Head of Indirect Procurement in London

Main purpose: Lead the establishment and operational build-out of Trafigura's Indirect Procurement function, consolidating decentralised purchasing activity across the business into a cohesive, governed, and value-driven centre of excellence. The role carries end-to-end accountability for designing and deploying the operating model, tooling, policies, processes, and organisational capabilities required to deliver best-in-class category management, strategic sourcing, transactional purchasing, and supplier master data management across all indirect spend categories globally. Demonstrable experience in IT procurement — spanning both software (licensing, SaaS, enterprise agreements) and hardware — is a prerequisite for the role.

Key responsibilities

• Function Build & Transformation: Centralise indirect procurement activity into a single, governed function with clear ownership, accountability, and control frameworks. Design and implement the target operating model, team structure, policies, and delegated authority framework to support scalable, compliant operations.
• Category Management: Segment the global indirect spend portfolio into defined categories (IT, Professional Services, Facilities, Travel, Marketing, and others) with clear ownership assigned to each. Develop and execute multi-year category strategies underpinned by robust market intelligence, measurable savings targets, and broader value delivery objectives.
• Strategic Sourcing: Establish and embed a consistent, repeatable sourcing methodology across all categories and geographies. Lead high-value sourcing events — RFPs, RFIs, competitive tenders, and negotiations — ensuring all decisions are fully documented, commercially justified, and audit-ready.
• Buying & Purchase-to-Pay (P2P): Design and implement the end-to-end P2P process, from demand identification and requisitioning through to payment, with appropriate controls at each stage. Deploy procurement technology to enable compliant, efficient buying, improve spend visibility, and systematically reduce maverick spend.
• Supplier Master Data Management: Own the end-to-end supplier lifecycle — onboarding, qualification, performance monitoring, and offboarding — underpinned by rigorous master data governance. Implement structured supplier risk assessments covering financial health, ESG credentials, and sanctions compliance, in line with Trafigura's risk appetite.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Partner with functional and business unit heads to understand demand profiles, cost drivers, and forward-looking requirements, translating these into actionable procurement plans. Serve as a trusted advisor to budget holders and provide regular, transparent performance reporting to senior leadership in partnership with FP&A.
• Tools & Technology: Evaluate, select, and implement a fit-for-purpose procurement technology stack, ensuring seamless integration with existing ERP and financial systems. Define and maintain a suite of KPIs and management dashboards to track savings delivery, policy compliance, contract coverage, and supplier performance.

Required Competencies

• Procurement Systems: Hands-on experience selecting, implementing, and operating enterprise e-procurement platforms — Oracle Fusion, Coupa, SAP Ariba, or equivalent — including configuration, adoption, and integration with downstream financial systems.
• ERP Systems: Strong working knowledge of Oracle or a comparable ERP platform in a procurement and P2P context, including requisition-to-payment workflows, approval hierarchies, and master data structures.
• Category Management: Deep expertise in indirect category strategy development and execution across multiple spend domains, with strength in IT procurement spanning software licensing, SaaS, enterprise agreements, and hardware.
• Strategic Sourcing: Proficiency across the full sourcing lifecycle, including spend analysis, market benchmarking, should-cost modelling, supplier selection, and structured negotiation techniques.
• Data & Analytics: Ability to construct, interrogate, and present spend analytics, supplier performance data, and procurement KPI dashboards to drive insight and support decision-making at senior levels.

Required qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive procurement experience, with a minimum of 5 years in a senior leadership role with direct accountability for indirect spend categories.
• Proven track record of building or significantly transforming a procurement function from the ground up, including operating model design, team hiring, and process implementation.
• Experience managing a sizeable indirect spend portfolio (typically $500M+ annually) across a complex, multi-geography organisation.
• Demonstrable success delivering measurable cost savings, compliance improvements, and supplier performance outcomes at scale.

Preferred qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, Supply Chain, Engineering, or a related discipline; a Master’s degree or MBA is advantageous.
• Professional procurement qualification — CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply) at Member or Fellow level, or equivalent (ISM CPSM, APICS) — preferred.
• Background in a commodities, energy, financial services, or similarly complex and regulated industry is advantageous.

Attributes for success

• Builder's Mindset: Energised by building from the ground up; equally comfortable setting strategy and rolling up their sleeves to execute. Pragmatic, prioritises progress, and thrives in ambiguity.
• Commercial Acumen: Frames every decision in terms of value, risk, and business impact. Acts as a business partner first, and a process owner second.
• Influence & Credibility: Builds trust and drives change through expertise and relationship quality rather than organisational authority. Effective at all levels, from operational teams to C-suite.
• Structured & Analytical Thinking: Brings clarity to complexity. Able to decompose a fragmented spend landscape into clear priorities, and uses data to substantiate decisions and demonstrate value.
• Resilience & Change Leadership: Leads through resistance with persistence and diplomacy. Understands that centralising procurement in a decentralised environment requires as much change management as technical expertise.
• Integrity: Holds a high personal standard for ethical conduct and instils the same across the function. Consistently prioritises transparency, auditability, and compliance — even under commercial pressure.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and take pride in a diverse workforce! We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, medical condition or handicap, disability, or any other legally protected status.