Procurement Manager Job Descriptions, Average Salary, Interview Questions

ABC Company is seeking a Procurement Manager for its Bolingbrook Ill. facility. We’re a young company that’s growing super-fast! We’re seeking candidates who are forward thinkers, have a high sense of urgency, and strong follow through! A person who thrives in finding new opportunity and knows how to stay the course! These are just a few traits that the Procurement manger will have! If this is you, we want to speak to you! A background in food manufacturing is necessary. Knowledge of national and local vendors that sell commodities such as meat, produce, spices, dairy, cheese, flour, etc.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and analyze assigned ingredient and commodity markets
• Forecast prices and communicate commodity prices
• Identify suppliers on a global basis for strategic sourcing of food ingredients
• Managing supply and quality problems/issues at the plant
• Ensuring vendor compliance with company purchasing and quality policies
• Negotiate with suppliers to achieve optimal supply agreements

Skills, experience, and education:

• Bachelor’s Degree preferred
• Strong technical and analytical skills
• Excellent verbal & written communication skills
• Excellent negotiation skills
• Advanced Microsoft Excel
• 3-5 years of procurement experience in the food manufacturing industry
• Commodity experience

The Procurement Manager role will be responsible for leading a team focused on Source to Pay Procurement operations (S2P) in one of the core shared services workstreams of: (1) Supplier Set up & Maintenance, including supplier onboarding, management of supplier set up request, compliance to supplier onboarding in line with processes and policies; (2) Catalogue & UIN management, including catalogue maintenance, creation and update, UIN compliance and quality checks or (3) Tactical sourcing management including end-to-end transactional sourcing cycle, maverick spend management, and long tail management as defined by GPO category pillar in line with the category strategies.

This role will focus on leading one of the workstreams and report to the Head of Procurement Shared Services in (State). It will be focused in supporting the North American and LATAM businesses.

The role will be based in (State) with up to 15% of time travelling to other countries of EU or NA.

Key job responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of highly qualified procurement experts
• Ensure adherence to ABC Company’s global spend policy and driving compliance to Procurement policies and procedures
• Partner with GPO key stakeholders to understand all business requirements and define procurement operations strategy
• Build effective stakeholder relationships – develop relationships with primary internal customers (local Ops leadership), external suppliers, and other teams within respective market
• Implement, change, and/or develop new processes as required to provide ability to better procure goods and services
• Ensure data integrity
• Drive effective delivery of metrics by leading/supporting projects and initiatives; identifying root cause of issues and corrective actions
• Assist with the development of new standards, procedures, and solutions for the procurement operations
• Partner with the procurement technology team to support innovation, automation and transformation of procurement process and operations
• Ensure attainment of department goals, and support senior management to establish goals, KPI’s, and policies for the department
• Lead or assist with the development of process documentation, implementation, and best practices adoption
• Partner with other procurement leaders and teams on local or regional projects and initiative
• Promote the strategic importance of procurement across each business unit supported
• Contribute to achievement of Procurement’s annual targets, catalogue penetration, contracts maintenance, vendor set-up, and maintenance objectives
• Scope roles, recruit, and hire according to business needs
• Mentor and develop employees for career enhancement and direction
• Evaluate team capability and organization structure and make necessary change to align with business needs
• Be responsible for the overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of procurement operations within assigned area of responsibility or territory

Basic qualifications

• Procurement professional adept at both Procurement Operations and Category Management/Sourcing
• People management experience, 2+ years, with an ability to influence and earn the trust of stakeholders
• Experience in a fast-paced multi-national environment, 2+ years, dealing with Ambiguity and with an eye for detail, able to work independently with limited supervision, and a bias for action
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Familiarity with procurement tools e.g. Coupa
• Fluency in English. Knowledge of any other additional languages will be an asset (e.g. Spanish, Portuguese)
• Excellent Microsoft Excel skills, alongside willingness to learn proprietary systems
• Experience with metrics and data presentation
• Experience of improving processes and building scalability
• Hands-on experience of running process, technology or operations improvement projects or initiatives
• Experience managing complex customer relationships
• Significant previous experience in procurement/shared services center or BPO/program management
• Bachelor’s degree
• At least 2+ years of relevant experience in procurement, operations management, or shared services environment

Preferred qualifications

• Masters Degree from an accredited university in Supply Chain Management, Finance, Engineering, Business, or equivalent experience
• Fluency in Spanish
• Fluence in Portuguese
• Results oriented person with a strong delivery focus who can work independently and collaboratively with global teams while leading people empathically
• Passionate self-starter with the highest integrity and ethics

The Procurement Manager (City, State or City, State) will take the lead in creating value through innovation, sustainability, risk management, quality, service, cash and productivity programs all while ensuring compliance with policies, strategies, and processes. In addition, this position will lead in the development and deployment of sourcing strategies and the ongoing management of supplier relationships to ensure ABC Company’s competitive advantage. In addition, this position will completely build a program with the business and suppliers that incorporates best practices, market insights, risks and opportunities, and set a clear vision for various areas, defining and delivering ambitious plans that encourage teams and stakeholders to engage not just in the destination, but also in the journey.

• Develop preferred supplier programs for US operations
• Analyze US spend data and understand the business needs.
• Lead all category sourcing activities in US
• Provide US market and supplier insights to maximize opportunities.
• Prepare and plan for any of the bids in US, and co-lead global negotiations.
• Lead supplier performance evaluation process and developing appropriate action plans in alignment with internal stakeholders.
• Lead contract implementation and drive contract compliance as per Procurement policies

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business related field (i.e. E-commerce, Finance or Accounting, International business, Marketing, Economy, etc.) with 5 years experience in Procurement or Supply Chain (Technical or Sourcing)
• Masters degree preferred; experience in indirect sourcing preferred
• Experience of managing through multi-functional and multi-cultural projects and teams, preferred in biotech and biopharma companies
• Business acumen and Entrepreneurial spirit
• Chinese speaking is a plus
• Ability to travel 10%-15% of the time
• ABC Company requires all employees who are working onsite or who are in customer facing positions to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (subject to any legally required exemptions)