Procurement Category Manager - Co-Manufacturing M/F in London

You have a strong interest in Procurement and have gained solid experience in purchasing, ideally within an international FMCG environment. Your academic and professional background has allowed you to acquire a good understanding of procurement and supply chain principles. You are comfortable working with budgets, analyzing costs and variances, partnering with stakeholders, and developing category strategies that maximize value for the business. You possess strong communication and influencing skills and are comfortable building positive relationships across functions and markets. You are rigorous, reliable, analytical, and proactive, with a collaborative mindset and leadership abilities suitable for managing senior team members. You have experience working in international environments and have developed a strong level of professional English and French.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As Procurement Category Manager Co-Manufacturing at Suntory Beverage & Food Europe, you will drive and optimise the procurement of the Co-Manufacturing portfolio, split across four markets, ensuring supplier relationships maximise end‑to‑end value and support innovation in line with business and regional objectives. You will lead a team of four senior buyers across multiple locations. You will set and monitor budget standard prices, analyze purchase price variances, and deliver financial targets through cost optimization and a TCO approach. You will develop and implement procurement strategies for each part of the portfolio and ensure alignment with market agendas and business objectives. You will manage supplier performance, compliance, and risk by defining SRM strategy, establishing framework agreements, and driving continuous improvement with clear SLA/KPIs. You will leverage risk assessment processes, define action plans and business continuity plans, and proactively contribute to performance process improvement. You will support sustainable sourcing targets (e.g., SEDEX, SGSG) and partner with R&D and Marketing to enable innovation, ensuring early Procurement involvement in NPDs and recommendations aligned with brand and company ambitions. You will anticipate market evolutions, risks, and opportunities, evaluate the total value chain, and run annual Make or Buy analyses with Supply Chain and Finance. You will ensure supply assurance through multi‑sourcing and multi‑geographical sourcing and contribute to SBFE ESG targets (CO₂ Scope 3). You will make sourcing allocation decisions within your scope of authority and recommend the most impactful decisions to the appropriate leaders and forums.

ABOUT US

Suntory Beverage & Food Europe is one of the leading soft drinks companies in Europe. We rely on employees who are passionate about their profession. We are responsible for the growth of legendary brands such as Orangina, Schweppes, Trina, La Casera, Oasis, Pulco, Ribena, Lucozade, etc. We propose to our colleagues a work environment where it’s good to live, work and develop their competencies. We are an inventive and daring company, with genuinely human and responsible values. With our unique mindset and energy, we are committed to promoting positive and sustainable activities and lifestyles, with respect for the environment and people.

YOUR PROFILE

• Academic background in University, Business School, or Engineering School with a specialization in Procurement and/or Supply Chain.
• Solid experience as a procurement manager within FMCG industry; knowledge of Co‑Manufacturing is a plus.
• Real interest in leadership and management skills (feedback, coaching) with experience managing senior talent.
• Your main asset for this role: strong influencing skills, communication, agility, flexibility, and analytical excellence; “think‑out‑of‑the‑box” mindset.
• Fluent in English; French is a plus.

Permanent position (Netherlands & UK) / Fixed-term contract (France), available as soon as possible, based at our headquarters in Neuilly-sur-Seine, London, or Amsterdam.

OUR INCLUSIVE RECRUITMENT COMMITMENT

At Suntory, we greatly appreciate the value that diverse knowledge, perspectives, and backgrounds can bring. Our colleagues from a wide range of cultures, lifestyles, and experiences contribute significantly to our collective success. We understand that our candidates all have unique career trajectories and experiences, and this can sometimes deter you from applying for a role if you don’t feel that you meet all the criteria. If you believe that you have relevant skills and experience that you feel could benefit us, we would love to know what unique perspectives and experience you can bring to help make us better, together in a company that is committed to Growing for Good and Giving Back to Society. Our recruitment, selection and assessment process is based on the skills and competencies of the above role. We are committed to and value diversity, equity and inclusion in our recruitment process and do not discriminate based on gender, race or ethnic background, class, economic status, disability status, sexual orientation, age, political beliefs, marital status or any other protected characteristic. We want to ensure that our interview process is as inclusive as possible. If you require any reasonable accommodation as part of the process, do not hesitate to let your recruiter know who will be happy to help.