance improvement, and procurement transformation
• Strong experience in contract negotiation, supplier management, and cross-functional stakeholder engagement
• Experience in trading, distribution, FMCG, industrial, retail, or similarly complex commercial environments preferred