Procurement Manager – Dairy & Flavours

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

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Our mission is to provide happiness with every bite to all our consumers. To us that means happiness for people every day, in what they eat and what they do. 

Our Story 

The pladis story began when the families of McVitie’s, GODIVA and Ulker each started making the sweet and savoury treats they would later become famous for. The founders of these companies shared a secret; they knew how to create products that people loved. And this grew their brands into icons with large portfolios of sweet and savoury treats. 

In 2016, Yildiz Holding embarked on a remarkable journey to transform its consumer food businesses and built a new global industry leader combining the businesses of Ulker and United Biscuits: and so pladis was born, combining hundreds of years family brand heritage. Named after the ‘Pleiades’ constellation, a group of stars visible from anywhere on earth, pladis retains the values and beliefs of the entrepreneurs that built its brands, honesty, integrity, passion. 

At heart, we are a family business, and we retain the honesty, integrity and trust instilled in our brands by their pioneering founders through our traits and behaviours. 

Our culture is unique – we have a large global footprint with the heart and soul of a start-up company. It’s this culture that distinguishes us from our competitors. We’re not afraid to try new things, to experiment and strive for the impossible. Sometimes we make mistakes (we’re human!) – and we use this to learn and push ourselves forward. 

That’s just who we are. 

You’ll find pladis a phenomenal place to work. Everyone who works here is a member of the pladis global family. We pride ourselves on giving everyone the chance to succeed, and we value each individual’s contribution. 

Why to join our team? 

pladis is home to iconic brands Godiva, McVitie’s and Ulker. These brands make sweet treats and savoury treats that consumers everywhere recognise and enjoy! As we start on our new journey, we will continue making the biscuits and confectionery people know and expect from these brands, and we will expand their portfolios too. Together we will build new and exciting products at pladis – new flavours, new concepts, and new ways to share happiness! 

Our strength is not only in our products, it is also in our people and our values. Each business that has united to form pladis is loved for their heritage and values. We will retain the honesty, integrity and trust instilled in our brands by our ground-breaking founders as we embark on the next chapter of our success. 

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. 

This is an extremely exciting opportunity for an experienced Procurement professional to join the team in a strategic role with UK and Europe responsibilities. 

Role Purpose: 

We are looking an experienced FMCG procurement manager with a passion for delivering results and growth. Filled with energy and drive to develop relationships with suppliers and key internal stakeholders to support business ambitions. You will have a desire to grow your skills, engage teams across the business and take people with you at each stage. You will be highly analytical, numerate and able to communicate your clear vision effectively to all levels in the business 

As a Regional Procurement Manager, you will build, lead and manage the category strategies for Dairy & Egg, flour and grains for the UK&I region. Reporting to the Procurement Head for the UK&I ,you will play a critical role in ensuring supply continuity, cost optimisation, and sustainable sourcing for your category. 

Key Responsibilities: 

Strategic responsibilities: 

• Lead, develop and implement regional category strategies for Dairy & Egg, focusing on key strategic deliverables: cost out, cash flow, supply continuity, sustainability, and innovation.
• Develop strong and positive relationships with key partners to align procurement objectives with business needs.
• Build and lead the SRM (Supplier Relationship Management) across regional strategic suppliers.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with regional teams (e.g., manufacturing sites, supply chain, and R&D partners) to deliver regional projects for productivity and business continuity.
• Create, develop, and implement key strategic projects, working in coordination with regional counterparts such as R&D, supply chain, and quality teams.
• Share best practices and benchmarks across regions and the global team.
• Implementing all regional procurement-driven processes & tools within their team and category.
• Provide input into the category and supplier segmentation, and managing suppliers operating locally and not under the radar of the global category.
• Prove historical and current year spend and volume data to the global head, in order to align the global strategy with the regional needs.
• Build cost breakdowns and should cost models where relevant.
• Assess Commodity and Conversion markets.
• Elaborate tender documents & supplier selection criteria for your regional categories.

Operational responsibilities: 

• Collaborate with suppliers and manufacturing sites to ensure on-time and complete deliveries, minimizing risk.
• Ensure the category has a robust contract balance process in place.
• Lead AOP (budgeting process) for the Dairy & Egg category within the region.
• Continuously monitor the market for intel, new suppliers, and horizon scanning.
• Finalise contracts with suppliers and ensure compliance to pladis Ts&Cs.
• Gather all necessary requirements (volume, specifications, service levels, KPIs) from stakeholders.
• Manage closely current volumes, spend and specifications by supplier.
• Evaluate and challenge supplier specifications to ensure alignment with business requirements.
• Input contracts into the local systems, implementing terms locally, including customer clearance process when needed.
• Update regional price lists and systems and managing price reconciliations.
• Executes physical hedges, based on category instructions, with local suppliers.
• Measure and tracking supplier evaluation data, managing non conformances and claim processes.

Qualifications and Experience: 

• Graduate qualification or proven experience in FMCG procurement.
• Negotiation and commercial analytical skills Supplier/Customer relationship management experience or excellent inter-personnel skills with the ability to form strong working relationships
• Strong influencing, communication skills and personal impact to gain credibility quickly with senior stakeholders
• Experience of taking tough decisions and prioritising delivery in a complex and difficult environment
• Objectively challenges established practice to stimulate thinking
• Project management and leadership skills, including how to make a strong recommendation
• The ability to think strategically and set a 3 year category plan.
• The ability to lead many workstreams and work in a team whilst managing key stakeholders
• Demonstrate experience of developing, leading, and delivering change implementation within an organisation
• Excellent communication and influencing skills within the team and across the business.
• Dairy & Egg and commodity category experience is desirable.
• Understanding of sustainability opportunities in commodities.
• MCIPS or equivalent certification is desirable.

Our winning traits and behaviours 

• Purpose-Led – Energised by our promise to deliver happiness to the world with every bite.
• Agile – Ever evolving, never satisfied, and never standing still.
• Collaborative – Willing to work with others for mutual success.
• Resilient – Quick to adapt to change, fast learner and persistent in the face of setbacks.
• Positive – Self-motivated, optimistic, adventurous, and inspiring.

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

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform key job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation. 

Join us on our exciting journey to create happiness with every bite! 

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.

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List. If you are a recruitment agency and wish to submit candidate to be considered for this vacancy, you must have agreed to, and signed, our terms of business.

We will not accept CVs from any other sources other than those currently on our PSL. We will not pay a fee for any candidate that has not been represented by a provider on our PSL.

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