Global Head of Procurement

The Advocate Group are delighted to be leading the search for a Global Head of Procurement for a Global Category leading brand.

The Procurement team is made of 120 professionals working across the world to create competitive advantage through mid-term sourcing strategies and strong supplier relationships.

The 2025 Procurement vision aims at delivering more value for the business along 5 key business deliverables: Supply Continuity, Cost Out, Cash Flow optimization, Sustainability and Supplier Innovation.

We work as a matrix organization, with Global Categories leveraging the global size and Local Procurement ensuring a strong connection and proximity with our 6 regions (1. UK & Ireland, 2. Europe & Nigeria, 3. Middle East – North Africa – India, 4. Turkey & Central Asia, 5. North America and 6. Asia Pacific).

Within Global Categories, the Brand and Rigid Cartons Category Head reports directly to the CPO (Chief Procurement Officer), and dotted-line to the President of the business. Based in their Global Head offices in London, (s)he is responsible for:

• Aligning the Global business strategy with the Procurement sourcing strategies. As such, he is the key interface between the global team and the Procurement function.
• Managing external manufacturing and co-packing partners, located in Belgium.
• Managing directly the sourcing of Packaging materials (from Source to Contract) for co-packing operations.
• Leading the global rigid cartons category across the world (c. £20M. spend), leveraging potential synergies across all regions.

Frequent travels (once a month minimum) will be required to ensure proximity with the operations across the world (China, Belgium, US mostly).

Key Responsibilities:

Aligning Global business strategy with the Procurement sourcing strategies:

• Work directly with the President of the business to understand the business strategy and ensure our global sourcing strategies (across all categories) answer those business needs.
• Feedback and align Global Categories leads / heads about needs (all Global Categories are located in London head office).
• Share the Global Sourcing Strategies with the leadership team and ensure they are both understood by the business and relevant.
• Link with local Procurement teams in the US / Saudi Arabia / Europe / China / Turkey to cascade down the business strategy and ensure Procurement speaks as One Voice with the business (to drive Productivity / Innovation / Sustainability / Cash Flow & Supply Continuity).

Managing external manufacturing and co-packing partners, located in Belgium:

• Manage the supplier relationship with external co-manufacturer located in Belgium, including regular forecasting review, develop cost model, annual negotiation, contract management, project management for new product launches and sustainability projects, set up continuous improvement targets to drive savings & value.
• Manage the supplier relationship with external co-packer located in Belgium.
• Constantly monitor the Chocolate & Pralines market to look for alternative manufacturers and product innovation.

Managing directly the sourcing of Packaging materials (from Source to Contract) for co-packing operations:

• Identify the best suppliers for our packaging specifications which will be supplied to our external co-packer. Run tenders and negotiate final terms & conditions.
• Finalize contracts with suppliers, collecting all necessary requirements (technical, service level, expected KPIs) from the various stakeholders.
• Set prices for said materials during our AOP (budgeting process).
• Identify improvement opportunities, develop should-cost models, set up continuous improvement targets to drive savings & value.

Leading the global Rigid Cartons category across the world (c. £20M. spend), leveraging potential synergies across all regions:

• Design, formalize & implement a 2 to 3 years forward sourcing strategy, after ensuring full alignment with the business strategies.
• Implement all Procurement-driven processes & tools within his/her categories.
• Building strong relationships across all functions (R&D, Operations, Engineering, Finance, Marketing), influencing strategy in relation with rigid cartons (competitivity, innovation, sustainability) and working with all key stakeholders to accelerate project implementation.
• Driving Procurement teams in regions to ensure a smooth and efficient implementation of global sourcing strategies, while promoting the sharing of best practices and leading benchmarks across regions.
• Delivering top class results across all 5 strategic dimensions of our mission:
• A 3-year productivity roadmap to achieve sustainable savings of a minimum of 3.5% per year, through reformulation of our materials or negotiation with our suppliers.
• A clear sustainability roadmap (jointly with R&D) to reach the goals set on its path to carbon neutrality, while creating differentiation in the market.
• A clear innovation roadmap (jointly with R&D) to create extra value for consumers across our strategic innovation platforms.
• A robust supply continuity plan to assess, anticipate and prevent any disruption to our supply chain.
• A strong target to improve cash flow across our operations (payables, stocks of finished goods…).

Education / Skills & Experience Required:

• Experience in Procurement (a min. of 5 years, having been successful in a worldwide organization).
• Ability to deal with ambiguity within a complex and multicultural environment.
• Proven ability to work with cross-functional team, with a collaborative mindset.
• Natural leadership & influence skills.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Ability to be hands on operationally as well as building a long term strategic vision.
• English is a must.
• Advanced Excel & Power Point skills.
• Proficiency in another language is a +.
• Previous work experience in matrix procurement organization.