Role Overview:

This position will hold responsibility to lead the Sourcing team for a specific set of Marketing categories within Procurement Operations. The team will be responsible for e-sourcing, contract management, spend analysis, procurement decision support etc. in their categories across regions and markets globally. Along with responsibility for the specific team, the person will also act as Point of Contact regional Procurement teams on Procurement Operations-related matters across all services delivered.

Core Service Delivery:

- Build active and positive relationships with key Procurement stakeholders & suppliers.

- Smooth operation & delivery of procurement operations activities under their purview, including but not limited to e-sourcing, contract management, spend analysis, procurement decision support. Align, measure and maintain SLAs, turnaround time etc.

- Develop end-to-end strategic sourcing activities for Marketing categories including Creative & Digital Agencies, Media Buying, Production, POSM, Events, Branding, Market Research, and Promotional Services.

- Partner closely with Marketing, Brand, Finance, Legal, and regional stakeholders to understand demand pipelines, campaign priorities, and procurement requirements.

- Build and maintain strong supplier relationships with key marketing agencies and service providers to ensure quality, service excellence, and continuous innovation.

- Support new product launches, brand activations, and strategic marketing initiatives by ensuring timely sourcing and supplier onboarding.

- Coach team e-sourcing best practices.

- Pro-active & category/assigned spend strategy development.

- Opportunity assessment at Spend/category level & Historical spend/market benchmark.

- Create/identify best buying channel program/models.

- Should-cost modelling at project level.

- Create & maintain knowledge management material for users & procurement.

Process Improvement:

- Identify cost saving & simplification opportunities in & around procurement operations scope.

- Lead & Drive continuous improvement projects & support ties and deliver them in collaboration with others.

- Drive global KPI improvement through data-based analysis.

- Provide potential solutions for efficiency and effectiveness improvements and create decision support materials for leadership. Support the agenda of the leadership sessions with special focus on performance, risk management, operational excellence initiatives, people and stakeholders.

Business Partnering / Stakeholder Engagement:

- Liaise with regional and global procurement for Procurement Operations related activities. Build credibility and relationships with procurement teams and be the person of choice to be contacted for requirements, queries and support.

- Align on an annual action plan and deliverables with stakeholders, based on Procurement Operations overall strategy, Procurement annual plans and category strategies.

Team Management:

- Create a high-achievement and improvement-oriented team culture.

- Monitor in-year performance delivery as well as plan for future years.

- Coach team members for improved performance on sourcing skills, stakeholder management, communication & presentation and cross-functional collaboration.

- Build capability of the team to collaborate with procurement and create an internal talent pipeline.

Experience Required:

- Degree educated preferably in a business or Procurement related field or relevant commercial experience in a consumer products or manufacturing environment.

- 10+ years of experience in Procurement and Sourcing.

- Advanced business, financial, legal and commercial acumen gained from previous negotiations on sourcing projects and or contract negotiations.

- Procurement category management experience will be preferred.

- Strong analytical, inter-personal skills, communication skills, negotiation skills and project management experience.

- Proven track record of consistent performance and delivery.

- Mastery in eSourcing tools, Coupa and CSO will be preferred.

- Moderate proficiency in contract management will be preferred.