Procurement Manager in Gravesend

We are one of the largest HD Flexo packaging printers in the UK supplying to the household, personal care, food, beverage, beauty, healthcare, pet care, horticulture & automotive industries. Supplying some of the world's leading consumer brands, we are a trusted supplier providing high quality, innovative and sustainable packaging. Today we operate a 24/5 multi-production facility across multiple presses with High Definition and Decoration capabilities for labels, flexible films, shrink sleeves, multi construction laminates, board products and promotional booklets & tags.

We are recruiting for a new Procurement Manager to join our Head Office team based in Kent.

About our requirement: Over the past few years, the UK HD flexo printing packaging industry has navigated a period of intensified raw material volatility, sustainability-driven material shifts and regulatory pressure, profoundly shaping procurement strategies for converters and printers. Fluctuations in the cost of pulp paper and core polymer-based substrates (PE, PP) have continued to challenge the sector. Therefore maintaining cost competitiveness while securing quality materials has become a central procurement priority.

As our Procurement Manager, you will play a pivotal role in safeguarding supply, controlling cost and enabling innovation across a fast-moving HD flexo printing environment. Operating at the centre of our raw material supply chain, you will lead the sourcing strategy for substrates, inks, coatings, plates and press consumables ensuring we deliver consistent quality, sustainability and margin performance in a volatile market.

Key Responsibilities:

• Securing reliable, cost-effective supply of core materials including PE/PP films, laminates, papers, flexo inks, coatings and plate materials.
• Mitigate raw material price volatility through robust negotiation, category tenders and contracting strategies/supplier relationship management.
• Reduce supply risk via dual sourcing, supplier diversification and contingency planning.
• Support the transition to recyclable, mono-material and lower-impact packaging solutions in line with customer and regulatory demands.
• Improve working capital through optimised inventory, lead-time reduction and demand planning alignment.
• Maintain rigorous quality and specification control to protect press performance and print consistency.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrable success managing raw material categories, polymer substrates (PE, PP, PET), inks, and print consumables highly desirable.
• Proven ability to negotiate contracts, manage tenders and deliver measurable cost savings and value improvement.
• Experience managing supplier performance, service levels and risk across domestic and international supply bases.
• Can evidence strong understanding of commodity markets and cost drivers impacting petrochemical-based materials.
• Experience building sourcing strategies to mitigate supply risk, price volatility and long lead times.
• Excellent commercial acumen, analytical skills and data-driven decision making.
• Confident stakeholder manager with the ability to work cross-functionally with Production, Technical, QA and Finance teams.

Personal Attributes:

• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced manufacturing environment with competing priorities.
• Detail-oriented with strong quality and specification focus.
• Resilient, adaptable and capable of managing change.
• Collaborative, relationship-driven and confident influencing at all levels.

If you recognise yourself in the description above, we want to meet you to discuss how you can help us achieve our exciting objectives.