Purpose of the Role

The Head of Procurement will build, scale, and lead a global procurement capability, evolving a limited central function into a value-driven, enterprise commercial partner. The role will define the global procurement strategy and operating model, delivering sustainable cost advantage, supply continuity, and long-term value across a complex, multinational organisation.

The role will chair the Global Procurement Sub-Committee and act as the primary enterprise authority on procurement governance, strategy, and supplier economics across all divisions.

Accountable for establishing procurement governance, visibility, and influence, the role will drive strategic sourcing, supplier performance, risk management, and transformation aligned to enterprise financial and operational objectives across all Bimeda Divisions. Success will be measured through margin protection, total cost of ownership optimisation, working capital improvement, and the effective leverage of Bimeda’s global purchasing scale.

Operating in a decentralised, cost-conscious environment, the role requires strong commercial judgement, advanced negotiation capability, and the ability to lead through influence. A core focus is the commercial leadership of external manufacturing and supplier partners, including CMOs and API suppliers, ensuring effective governance, performance, and risk management. The role demands a strategic, hands-on builder with a proven track record of transforming procurement functions and delivering commercial impact at scale.

Key Responsibilities

Global Procurement Governance & Sub-Committee Leadership

• Chair the Global Procurement Sub-Committee, setting agenda, priorities, governance standards, and performance expectations across all divisions.
• Establish enterprise-wide procurement governance frameworks, policies, and reporting standards.
• Ensure consistent alignment of divisional purchasing activities with Group strategy and financial objectives.
• Provide structured oversight of major sourcing decisions, supplier selections, and contract renewals.
• Report regularly to the Global Executive Committee on procurement performance, risk, savings delivery, and supply continuity.

Global Procurement Strategy, Operating Model & Enterprise Leadership

• Define and execute a global procurement strategy and operating model, building a scalable central capability from a limited existing baseline.
• Design and implement a multi-year procurement transformation roadmap, prioritising spend visibility, governance, cost competitiveness, supply security, and speed to market.
• Translate enterprise objectives into clear global and regional sourcing priorities, clarifying what is centrally governed versus regionally executed.
• Engage proactively with all divisions to assess current purchasing practices, identify inconsistencies, and harmonise standards where appropriate.
• Leverage global scale to consolidate spend and maximise enterprise buying power.

Financial Ownership & Immediate Commercial Impact 

• Establish global spend governance and progressively increase visibility and control across direct, indirect, capital, and API categories.
• Lead immediate cost optimisation initiatives by directly engaging key suppliers and renegotiating commercial terms where appropriate.
• Deliver measurable value through cost savings, cost avoidance, margin improvement, and working capital optimisation, aligned with Finance.
• Introduce and scale should-cost modelling, cost breakdown analysis, and value engineering capabilities over time.
• Drive working capital improvements through payment terms, inventory levers, and supplier base rationalisation.
• Embed robust savings validation, forecasting, and executive-level reporting.

Strategic Sourcing, Contracting & Direct Supplier Engagement

• Develop and lead global and regional category strategies, initially focusing on the most material spend and risk areas, including APIs and key raw materials.
• Personally lead and participate in high-value negotiations with major suppliers, CMOs, and API manufacturers.
• Conduct regular on-site visits and commercial reviews of critical suppliers, particularly in Asia and other strategic sourcing regions.
• Establish standardised contracting frameworks, commercial terms, and negotiation playbooks.
• Implement disciplined sourcing processes including competitive tendering, dual sourcing, and leverage of global scale where appropriate.
• Ensure contracts support scalability, cost stability, service performance, and supply assurance.

CMO, API & External Manufacturing Commercial Oversight

• Establish and lead global procurement governance for CMOs, API suppliers, and third-party manufacturers from a commercial perspective.
• Drive optimisation of commercial models, including pricing mechanisms, cost transparency, capacity commitments, and performance incentives.
• Partner closely with Operations, Quality, Regulatory, and Supply Chain to balance cost, service, capacity, compliance, and risk.
• Oversee procurement engagement with Asia-based manufacturing hubs, including China and other low-cost sourcing regions.
• Ensure rapid implementation of best-in-class cost saving initiatives through direct engagement and performance challenge.

Supply Continuity, Risk & Operational Resilience

• Strengthen continuity of supply across a complex global manufacturing and distribution network.
• Introduce structured approaches to sourcing risk management, including geopolitical exposure, FX volatility, logistics disruption, regulatory change, and single-source dependencies.
• Lead contingency planning and support rapid response to supply disruptions and market volatility.

Procurement Operations & Process Excellence

• Design and implement standard global procurement processes, policies, and governance, while enabling regional agility.
• Clarify procurement decision rights, escalation mechanisms, and interfaces with regional and functional teams.
• Improve operational efficiency through simplification, cycle-time reduction, and elimination of non-value-adding activity.
• Strengthen alignment with demand planning, Supply Chain, and Operations to improve execution.
• Lead the phased implementation and adoption of procurement tools.
• Improve data transparency, spend visibility, and supplier performance insight across regions.
• Use analytics to drive fact-based decision-making, negotiation leverage, and prioritisation.

Business Partnership & Stakeholder Leadership 

• Act as a trusted commercial partner to Executive Leadership, Operations, R&D, Quality, Regulatory, and Commercial teams.
• Influence enterprise decisions through market intelligence, cost insight, and supply-base expertise.
• Represent procurement at Executive Committee and Board forums with clear, commercially focused reporting.
• Lead trade-off discussions across cost, service, risk, and speed in a pragmatic, business-oriented manner.

Key Competencies

• Commercial Procurement Leadership – Delivers measurable value, margin improvement, and competitive advantage at scale.
• Financial & Cost Leadership – Deep understanding of cost drivers, pricing dynamics, and working capital levers.
• Strategic Sourcing & Negotiation – Expert in complex, high-value global negotiations and contracting.
• CMO, API & Manufacturing Partnerships – Proven capability in optimising outsourced manufacturing economics and performance.
• Operational & Supply Chain Acumen – Strong focus on continuity of supply, resilience, and execution.
• Risk & Scenario Management – Anticipates and mitigates commercial and operational risk in volatile markets.
• Digital & Data-Driven Execution – Uses analytics and technology to improve speed, insight, and outcomes.
• Executive Influence – Operates credibly at C-suite and Board level with a commercial, outcome-focused lens.
• People & Performance Leadership – Builds high-accountability teams that deliver results.
• Entrepreneurial Drive – Identifies and delivers on commercial opportunities and new models of growth.

Key Attributes

• Enterprise commercial leader driving global procurement strategy, margin, and cash across diverse geographies, regulatory environments, and operating models.
• Hands-on negotiator with direct supplier engagement capability at global scale.
• Executive-level influencer with strong people leadership.
• High integrity and ethical standards in all dealings.
• Resilient in navigating volatility, ambiguity, and rapid market change.

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Business, Finance, Economics, or a related discipline.
• MBA or postgraduate qualification strongly preferred.

Experience

• 8+ years’ progressive experience in procurement, sourcing, or supply chain leadership within large, multinational organisations.
• Senior leadership experience with responsibility for building, transforming, or scaling procurement capabilities.
• Direct accountability for large, complex global spend portfolios across direct, indirect, capital, API, and outsourced manufacturing categories.
• Demonstrated leadership of CMO, API, and outsourced manufacturing models, including contract negotiation, governance, and performance management.
• Proven record of personally leading major supplier negotiations and delivering material, sustained cost savings at enterprise scale.
• Experience operating across multiple geographies and cultures, including Asia-based sourcing environments.

Location of the Role:

This role may be based anywhere within Europe or Asia, aligned to Bimeda’s global footprint. Location flexibility is available for the right candidate, provided they can operate effectively across multiple time zones and collaborate with global functional and divisional teams.