Procurement Manager

Job Title: Procurement Manager

Location: Hybrid

About Our Company:

We're a fast-growing home gardening brand dedicated to innovation, speed, and scale. We're seeking a structured, data-strong procurement specialist who can lead purchase planning, oversee ongoing vendor coordination, and drive efficiency in procurement operations.

Role Overview:

This role is best suited for someone with a strong command of Excel, data interpretation, and forecasting logic. You'll work closely with various teams to convert demand projections into efficient purchase plans and ensure product availability across regions, along with managing procurement operations and existing vendor relationships. Additionally, you'll get to work on strategic projects like logistics or cost optimization, depending on business priorities.

Key Responsibilities:

Core Purchase Planning Responsibilities

1. Demand Planning & Projections

• Collaborate with key stakeholders to build and validate monthly/quarterly demand projections using historical data and sales trends.
• Translate demand forecasts into actionable purchase plans for both perishable and non-perishable SKUs.
• Ensure projections are shared timely with vendors—3 months for non-perishable, 6 months for perishables.

2. Purchase & Vendor Management

• Coordinate with ongoing vendors to ensure timely PO issuance & delivery as per agreed timelines.
• Monitor basic SLA adherence like lead time, fulfilment rate, and product quality; flag deviations and coordinate resolution.
• Maintain clean documentation for POs, pricing, and approvals.
• Coordinate with Finance for timely invoice processing and payment closure.

3. Inventory & Cost Management

• Maintain optimal inventory levels Pan-India and prevent both stockouts and overstocking.
• Track stock cover by SKU and manage liquidation of slow-moving or ageing inventory.
• Monitor purchase budgets, control cost deviations, and support wastage reduction.
• Drive improvement in inventory turnover and overall purchase efficiency.

4. Reporting, Documentation & Cross-functional Sync

• Build and maintain Excel-based dashboards and trackers for POs, stock cover, vendor performance, and budget utilization.
• Work with the Online team to manage RIS for platform-exclusive SKUs.
• Ensure clean, audit-ready documentation of all purchase operations.
• Collaborate closely with NPD, Warehouse, Sales, and Finance for seamless execution.

B. Strategic & Cross-Functional Projects:

In addition to core planning work, the candidate will be expected to take ownership of some strategic projects that drive efficiency & improvement across the supply chain, like:

• Logistics optimization – Route planning, long-haul load optimization, freight benchmarking.
• Cost optimization – Identifying opportunities to save via process tweaks or vendor rationalization.
• QC process design & rollout – Defining and implementing quality checks across regions
• Warehouse or production process improvement – SOP standardization for procurement and warehouse functions

Note: Projects will be assigned based on business priorities. Flexibility, curiosity, and ownership mindset are key.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• 5–10 years of experience in purchase planning / inventory management / procurement in a consumer brand, retail, or FMCG company.

• Strong analytical skills with comfort in handling large datasets and Excel-based planning models.

• Ability to work with cross-functional teams and align multiple stakeholders.

• Detail-oriented, logical thinker with a knack for structuring chaos.

• Comfortable with ambiguity and open to picking up new projects.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Graduate/Postgraduate in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, Engineering, or related field

• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel / Google Sheets (Advanced level).

• Familiarity with ERP tools, inventory planning systems is a plus.