Strategic Sourcing Specialist

Job description / Role

Reporting into the Head of Supply Chain & Procurement, the main purpose of this critical role will be to develop and execute category strategy and roadmaps on a global level, in alignment with key stakeholders. This role works alongside the procurement operations team. Your key responsibility will require you to conduct thorough project planning for sourcing projects, while leading and coordinating local, regional and global category initiatives. The focus of the role will be to develop sourcing strategies for direct raw materials such as oil and fuels, and indirect services such as travel, hotels and more.

The successful candidate will be responsible to qualify and lead a competent vendor database, while planning and executing category communication strategies to internal stakeholders and vendors. As a Strategic Sourcing Specialist, you will be leading commercial negotiations with key suppliers and the overall category sourcing process; in terms of seeking lowest possible total costs, specification/spend mapping, external market and supplier analysis, category strategy development and transactional processes. A large part of this role would require you to continuously analyze market conditions and price determining factors such as cost elements, value drivers, market actors and competitive dynamics, while also ensuring category cost reduction targets are met in the range of 10-20%.

Requirements

The successful candidate must possess a Bachelor's or Masters Degree specialising in a technical, commercial, supply chain or procurement discipline. You will have at least 5 years of practical procurement, negotiation and project management experience, with experience in managing direct categories such as oils and fuels, or indirect categories such as travel and hotels. This could mean you have worked with Oil & Gas operators, service providers, product providers or consultancies, or manufacturing or chemical companies. The ideal candidate will also have a CIPS professional qualification. In addition, you will be open to new ideas, feedback and sharing knowledge with others. As a strategic and sourcing specialist, you will have to be a strong negotiator with sound organisational and planning skills. Flexibility to overseas travel is a must, in order to add value to the organisation's global perspective.

About the Company

Michael Page is one of the world's leading professional recruitment consultancies, specializing in the placement of candidates in permanent, contract, temporary and interim positions with clients around the world.

The Group has operations in the UK, Continental Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. In the Middle East we focus on the areas of:

Finance & Accounting Banking & Financial Services Procurement Property & Construction Engineering & Supply Chain Oil & Gas Technical and Engineering Human Resources Sales Marketing Technology Secretarial Executive Search Legal

The Group operates through 161 offices in 33 countries and employs over 5,000 employees worldwide.