Procurement Lead in Billingham

The Procurement Lead owns the end-to-end global procurement process, including developing procurement strategy, establishing procedures, and driving continuous improvement. The role leads competitive sourcing and contract negotiations while managing a team of two purchasing administrators. Responsibilities span global category management, vendor relationship management and delivering measurable value through cost savings, cost avoidance, service improvements and strong risk management. Reporting to the Governance Director, the role operates within established procurement governance and ethical standards.

Job Responsibilities

• Process Owner & Leadership
  • Develop procurement strategy in line with evolving business requirements.
  • Establish and maintain procurement frameworks, tools and reporting methods.
  • Ensure procedures and policies are properly documented and maintained in relevant document management systems.
  • Line manage 2 purchasing administrators; oversee workload and performance.
  • Own purchasing card compliance and spend monitoring.
  • Drive continuous process improvement (SOW templates, standardized SLAs, ERP optimization, AI integration).
  • Track and report: spend, savings pipeline and realization, contract coverage, vendor performance and compliance.
• Category Management
  • Own indirect and direct categories end-to-end across global locations; from intake and demand shaping to sourcing, contracting and vendor performance management.
  • Develop and execute category strategies aligned to business objectives (cost, service quality, scalability, risk).
  • Segment spend by sub-category, region, business unit and supplier to identify consolidation and standardisation opportunities.
  • Maintain a forward pipeline of sourcing events and contract renewals.
  • Deliver measurable savings and value (hard savings, cost avoidance, service improvements).
• Sourcing & Procurement
  • Lead competitive sourcing activities (RFx, e-auctions, single/sole-source justifications) for a wide range of products and services.
  • Define scopes of work (SOWs), specifications and evaluation criteria with stakeholders to ensure standardised supplier comparisons.
  • Establish preferred vendor lists and purchasing channels to simplify buying and improve compliance.
  • Build and maintain effective vendor relationships ensuring performance, responsiveness and continuous improvement.
  • Define and track service performance measures (KPIs/SLAs) and conduct periodic vendor reviews; drive remediation plans for underperformance, including root‑cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Contract Negotiation & Management
  • Negotiate commercial terms: pricing, volume discounts, payment terms, indexation, termination rights, renewal clauses, and SLAs.
  • Ensure contracts include appropriate governance: deliverables, acceptance criteria, confidentiality, data protection, IP, and audit rights.
  • Manage contract lifecycle; renewals, amendments and scope changes, ensuring documentation is complete and audit ready.
  • Business divestment support; contract separation, early termination negotiations, novation and transition service agreements; working closely with internal stakeholders to minimise risk and avoid contract breaches.
  • Manage vendor risk: financial stability, criticality, HSE, cybersecurity, data privacy and continuity of service.
  • Support vendor onboarding and due diligence requirements (as defined by governance), ensuring correct set up in relevant systems.
• Stakeholder Collaboration
  • Partner with internal stakeholders (IT, Facilities, Finance, HR, Marketing, Operations, EHS, Travel, etc) to understand requirements and translate into sourcing strategies.
  • Manage competing priorities across regions and functions.
  • Provide clear communication on timelines, sourcing approach and decision rationale, managing stakeholder expectations.
  • Engage and influence a wide range of stakeholders, including senior leaders.
• Market Analysis
  • Monitor market and vendor trends (rate inflation, capacity, regulatory shifts, emerging technologies).
  • Benchmark pricing and service models across regions; maintain rate cards and cost baselines.
• ESG & Sustainability
  • Represent procurement on the ESG team; integrate sustainability objectives into procurement strategies and vendor management.
  • Support vendor ESG assessments, sustainable sourcing initiatives and compliance with environmental and social governance standards.

Job Requirements

• Proven experience in category management across multiple categories (services heavy experience preferred).
• Demonstrated capability in procurement process development and establishing procurement frameworks.
• Experience running end-to-end RFX processes and negotiating complex contracts.
• Analytical strength: spend analysis, benchmarking, TCO, supplier performance metrics.
• Working knowledge of procurement governance, third party risk and compliance requirements.
• People management experience with comfort working across time zones and cultures; able to coordinate global workstreams.
• Proven experience engaging and influencing senior stakeholders across global functions.
• Familiarity with procurement/ERP tools.
• Procurement Qualification (CIPS or equivalent) and/or relevant business degree.
• Experience with global contracting models (framework agreements, MSAs & SOWs) and rate card management.
• Experience working with D365 or similar ERP systems.
• Knowledge of ESG and sustainability frameworks in procurement.
• Experience with ERP optimisation, digital procurement tools or AI integration.
• Experience supporting business divestment or transformation activities.