Head of Purchasing (Director) at Kyosk Digital Services

Role Profile

Lead the execution of the purchasing strategy & category management for the business. The role holder will be responsible for the execution of strategies through strategic sourcing to significantly reduce costs.

Direct the achievement of reductions in total costs of products while maintaining or improving supplier quality and service levels and managing relationships. Take overall responsibility and accountability for the Purchasing Function which will include people and budgetary management. Act as an integral part of the senior management team which determines overall strategy and business decisions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic alignment: Lead and develop the overall sourcing strategies  covering various categories with a primary focus on packaged goods ie. everyday essentials. Secondary focus being placed on ingredients / raw materials as per requirements. Leads the country’s procurement process for new and ongoing purchases. Development and implementation of purchasing strategies to maximize efficiency and minimize cost, as well as negotiate supplier contracts with a vision to implement best practices, policies and procedures.

• Performance management: Drive company purchasing and category management pipeline and align to company strategy to strengthen market position through the most competitive pricing. Forecast price, Margin (front and back), profitability, payment terms, promotion plan with the suppliers and market trends to identify changes of balance in buyer-supplier power.

• Risk Management: Develop risk mitigation strategy through close monitoring of the market environment to minimize price risk/ capture opportunity. Assure compliance related to ethical and legal purchasing practices. Base the key business decisions on the level or risk involved in the action or activity.

• Budget Management: Input and hold responsibility for purchasing and cost estimating budgets. Prepare the annual Purchasing budget and forecasts and all Capital Expenditure proposals as well as ensuring compliance with customer and legal requirements. Manage the budget from identification to completion of projects

• Supplier Management: Continue to develop new suppliers while maintaining a strong partnership & network to ensure continuous supply at the most efficient cost while driving quality improvements to support innovative new product launches. Ensure professional and consistent supplier management across the supply base in line with the purchasing policy.

• Leadership: As a strong leader, establish clear and measurable objectives for the purchasing team and ensure they achieve the company and team's short-term and long-term goals both financially and operational including achieving savings, managing contract implementation, and tracking impact.

• Stakeholder Management: Internal stakeholder engagement remains key to understanding and meeting the organization's needs. As a key representative for the company to engage with suppliers and external stakeholders affecting company purchasing strategies

• People Management & Development: Create an open culture with collaboration across multi-disciplinary teams and significant stakeholders. Oversee the attraction of top talent to work within the commercial department, while developing and retaining talent. Ensure that appropriate performance management and succession planning is in place to guide and motivate a diverse team of high performing individuals to achieve our aggressive business growth goals.

Minimum Qualifications & Desired Skills:

• A degree holder in Purchasing and Supplies or Business Management. Master’s degree in related field will be ideal;

• A minimum of 15 years experience, with at least 10 years in procurement / sourcing or purchasing and supply chain management;

• Experience in category sourcing expertise in food ingredients and/or commodities with strong knowledge of the retail as 1st option /FMCG market and everyday essentials;

• Prior experience working for leading retail chain as 1st option  /FMCG/ Food & Beverage/ Personal Care / Consumer Packaged Goods or large retail chain company in a leadership role managing a diverse team;

• Proven track record driving successful procurement or category strategies achieving cost and financial objectives & growth;

• Proven record in efficient delivery of low-cost business model strategies and tactical execution;

• Previous success in driving transformation or change management ideal;

• Excellent communication, interpersonal and influencing skills;

Preferred Skills:

• Advanced knowledge of Business Intelligence Tools e.g., Power BI, Tableau, Data Studio etc;

• Advanced knowledge of excel analysis and data modelling skills e.g., Power Query, Power Pivot;

• Advanced knowledge of data wrangling/cleansing tools - ETL (Extract Transform Load) techniques such as Get and Transform in ms excel;

• Additional knowledge of MySQL would be an advantage but not a requirement;

• Advanced Presentation skills including MS PowerPoint.

Competencies & Key Skills:

• Strategic Leadership;

• Commercial Acumen;

• A knack for Problem Solving;

• Analytical Thinking;

• Stakeholder Management;

• Strong Negotiation Skills;

• Tech Savvy;

• Ability to work autonomously.