The role of Head of Procurement involves leading the Group’s end-to-end sourcing and procurement strategy across all manufacturing sites and categories. This senior leadership position is responsible for the procurement of raw materials, packaging, indirect materials, services, and capital goods (both local and imports). The primary goal is to deliver supply assurance, cost leadership, governance, and optimize supplier performance in line with the company’s growth and profitability objectives.
This position requires a strategic leader and commercial negotiator capable of building strong supplier partnerships, driving analytics-led sourcing, and establishing world-class procurement governance.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Procurement Leadership
- Define and execute group procurement strategy aligned to business priorities.
- Create category strategies covering raw materials, packaging, indirects, services, and Capex.
- Drive cross-site sourcing efficiencies and standardization across Thika, Ruiru, and Nakuru.
- Lead supplier footprint optimization (localization, consolidation, diversification).
- Own sourcing governance from strategy through contracting and execution.
2. Cost & Commercial Excellence
- Deliver measurable cost savings and value-creation through negotiations, contracts, and sourcing initiatives.
- Implement Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and category management frameworks.
- Lead spend analytics, cost modelling, and price benchmarking.
- Partner with Finance to convert savings into P&L impact and monitor budget control.
3. Supplier Management & Development
- Build a high-performing supplier ecosystem across local and global vendors.
- Run structured supplier evaluations, scorecards, and quarterly performance reviews.
- Drive supplier innovation, quality improvement, and sustainability programs.
- Enforce ethical sourcing and compliance with Group Code of Conduct.
4. Governance, Systems & Process Excellence
- Own procurement policies, SOPs, control frameworks, and delegation of authority.
- Oversee contract management, compliance adherence, and audit readiness.
- Lead digital procurement transformation (SAP S/4HANA, Power BI, process automation).
- Improve data discipline, vendor master integrity, and reporting.
5. Cross-Functional Partnership
- Serve as procurement business partner to Manufacturing, Engineering, Finance, R&D, Quality, and Logistics teams.
- Support transformation initiatives including Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) and working-capital optimization.
- Act as escalation owner for site-level supply and supplier issues.
6. Leadership & Capability Building
- Build and lead a high-performance procurement organization across sites.
- Develop capabilities in negotiations, analytics, category management, and supplier engagement.
- Establish performance management cadence and succession pipeline for critical roles.
- Foster a culture of accountability, ethics, and continuous improvement.
Ideal Candidate Profile
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Business or equivalent.
- MBA / Master’s degree preferred.
- CIPS / CPSM / equivalent certification highly desirable.
Experience
- 12–15 years of procurement / sourcing experience.
- Minimum 5 years in a senior leadership role.
- Proven FMCG or manufacturing footprint experience is essential.
- Multi-site or regional procurement leadership experience preferred.
- Demonstrated success in cost reduction, supplier management, and digital transformation.
