Assistant Procurement Manager

Title: Assistant Procurement Manager - Home Care South AsiaFunction: ProcurementLocation: Mumbai HOReq ID: R On any given day, two billion people use Unilever products to look good, feel good and get more out of life. Our Vision is to double the size of the business, while reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact.Within Procurement, our goal is to attract and develop great people who want to achieve great successes within and for Unilever as a whole.We aim to attract people with a passion for procurement done the right way who can apply their skills and expertise to enhance the teams they operate within, and who can grow and develop to reach their full potential.We offer every opportunity for individuals to reach their full potential; developing them as necessary and providing the chance to shine across the function to ensure we maintain an effective talent pipeline, built on diversity of thought, able to step up to leadership opportunities as the need arises across the business.We aim to ensure that we have the right people in the right roles across the function to drive future success and ensure we reach the objectives necessary to deliver Unilever's vision.A successful procurement professional is expected to be:• Must be a strong executor especially for resolving Service issues, driving Cost Savings and Value creation opportunities.• Act as an entrepreneur, treats business as his/her own, sets trends and is willing to lead, follow or get out of the way while working on operations role.• Strong communication skills with internal as well as external stakeholders• Exceptional execution is key to ensure ambitious ideas are progressed fast towards implementation• Outstanding in pushing ideas that are forward thinking and that contribute to creating sustained competitive advantage.• Able to understand the business urgency and able to push the agenda with different stakeholders to gather the inputs: R&D, Supply Chain, Suppliers etc.• Behave as a Partner to Win ambassador and demonstrate the value Procurement adds to the business.Main Job Purpose:The main accountability of the role is to manage Operations of Inorganics materials and buying of local materials, business stakeholders (brand teams, functional teams e.g. R&D, Supply Chain, Quality, MET), manage relationship with the India based suppliers, deliver towards Chemicals savings and in turn contribute to South Asia cost savings delivery. Directly responsible for managing Procurement Operations for more than 300 million Euros spend and approx 10 lac ton for Inorganics and local materials.Buying Better (Cost and Cash)Lead Delivery of savings target across for the Inorganics Portfolio to be managed under the roleIdentify and execute cash opportunities, as per delivery targetsContract negotiations and management with Local/Global SuppliersTo support in delivering the Procurement Business Plans e.g. Supplier Park, Localization, Purple Carbon etc.Market assessment and negotiations (wherever applicable)Managing the forecast of materials with the global buyers and communication to local finance teams for business cycles.DigitizationSupport in delivering Digital payment (eInvoicing/ Tradeshift/ Dynamic Bill discounting) and GST complianceSupport in delivering digital programs and initiatives as per the simplification programsOperational ExcellenceDrive and deliver 100% service with AgilityClose monitoring of Supplier performance KPIs via MISDrive Payment On Time and relationship managementClose working with Planner, Unit SCMs and VendorsSustainabilitySupport delivery of the Sustainability pillar within the Chemicals Procurement StrategyKey Accountabilities:1. The role requires deep knowledge of Procurement process including contracts negotiations and Operations, high level of business interactions, supplier relationships to drive value to the Unilever business and KPIs. The role therefore needs a person who is strong in Operations, relationship management, problem solving, multitasker, focussed on driving the business goals and KPIs/targets.2. Understanding material market and create buying strategy for the locally bought materials3. Leading the Inorganics operations and buying of local materials for India which includes a high focus on cost, quality, and service.4. Work with planning team to ensure that material forecast volumes are shared with the buyers in advance for their contract negotiations.5. Ensuring contracts are entered in the system by buyers on time, contracts review before entering in iCAT, SOBs are updated and factories are communicated in time about price changes.6. Seamless communication with factories and suppliers to ensure timely schedules are shared with suppliers and material reaches factories in time without any service issues.7. Understanding plan changes/ materials under stress by attending scheduled CMRP calls to ensure alternate options are triggered in time to ensure timely material connectivity.8. Regular review with suppliers on their performance: service and quality and giving them timely feedback for corrections.9. Regular SOB compliance review with factories to ensure minimal variation in the actually delivered qualities versus allocations for key material and vendors.10. Ensuring inventory for materials remain under control (as per the aligned targets) through a regular review with factories.11. Ensuring a regular review of quality incidents and giving regular feedback to vendors to improve their quality.12. Developing strategic relationship with key business partners like factories, planning, SUIT, suppliers etc.13. Supplier relationships management to drive value to the Unilever business and KPIs.Challenges:Establishing effective relationships with the internal customers, Procurement Managers, R&D, SUIT, Finance, Quality and other stakeholders) as well as external partners (Suppliers) is key to the delivery.This role would require coordination with different raw material buyers and other stakeholders: Working across organizational and cultural boundaries independently without direct hierarchical control of resources.Professional Skills:Candidate should be at minimum a science graduate with 5+ years of experience in Procurement/ Procurement Operations/Supply Chain Planning/Operations preferably within FMCGUniversity degree and Supply Chain exposure is preferredProject management skillsSkills/Competencies• Ability to work in a hugely diverse, cross cultural business environment• Strong stakeholder management skills• Self-driven with the ability to work independently• Problem solving skills to analyse the situation & take decisions to support the business needs• Must be a self-starter with strong Bias for Action, Accountability & responsibility and Growth Mindset• Must be a strong executor especially for resolving Service issues, driving Cost Savings and Value creation opportunities.• Influencing others and holding them accountable for their actions.• Attention to details is key for this role.• Relationship management both external and internal• Must be good in communications – as interaction is at the heart of this role.• Good IT skills particularly in Excel to deliver Data Gathering, Benchmarking, Cost ModelsExperience Required:• >5 years of work experience in a Procurement/ Supply Chain / ManufacturingTravel: Low levels (~25%)Contacts:Internal:• Procurement teams – Global & Local• Factory Team, Planning, SUIT, R&D etc.External:• Suppliers – New & Existing• Procurement/Market Intelligence Agencies etc. All official offers from Unilever are issued only via our Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Offers from individuals or unofficial sources may be fraudulent - please verify before proceeding.