Head of Indirect Procurement

Head of Indirect Procurement

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast-growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure, and people? Then this is the place for you.

As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits.

To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact.

The Challenge

We are looking for a Head of Indirect Procurement Europe, with a big passion for indirect goods and services, category strategy, and biscuits. We offer you the opportunity to join our team and contribute to our mission to bring ‘Happiness with every bite’. This might be the challenge you’ve been waiting for!

The position entails

As a Head of Indirect Procurement Europe, you will lead and manage the Indirect procurement scope for France and The Netherlands.

You will maintain and develop the supplier base, drive strategic relationships, and execute material group strategies. You will collaborate with key seniors partners at a local and global level, developing strategies and leading procurement initiatives ensuring supply continuity, cost optimization, and sustainable sourcing.

This is a new position, hence one of the critical initial steps will be to build efficient relationships with the main internal customers. The position is full of exciting challenges where you will have the opportunity to add your own touch through your ownership of the indirect categories and have an impact on the business.

You are based at pladis Europe HQ in Zaandam and report into the Procurement Director of the WEEM region (Western Europe and Emerging Markets).

Your main responsibilities

The main expectations are to manage and drive the indirect categories for both France and The Netherlands, being one of the main influencers. You are taking ownership and escalate when needed and you build strong working relationships.

Strategic Responsibilities

• Develop strong and efficient relationships with key partners to align indirect procurement objectives with business needs
• Map the indirect procurement activities across France and The Netherlands and build a roadmap of action accordingly, including prioritization
• Collaborate cross-functionally with the local teams (e.g. manufacturing sites, supply chain, R&D, Finance,…) to deliver local projects for productivity and business continuity
• Develop and implement local category strategies for indirect procurement, focusing on key strategic deliverables: cost-out, cash flow, supply continuity, sustainability, and innovation
• Build strong SRM (Supplier Relationship Management) across local strategic suppliers
• Create, develop, and implement key strategic projects, working in coordination with local counterparts such as factories, supply chain, marketing teams…
• Share best practices and benchmarks across regions and with the global team
• Implement all local procurement-driven processes and tools within indirect categories
• Provide input into the global indirect categories and supplier segmentation, and manage suppliers related to local categories
• Connect and interact efficiently with the global team in order to align the indirect global strategies with the local needs
• Lead local tenders
• Support the sustainability-related topics in the indirect scope, as well as being a force of proposal for new projects, ideas, and/or markets development

Operational Responsibilities

• Collaborate with suppliers and manufacturing sites to ensure on-time and complete deliveries, minimizing risks
• Ensure the indirect categories have a robust contract process in place, from needs definition to contract follow-up
• Lead the AOP (budgeting process) for the indirect categories in France and The Netherlands
• Continuously monitor the market for intel and new suppliers
• Establish contracts with suppliers and ensure compliance with pladis T&Cs
• Gather all necessary requirements (volume, specifications, service levels, KPIs) from stakeholders, define and understand the business requirement
• Manage closely: current volumes, spend, and specifications by supplier
• Evaluate and challenge supplier specifications to ensure alignment with business requirements
• Ensure local contracts are in place, local prices up to date
• Measure and track supplier evaluation data, manage non-conformances and claim processes

What do you bring?

• 5+ years relevant experience, preferably in FMCG
• Understanding of Indirect procurement
• Excellent stakeholder management with the ability to explain and communicate around indirect procurement and form strong relationships
• Negotiation and commercial analytical skills
• Project management and leadership skills
• Ability to lead many workstreams and work in a team whilst managing key stakeholders
• Ability to think strategically and set a 3-year categories plan
• Analytical mindset and pragmatic approach
• Results-oriented
• Understanding of sustainability opportunities in the indirect procurement landscape

What we offer

Working for pladis means challenging jobs, career opportunities, and an inspiring environment that allows you to enhance your personal development. pladis recognizes that the ongoing success of the company depends on the continued development and engagement of our employees and pursues a fair and competitive remuneration policy, recognizing individual and team competencies and performance.

A few of our benefits:

• A permanent contract
• Development opportunities through our pladis Academy & other training programs
• A competitive salary
• Full-time employment (37.5 hours per week)
• 34 holidays (based on full-time)
• Pension in pension fund ‘Zoetwaren’
• Discounts on health insurance, gym memberships, bikes, etc.
• Biscuits, chocolate, and other snacks from our personnel store
• The best colleagues in an informal working environment

Who are we?

Koninklijke Verkade, founded in 1886, with amazing brands like Verkade and Sultana, is part of pladis since 2016. pladis is one of the world's leading snacking companies. We are the proud steward of over 300 years of family baking and confectionery experience. A worldwide community with 16,000 colleagues around the world. Each of us brings our experience in happiness. Each of us is unique, but we find each other as a family of bakers and chocolatiers, hardworking, with pride and purpose. After all these years we believe that biscuits and chocolate bring people together. We are pladis. We bake Happiness. Happiness with every bite.

pladis succeeds because of people like you. People who wake up in the morning excited to get to work. Who believe in themselves and their potential. Who want to grow as part of a global community of like-minded colleagues.

pladis colleagues care deeply about being the best. About winning, staying the course, and never giving up. Whichever part of the world we’re in, whatever our role. Whether we’re baking, working in HR, finance, marketing, or many other areas – we win as one pladis team.

And while we’re all unique, we share something in common. It’s the code by which we live and work. We call it our ‘Winning Traits & Behaviours’: Purpose Led, Agile, Collaborative, Positive, and Resilient. Five aspects of pladis life that define who we are, how we interact, and get things done.

If pladis sounds like the place where you can thrive and help write the next chapter in our growth story, then check out opportunities around the world and follow us for the latest information from our teams.

Diversity and inclusion are central to everything we do and are reflected across our business. pladis brings together brands and people from around the globe – and this diversity is our great strength.

We’re an equal opportunities employer and believe in encouraging an inclusive environment where we celebrate diversity of thinking and respect everyone’s distinctive qualities and perspectives.

All applications will be treated with confidentiality. Third Party or Recruitment Agencies are not welcomed.

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion, or any other classification protected by law.