Head of Procurement Produce & Ambient
2 days ago
Watford
Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire Any additional information you require for this job can be found in the below text Make sure to read thoroughly, then apply. Salary: Competitive Were recruiting aHead of Procurement (Produce & Ambient)to lead sourcing, supplier strategy, and commercial performance across one of the most business-critical areas of our operation. This is ahigh-impact, senior commercial rolewith ownership of fresh produce at its core, alongside dairy, bakery, chilled, frozen, and ambient food categories. Youll play a pivotal part in securing supply, protecting margins, and building an industry-leading procurement function. The Role As Head of Procurement, you will: • Own theend-to-end sourcing strategyacross fresh produce, dairy, bakery, chilled, frozen, and ambient categories, • Lead and develop ahigh-performing procurement team, with clear succession planning, • Managedomestic and global suppliers, growers, processors, and import partners, • Negotiateshort, medium, and long-term contracts, driving value, resilience, and continuity of supply, • Balance commercial performance withfood safety, ethical, and sustainability standards, • Work cross-functionally with Supply Chain, Technical, Quality, Logistics, Operations, and Sales, • Mitigate risk linked toseasonality, weather, market volatility, and global supply disruption, • Significant senior-level procurement experiencewithin food, with a strong bias tofresh produce, • Multi-category exposure acrossfresh, chilled, frozen, bakery, dairy, and ambient, • Deep understanding ofproduce seasonality, global sourcing, and pricing dynamics, • Strong commercial acumen and negotiation capability within FMCG, • Experiencemodernising or transformingprocurement functions, • Previous people leadership experience within food or fresh produce, • Competitive annual salary, • Bonus Scheme, • Car allowance, • 25 days holiday + bank holidays, • Private health insurance, pension, life assurance, • Monday to Friday, 40 hours per week, • Early starts required to align with operational changeovers