Regional Category Lead, Direct.

Description:

Reporting to the Group Executive, the Direct Procurement Manager will play a critical role in aligning procurement activities with the groups broader commercial, quality, and innovation goals.

The ideal candidate will bring deep functional expertise in direct sourcing, strong commercial acumen, and a proven ability to lead cross-functional stakeholder collaboration across multiple countries and business units.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and execute a long-term category strategy for direct materials (ingredients, packaging, and co-manufacturing), aligned to growth, innovation, and margin improvement targets.
• Lead cross-functional alignment with global and regional stakeholders across FSQA, Marketing, Operations, R&D, and Finance to ensure that procurement strategies are fully integrated into product development and operational plans.
• Oversee the indirect reporting of Regional Procurement/Category Managers to ensure consistent execution and governance of sourcing practices across Africa.
• Identify and cultivate strategic supplier partnerships that enable long-term value creation, innovation support, and resilience across the supply chain.
• Lead supplier performance evaluation and development, implementing KPI frameworks to drive quality, delivery reliability, cost competitiveness, and service excellence.
• Partner with quality and technical teams to embed food safety and quality standards into all procurement activities.
• Embed responsible sourcing practices and ESG considerations into procurement decisions, with a focus on ethical sourcing, traceability, and the sustainability of raw materials.
• Develop robust commodity cost modelling tools and supplier negotiation strategies to mitigate input cost volatility and reduce total cost of ownership.
• Actively manage risk across the category supply base, ensuring adequate contingency planning, dual sourcing, and business continuity preparedness.
• Support innovation pipelines by ensuring that procurement is an enabler of speed-to-market, supplier readiness, and production scalability.
• Drive procurement digitization and optimization by leveraging sourcing tools, supplier portals, and ERP systems for process efficiency and visibility.
• Contribute to the broader supply chain transformation agenda by leading initiatives that improve cost, service, and working capital performance.
  Ideal Candidate Profile:
  
  • 810 years of experience in procurement or supply chain, with at least 5 years in direct category management in the food, FMCG, or manufacturing sectors.
  • Demonstrated success in sourcing ingredients, packaging materials, or managing co-manufacturing partnerships.
• Strong experience in regional or global sourcing environments, ideally within multinational franchise or matrix structures.

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