EU remote
Associate Director International Procurement
About this role
The role As an Associate Director, Procurement, you will report to the Procurement Director and own the strategy, performance, and people development for your category cluster. This is a 12-month fixed-term position. You will lead a team of Category Managers, set the direction for supplier relationships and commercial outcomes, and operate as the senior point of escalation across operational and strategic procurement challenges.
This is a role for a procurement professional who is equally comfortable in a negotiation room with a strategic supplier, a governance forum with senior cross-functional leaders, and a development conversation with a direct report. You will act as a connector between your team's day-to-day work and the broader supply chain strategy and as a builder of capability, process, and relationships that outlast the current planning cycle.
What you’ll do Strategy & Category Leadership Define and own the multi-year category strategy for your cluster sourcing model, supplier segmentation, risk posture, and cost ambition and present that strategy coherently to Director-level stakeholders. Translate market intelligence (commodity dynamics, seasonality, geopolitical risk, supply constraints) into actionable procurement decisions and communicate them with clarity and confidence.
Lead cross-category standardization and process improvement initiatives, identifying leverage across the broader portfolio where applicable. Supplier Relationships & Partnerships Build and steward the most strategically important supplier relationships in your cluster, including joint investment plans, multi-year contracts, and structured partnership governance. Lead or oversee tender processes end-to-end — from strategy and data-pack through to award, contract, and supplier briefing at pace and to a high standard of documentation.
Act as the senior escalation point for supply disruptions, quality issues, and commercial disputes, resolving with a mix of supplier accountability and operational pragmatism. Develop new or alternative suppliers to strengthen resilience and competitiveness across your category network. Performance, Data & Commercial Delivery Take full commercial accountability for your cluster's cost performance, savings targets, and COGS variance — ensuring outcomes are tracked, explained, and acted upon.