A successful procurement professional is expected to be:
- Strong in running the innovation networks from procurement side for various innovations across the B&W (Hair & Skin) category.
- Act as an entrepreneur, treats business as his/her own, sets trends and is willing to lead, follow or get out of the way while working on innovation networks.
- Strong communication skills with internal as well as external stakeholders
- Exceptional execution is key to ensure ambitious ideas are progressed fast towards implementation.
- Outstanding in pushing ideas that are forward thinking and that contribute to creating sustained competitive advantage and incremental turn over generation.
- Able to understand the business urgency and able to push the agenda with different stakeholders to gather the inputs: R&D, Supply Chain, Suppliers etc.
- Behave as a Partner to Win ambassador and demonstrate the value Procurement adds to the business.
Main Job Purpose:
The role will anchor the B&W Innovations from the procurement side and partner cross functional stakeholders (brand teams, functional teams e.g. R&D, Supply Chain, Quality). The role will drive value and work with suppliers to land innovations on time and in full. Manage relationship with the India based suppliers, deliver savings and in turn contribute to South Asia cost savings delivery.
Leverage previous knowledge and expertise to run the innovation networks and work with different stakeholders to gather their inputs for innovation launches.
Key Accountabilities:
- Lead the B&W Innovation for India, represent procurement in various Innovation network meetings.
- Work with internal and external stakeholders to gather the inputs for innovation/relaunched product costing and ensure material connectivity for trials and launches.
- Provide pricing, MOQ and lead time assumptions for innovation business cases in discussion with suppliers for RPM and FG.
- Work closely with Suppliers, R&D, Global Buyers and other stakeholders to drive the innovation & renovation agenda for India.
- Ensure material availability on time by assessing supplier capability & capacity and develop alternates where needed.
- Present update on B&W Innovations to internal stakeholders and flag concerns wherever needed.
- Should be able to lead the agenda and hold people accountable for their actions during the projects.
- Reduce complexity introduction through innovations by ensuring the gate check on new material being introduced is being followed
- Proactively engage with suppliers/internal stakeholders and communicate any foreseeable changes/risk in material availability and cost.
- Properly hand over the projects to the relevant BU procurement team for implementation
- Act as a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Procurement best practices in all innovation projects
- Design, develop & deploy tools/automation to simplify, streamline & fastrack Innovation Networks.
Challenges:
- Establishing effective relationships with the internal customers Brand, Procurement Managers, R&D, SUIT, Finance, Quality, and other stakeholders) as well as external partners (Suppliers) is key to the delivery.
- This role would require coordination with different raw and pack material buyers and other stakeholders: Working across organizational and cultural boundaries independently without direct hierarchical control of resources.
Professional Skills:
- Candidate should be at minimum a science graduate with 5+ years of experience in Product/ Process or Technology development/ deployment, Innovation Network management/ Procurement preferably within FMCG.
- University degree and Supply Chain exposure is preferred.
- Project management skills
Skills/Competencies
- Ability to work in a hugely diverse, cross-cultural business environment.
- Strong network and stakeholders’ management skills
- Self-driven with the ability to work independently.
- Problem solving skills to analyse the situation & take decisions to support the business needs.
- Excellent Excel and power point skills
- Influencing skills
Experience Required:
- 5+ years of relevant work experience Product/ Process or Technology development/ deployment, Supply Chain/Network management role within FMCG domain
Travel: Low levels (~25%)
Contacts:
Internal:
- Procurement teams – Global & Local
- Brand, Global/local R&D, SUIT, Planning, Finance, Quality, SEAC
External:
- Suppliers – New & Existing
- Procurement/Market Intelligence Agencies etc.