Experience:

- 15+ years of post-qualification experience in procurement or sourcing, with a significant portion managing suppliers from China.

- Direct, hands-on experience with the China-to-India import process. Exposure to international trade/import-export processes is desirable.

- Demonstrable experience sourcing industrial or commodity-linked manufactured goods (for e.g., metals, chemicals, components, electronics or similar categories where input costs are exposed to significant commodity price volatility).

- Experience operating a high-frequency order cycle.

- Experience building a sourcing function or import operation from early stage.

Responsibilities:

Supplier strategy and development:

- Identify, evaluate and qualify manufacturers, maintaining a qualified supplier base with active, pre-approved backup sources to mitigate concentration and single-source risk.

- Develop and execute a supplier-portfolio strategy that balances cost, quality, capacity and reliability, and that evolves from an initial concentrated base toward a diversified, multi-supplier model as volumes scale.

- Build and sustain long-term, senior-level relationships with strategic suppliers to secure preferential commercial terms, priority allocation and early access to capacity.

Commercial negotiation:

- Lead all commercial negotiations with manufacturers covering pricing, payment terms, minimum order quantities and lead time commitments.

- Ensure negotiated terms are consistent with company's working capital, margin and cash-flow requirements, and structure framework and spot arrangements appropriate to each product and supplier tier.

Order execution and supply continuity:

- Own timely and complete fulfilment of every order from placement through to warehouse delivery, maintaining supplier accountability across the full lead-time chain.

- Manage a high-frequency ordering cycle across multiple products and suppliers, proactively identifying and resolving deviations before they affect downstream operations.

Cost management:

- Continuously monitor commodity prices and exchange rate movements, and recommend optimal order placement timing to manage input-cost exposure.

- Own and maintain an accurate order-level landed-cost model (supplier price, customs duties, freight and incidentals), ensuring each order meets margin targets.

Quality assurance:

- Define and document quality standards and acceptance criteria in conjunction with technical stakeholders.

- Commission pre-shipment inspections, manage rejections and replacements with suppliers.

Governance, reporting and function-building:

- Establish and run a structured supplier performance-review cadence against quality, delivery and cost benchmarks, escalating risks early.

- Provide clear, regular reporting to leadership on cost, service, risk and supplier performance.