Head of Procurement

The Role

Dairy Crest is in a great position that they supply into circa 99% of UK households, as they have great sales penetration and a portfolio of brands that are very visible and respected within the market place. Based on UK sales last year a number of their brands are worth more than Mars Bar or Kellogg’s Cornflakes.

As a result the Head of Materials role, has a great opportunity to shape the commercial operations of a phenomenally successful and dynamic organisation. Through 2008 they achieved revenue of circa €1.8bn with profit increasing by 2% despite the inflationary market. They operate from around 20 manufacturing sites and distribution centres throughout the UK with their HQ in the Home Counties.

This is not a ‘greenfield’ site but it definitely has huge amounts of potential and development that would allow the successful candidate to truly put their own stamp on things. Procurement and the team already exist but there are improvements required in order to replicate the ‘best in class’ model that they are looking to achieve. Over the last 18months months the business has implemented a group-wide review of its current procurement operation compared with best-practice and the potential value creation opportunities available. As part of the assessment of the current vs. future organizational structure, the need for an extremely capable Head of Materials Procurement was clearly identified. Managing a team of 4 directs reports, you will have the opportunity to influence circa €200m spend, within direct materials and packaging. As well as being involved in a number of business wide initiatives and represent the leadership team.

The successful candidate will have responsibility to deliver key improvements within;

• Risk and Supply Chain Management, including the use of risk management tools/hedging to manage spends with greater certainty
• Team development in order to fully embrace category management as the organisation looks to embrace strategic sourcing
• eSourcing and development of tools to add value and effectively remove transactional procurement
• Reporting to demonstrate effectiveness of the procurement team through use of 'dashboards'and KPI's to reflect the business needs

The company see this as an opportunity to develop the teams capabilities, manage spends more effectively and move to supplier relationship management with key suppliers to ensure that they are a client of choice and offer innovation into the value chain, to lead to even greater success. Internally the direct materials team will be encouraged to work with their customers need in mind and effectively work cross functionally with stakeholders to ensure that the customer engagement is consistent and focused.

In order to embark on effective category management and strategic sourcing Dairy Crest is looking for a talented procurement professional, with suitable levels of both behaviour and technical capabilities. The role will offer essential support to the Group Procurement Director, and will ensure the purchasing team operates effectively and in line with best practice process and procedure in this area. It is expected that the candidate will bring subject matter expertise to the team and be able to guide, assist and train the category teams in order to facilitate the delivery of robust benefits to the business.

Currently, each category is managed slightly differently and thus has its own unique challenges that must be effectively managed to ensure optimal outcomes. As such, a key part of the role will be to drive best practice process across the organization to ensure consistent sourcing. In addition, it will be the responsibility of the Head of Materials Procurement to develop and implement appropriate category strategies and that significant bottom-line cost savings are identified and delivered by direct reports.

There are a number of key challenges within each of the areas:

• Key ingredients are primarily commodity-based and therefore market analysis, timing of the buying decisions and risk management/hedging techniques are critical. Currently they are under developed in this area, with the intention to develop, recommend and implement and appropriate risk management strategies.
• Manage categories with a restricted/bottleneck supply base, to develop and leverage strategic relationships where possible. With a number of the strategic long-term deals up for renewal in the relatively near future.
• Primary packaging will require consolidation and SKU rationalization requiring effective cross-functional projects throughout the business
• Explore e-sourcing and low cost country sourcing, both of which are relatively new concept to our client.
• In addition there is a key challenge to introduce an effective supplier performance measurement programme which is a notable absence from its' existing business processes.

Candidate Requirements

In order to be successful in this role the candidate will possess strength in key competencies;

• Strong category and general procurement background
• Strong decision making and communication skills
• Effective people management, prioritisation and leadership skills
• Category strategy and vision development
• Source plan development
• Relationship / stakeholder management (internal and external)
• Group facilitation
• Business case development
• Advanced analytics

Package & Benefits

This is a role that is offering a competitive package to attract high calibre candidates and include basic salary, car/car allowance, bonus, private health care and executive share options.

Purcon specialises in strategic procurement and supply chain management recruitment.