Global Head of Procurement - Godiva

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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The Procurement team is made of 120 professionals working across the world to create competitive advantage for pladis through mid-term sourcing strategies and strong supplier relationships. Our 2025 Procurement vision aims at delivering more value for the business along 5 key business deliverables: Supply Continuity, Cost Out, Cash Flow optimization, Sustainability and Supplier Innovation.

We work as a matrix organization, with Global Categories leveraging the pladis global size and Local Procurement ensuring a strong connection and proximity with our 6 regions (1. UK & Ireland, 2. Europe & Nigeria, 3. Middle East – North Africa – India, 4. Turkey & Central Asia, 5. North America and 6. Asia Pacific).

Within Global Categories, the Godiva and Rigid Cartons Category Head reports directly to the CPO (Chief Procurement Officer), and dotted-line to the President of the Godiva business. Based in our Global Head offices in London, (s)he is responsible for:

• Aligning the Global Godiva business strategy with the Procurement sourcing strategies. As such, (s)he is the key interface between Godiva global team and the Procurement function.
• Managing Godiva external manufacturing and co-packing partners, located in Belgium
• Managing directly the sourcing of Packaging materials (from Source to Contract) for Godiva co-packing operations.
• Leading the global rigid cartons category across the world (c. £20M. spend), leveraging potential synergies across all Godiva regions.

Frequent travels (once a month minimum) will be required to ensure proximity with the Godiva operations across the world (China, Belgium, US mostly).

Aligning Global Godiva business strategy with the Procurement sourcing strategies:

• Work directly with the President of Godiva business to understand the business strategy and ensure our global sourcing strategies (across all categories) answer those business needs.
• Feedback and align Global Categories leads / heads about Godiva needs (all Global Categories are located in London head office).
• Share the Global Sourcing Strategies with the Godiva leadership team and ensure they are both understood by the business and relevant.
• Link with local Procurement teams in the US / Saudi Arabia / Europe / China / Turkey to cascade down the Godiva business strategy and ensure Procurement speaks as One Voice with the business (to drive Productivity / Innovation / Sustainability / Cash Flow & Supply Continuity)

​​Managing Godiva external manufacturing and co-packing partners, located in Belgium:

• Manage the supplier relationship with Godiva external co-manufacturer located in Belgium, including regular forecasting review, develop cost model, annual negotiation, contract management, project management for new product launches and sustainability projects, set up continuous improvement targets to drive savings & value
• Manage the supplier relationship with Godiva external co-packer located in Belgium.
• Constantly monitor the Chocolate & Pralines market to look for alternative manufacturers and product innovation.

Managing directly the sourcing of Packaging materials (from Source to Contract) for Godiva co-packing operations:

• Identify the best suppliers for our packaging specifications which will be supplied to our external co-packer. Run tenders and negotiate final terms & conditions.
• Finalize contracts with suppliers, collecting all necessary requirements (technical, service level, expected KPIs) from the various stakeholders.
• Set prices for said materials during our AOP (budgeting process)
• Identify improvement opportunities, develop should-cost models, set up continuous improvement targets to drive savings & value

Leading the global Rigid Cartons category across the world (c. £20M. spend), leveraging potential synergies across all Godiva regions

• Design, formalize & implement a 2 to 3 years forward sourcing strategy, after ensuring full alignment with the business strategies
• Implement all Procurement-driven processes & tools within his/her categories
• Building strong relationships across all pladis functions (R&D, Operations, Engineering, Finance, Marketing), influencing pladis strategy in relation with rigid cartons (competitivity, innovation, sustainability) and working with all key stakeholders to accelerate project implementation
• Driving Procurement teams in regions to ensure a smooth and efficient implementation of global sourcing strategies, while promoting the sharing of best practices and leading benchmarks across regions
• Delivering top class results across all 5 strategic dimensions of our mission:
  • A 3-year productivity roadmap to achieve sustainable savings of a minimum of 3.5% per year, through reformulation of our materials or negotiation with our suppliers
  • A clear sustainability roadmap (jointly with R&D) to reach the goals set by pladis on its path to carbon neutrality, while creating differentiation in the market
  • A clear innovation roadmap (jointly with R&D) to create extra value for consumers across our strategic innovation platforms
  • A robust supply continuity plan to assess, anticipate and prevent any disruption to our supply chain

• A strong target to improve cash flow across our operations (payables, stocks of finished goods…).

Education / Skills & Experience Required:

• Bachelor/Masters degree
• Experience in Procurement (a min. of 5 years, having been successful in a worldwide organization)
• Ability to deal with ambiguity within a complex and multicultural environment
• Proven ability to work with cross-functional team, with a collaborative mindset.
• Natural leadership & influence skills
• Strong analytical skills
• Ability to be hands on operationally as well as building a long term strategic vision
• English is a must
• Advanced Excel & Power Point skills
• Proficiency in another language is a +
• Previous work experience in matrix procurement organization.
• Available to work in Chiswick 3 days a week / travel on request to factories & suppliers

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.