Assistant Procurement Manager - Chemicals

Job Title: Assistant Procurement Manager - Chemicals

Location: Port Sunlight office

JOB PURPOSE
As an Assistant Manager for Fine Chemicals Procurement, you will be responsible for executing contracting and operations of a portfolio to manage a spend of approximately € 130m for the business across a number of purchase commodities within Polymers, Guars and Pearlisers).

The role also is a strong contributor to the innovation pipeline, Value Chain interventions and driving superiority agenda for B&W as part of Procurement as well as Carbon footprint reduction and enabling cost savings

This position reports into Portfolio Procurement Manager – Fine Chemicals.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Support Material Strategy:
• Support the Portfolio manager and (re) define global sourcing strategy for your portfolio (7 steps of strategic sourcing) based on close collaboration with BU’s and Categories for input, in line with the market dynamics and for value creation considering : supply/demand, pricing competitiveness, material risk profile, R&D development projects and new finished goods launches, supplier innovation, BU / country specifics including channels/ warehousing options, working capital and stock holding, vertical integration opportunities, suppliers’ profile and financial risks
• Drive alignment of such (re)defined strategies’ execution with all key stakeholders in Business Groups, Business Units, R&D, Supply Chain and Procurement teams and secure successful execution and communication within the organization
• Lead resilience management for the portfolio – follow up and secure implementation of existing defined strategies for risk mitigation in line with BG annual High risk materials targets, continuously scout new alternatives for existing sources to reduce risks and create value through savings (alternative supplier approval, stock holding, alternative material introduction, vertical integration)

Lead- Portfolio Management:
• Develop a deep understanding of material value chains to unbundle and optimize delivered costs through lean principles, logistics, sourcing and channel optimization projects
• Follow dynamically changing market conditions, understand direct and indirect factors influencing supply, demand and prices and develop a view of future markets trends for the business
• Develop short/mid-term negotiation tactics
• Full contracting cycle for the materials: from creation and administration of RFQ’s/Tenders to the negotiation and closure of contract
• Use Smart Buying tools for extracting greater value eTender, cost-plus/ market-minus pricing mechanisms, nego-factory, mechanistic formula pricing linked to feedstocks, RFQs etc
• Manage the quarterly Price Forecasting for the Raw materials in the portfolio, develop the medium long term view in conjunction with S&I, market developments for feedstocks, supply/demand, BU’s project new launches and secure timely input in the Forecasting tools (Anaplan)
• Provide the synthesis of savings / opportunities and risks and necessary details in liaise with Finance, record those in respective systems and follow up on progress for materialization
• Create/ collaborate and approve sourcing contracts in the Contract Lifecycle Management system on time in full
• Periodic run reports and follow up on contracts offtake vs obligations to secure pricing preferential conditions or liability incidence
• Compliance of materials with Unilever specifications, through approvals granted by R&D teams
• Continuously scans the market to benchmark Unilever’s performance vs. competition

Lead and Support- Supplier Management:
• Nurture and manage supplier relationships to ensure Unilever gets top priority in service, quality, cash, and cost of materials and understand supplier and eventually Tier N risks and contingency plans at suppliers
• Create supplier profiles (Supplier passport) and scorecard their performance, including financial risks and resilience
• Measure and manage overall performance of suppliers while leading several strategic relationships
• Manage contracting discussions with the suppliers, including RFQ, negotiations, compliances, etc
• Execute legal contracts with suppliers in the form of Unilever Purchase Agreement and Commercial Terms Contract (and where required, also Special Terms Contracts)
• Manage the Compliance of suppliers and sources on Unilever Supplier Qualification System (Aravo): Responsible Sourcing Policy compliance and Quality Assessment compliance

Lead and Support- Business engagement:
• Give clear forecasts to the business based on market trends and analysis of factors affecting the market: provide rationale, commentary, and analysis to support forecasts
• Provide support to Business Groups & Business Units for projects run by them on rolling out innovation, any product change/ formulation change, change in supply chain strategy/ sourcing unit relocation, processing configurations, demand forecast change, etc
• Flag risks of materials to the business like single/sole sources, stranded locations, logistic burden, special packaging requests leading to oncosts or supplier restructuring/ asset closures etc
• Manage supplies at the time of any failure on the ground (crisis management) to keep SUs running always, lead and manage effective on time communication/ updates to stakeholders

ALL ABOUT YOU

• Bachelor Degree in Commerce / Marketing or (Bio) Chemistry/ Engineering, with a strong supply chain/ procurement or commercial (sales/ distribution) experience
• MBA is advantageous for non-commerce backgrounds
• Preferably procurement or operational experience
• Very Strong Analytical, Interpretation and Communication skills: data/information analysis and presentation.
• Agile and easily adaptive to changes, high capacity to work under stress, Pro-active and self starter, well organized with good planning sense, able to decide and delegate
• Strong team player with good capability to take ownership, initiative and work also independent
• Working knowledge of forecasting, planning processes, market operations, supply chain
• Prior experience in B&W category and background in chemicals preferred
• On the feet thinking, strong crisis management skills
• Comfort with systems and digital tools is an advantage (Buyers’ console, Power BI reports, Anaplan, SAP CLM, USQS, ARAVO etc.)

NOTES

What We Offer

Not only do we offer a competitive salary and pension scheme, we also offer an annual bonus, free gym, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.

Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programms and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all.

Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. We are also more than happy to provide reasonable adjustments during our application and interview process to enable you to be present your best self. To find out more, click here: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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