What Does A Head of Procurement Do?

WHAT DOES A HEAD OF PROCUREMENT DO?

Published: May 12, 2025 - The Head of Procurement oversees companywide sourcing, vendor management, and contract negotiations to align with business goals. This role drives cost savings, ensures supplier performance, and implements procurement systems. The head builds internal partnerships and leads a small team to enhance efficiency and governance.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Head of Procurement

1. Head of Procurement Duties

Procurement Strategy: Develop and implement a procurement strategy covering all elements of non-pay expenditure
Commercial Focus: Allow the business to act as a commercially focused and dynamic organisation
Innovative Solutions: Deliver innovative procurement solutions whilst achieving significant and sustainable improvements and cost savings
Resource Optimization: Ensure resources are primarily focused on delivering savings, process improvements, service re-design and supplier rationalisation
Contract Compliance: Drive quality and value for the company while maintaining legal and effective contracts
Procurement Advisory: Give professional procurement advice to other disciplines with procurement responsibilities
Category Management: Implement a category management approach to critical spend, ensuring that spend is effectively managed and that supplier performance is monitored and controlled
Contract Database: Implement and maintain a contracts database of all commercial agreements, and risk assess against a range of procurement and non-procurement criteria
Best Practices: Promote contract management best practices and ensure appropriate arrangements are in place
System Governance: Implement effective systems governing the selection and standardisation of equipment and consumables
Executive Support: Advise the executive team and heads of services on all procurement matters
Commercial Negotiation: Negotiate the resolution of complex commercial issues with suppliers and stakeholders
E-Procurement Systems: Implement efficient e-Procurement systems that improve efficiency and drive down costs
Stakeholder Communication: Prepare, present and facilitate meetings and presentations to stakeholders in a variety of media

2. Head of Procurement Details

Team Management: Manage one of the largest Procurement teams
Regional Strategy: Responsible for owning and developing the Africa procurement strategy to meet the business needs
Strategic Execution: Translating the strategy into a plan and execution
Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner with the Regional Product, Sales, Customer Service and Finance teams on long-term plans, including growth projects
Operational Alignment: Ensure alignment between commercial needs, customer experience, operational execution and cost
Category Strategy: Significantly uplift and bind the Area Procurement Strategy to a Regional level and create a Regional view on strategic categories
Supplier Relations: Hold senior relationships with key strategic suppliers
Contract Compliance: Accountable for integrating Maersk Contract Management frameworks to help ensure compliance and best-in-class supplier performance
Digital Transformation: Driving a strong digital transformation agenda within the automation of procurement activities as well as supplier engagement
Market Analytics: Performing continuous improvement on supplier market analytics and creating a competitive edge through effective supply chains
Commercial Alignment: Maintain and grow the relationship with the commercial Logistics and Services Regional directors and support Regional strategy development
Cost Leadership: Ensure Maersk has value and cost leadership in each of the cost categories in landside transportation, contract logistics and lead logistics

3. Head of Procurement Responsibilities

Procurement Strategy: Developing a procurement strategy that supports wider organisational objectives
Team Development: Building a new Central Procurement team to provide advice and direction to the wider organisation
Team Management: Dealing with day-to-day management of the team, coaching, motivating and recruitment
Staff Engagement: Developing high levels of internal commitment and support for good practice in procurement from all staff involved in procuring goods, works and services
Training Programs: Recommending and delivering training and development programmes to improve purchasing understanding and capability
Tender Development: Providing expert advice and leading on the design and development of tender and contract documents
Risk Mitigation: Identifying and communicating risks within the procurement process and developing mitigation strategies
Control Processes: Establishing processes that ensure probity and financial and management control
Sourcing Strategy: Creating sourcing strategies and evaluating the route to market options
Contract Management: Reviewing existing contracts to identify those of strategic importance and implementing contract management plans
Cost Savings: Managing the delivery of cost savings and ensuring that procurement capability, processes, tools and category strategies are aligned with the wider organisation's requirements
Performance Metrics: Introducing metrics to provide insight, measure performance
Compliance Support: Promoting internal controls and working collaboratively with staff to ensure compliance
Regulatory Updates: Implementing and communicating any changes to the Public Contract Regulations
Staff Mentoring: Training and mentoring staff members engaged in procurement activities at all levels to deliver continuous value for money improvements

4. Head of Procurement Accountabilities

Contract Guidance: Guidance as to the most suitable contract terms early in the procurement process, working with external legal support to provide the organisation with the highest level of protection
Policy Review: Lead the regular review of procurement policies and practices with both internal and external audit functions
Data Analysis: Analyse purchasing data to ensure procurement decisions are based on accurate sources of information
Compliance Assessment: Assess the performance of each area of the Organisation on their procurement compliance and targeted savings
Process Improvement: Drive structured procurement and spread good practices within the BU through consistent, continuous improvement approaches and initiatives, engaging key Stakeholders in category strategies that will benefit and support Business objectives
Cost Optimisation: Derive, engage and implement cost optimisation initiatives, promote value creation and continuous improvement initiatives, and establish local implementation plans in support of local BU needs
Sourcing Alignment: Work with relevant Stakeholders to assess sourcing needs, local demands
Category Strategy: Establish future strategies in managing these categories, suppliers' development/positioning, and in assessing the performance of suppliers and internal Stakeholders/processes involved
Stakeholder Engagement: Support business connectivity and fostering collaborative business partnership with specific stakeholders, Supplier Management (Performance and Relationship) with key/strategic suppliers
Ethics Compliance: Ensure alignment and compliance with strategies and be a role model in compliance and ethics
Talent Development: Responsible for attracting, developing and retaining talent within the department
Talent Strategy: Responsible for the development and implementation of a procurement employee value proposition that leads to a significant upgrade in the Procurement talent base
Cross-Functional Alignment: Continuously identify and establish the needs of relevant processes, policies and local standards that are required to strengthen and improve cross-functional processes with all other Stakeholders at the BU/Regional level
Value Integration: Supports the implementation of company values, business principles, policies and best practices through procurement processes and is a focal point for cross-functional teams to develop, engage and implement such matters

5. Head of Procurement Functions

Procurement Strategy: Developing and deploying a procurement strategy that will deliver a significant financial impact across the business
Sourcing Accountability: Taking full responsibility and accountability for sourcing processes, whilst utilising sourcing techniques and best practices that will deliver significant benefits to the business
Team Leadership: Providing leadership and development to the Procurement function and ensuring the category teams provide the appropriate level of commercial expertise
Category Development: Ensuring the ongoing development of category management
Stakeholder Relations: Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders and key suppliers
Market Evaluation: Evaluating market trends and implementing procurement strategies/initiatives that will enable the business to further develop its commercial proposition
Process Governance: Lead changes associated with the implementation of future state supply chain improvements and ensure the processes are sustainable by embedding a structured governance model
Maturity Assessment: Collaborate with Supply Chain, Dechra and DPM senior leadership to assess strategic and operational procurement process maturity across Dechra and develop a 3-year improvement road map to develop best-in-class
Program Management: Program manages major procurement process improvement initiatives and collaborates with the global supply chain team, operations, product development and engineering
Cost Planning: Partner with operational and finance teams to create a process to analyse and create product-specific procurement cost reduction plans
Systems Strategy: Develop procurement systems strategy, and develop an implementation plan, all to enhance current capabilities and program manage the deployment across all DPM
Performance Governance: Develop and embed a procurement performance governance process and host procurement operating reviews across all regions and material categories
Benchmarking: Periodically benchmark performance externally to understand gaps and opportunities to best-in-class
Data Analytics: Develop and deploy a procurement data analytics strategy to improve the capability and use of data analytics in the supply chain to improve decision making
Compliance Management: Manages global procurement compliance, in line with FTSE and other regulatory bodies' compliance, working with external support partners and the procurement team
KPI Monitoring: Monitor global supply chain KPI performance, drive improvement, and take corrective actions
Risk Methodology: Evaluate and develop a supply base risk methodology and deploy across DPM

6. Head of Procurement Job Description

Stakeholder Management: Independently balance multiple stakeholder groups and internal customers in confidential environments
Business Relationships: Establishing strong relationships with internal business stakeholders
Strategic Alignment: Building an understanding of strategic business direction, requirements, and priorities across the business and teams
Market Expertise: Maintain expertise in supply markets, suppliers and products to develop and execute local sourcing plans across multiple categories and industries
Contract Management: Negotiate, create, execute, and manage effective regional/local contracts with suppliers that will allow the company to maximize opportunity
Procure-to-Pay: Working with business and finance leaders to identify and implement Procure-to-Pay best practices, including savings and controls
Technical Collaboration: Working closely with engineers to ensure products and services meet the needs of the business
Supplier Evaluation: Evaluating supplier core competencies and competitive positioning using industry cost models and benchmarking analysis
Sourcing Activities: Managing sourcing and supplier engagement activities including RFx, spend pattern analysis, contract analysis, bid evaluation, negotiations, and supplier consolidation
Vendor Management: Vendor Management (ensuring products and services are delivered and paid on time and quality is maintained)
Leadership Role: Working as part of the Senior Leadership team, the main purpose of this newly created role is to develop and embed a best-practice procurement function
Cost Efficiency: Identify and secure opportunities for cost-reduction and improved efficiencies
Sourcing Consistency: Formulate and drive a consistent approach towards all sourcing, purchasing and tendering activities within the business
Cost Optimization: Ensuring that value for money is maximised and cost savings are generated
Policy Harmonisation: Establish, harmonise and maintain appropriate formalised purchasing policies and procedures across the business

7. Head of Procurement Overview

Team Leadership: Lead a small team to accomplish all procurement functions for a company
Contract Value: Maximize value received from all purchasing contracts (eg, technology, leases, etc)
Supplier Management: Manage all supplier relationships to ensure successful delivery on specified terms
Process Implementation: Implement processes and metrics to seamlessly manage procurement throughout the organization
Client Engagement: Engage with client (biopharma companies) procurement groups to maximize how to do business together
Strategic Procurement: Reporting to the Deputy CFO, the Head of Strategic Procurement is a strategic and tactical role
Category Management: Responsible for leading and driving the University's category management and sourcing strategies, ensuring maximum value for money
Procurement Capability: Responsible for instilling and enabling procurement capability across the University, delivering transformational change across the entire Source to Pay (S2P) process
S2P Leadership: Provide leadership to the S2P team in providing procurement and sourcing expertise and expense management guidance to all stakeholders across the University
Supplier Rationalisation: Rationalisation and management of suppliers
Governance Engagement: Effectively engage with budget holders about the value of robust procurement governance
Contract Negotiation: Lead supplier negotiations, recommend supplier selection and implement contracts designed to encourage continual improvement
Global Oversight: Directly responsible for Germany, and as global process owner, also functionally responsible for international locations
Team Development: Build up the team and actively partake in the management round, proactively fostering overall development
Process Design: Design, implement and steer processes for procurement, insurance and fleet management
Digital Procurement: Bundle and digitize the entire purchase-to-pay process
Continuous Improvement: Ensure continuous improvement and efficient procurement activities, in close exchange with the requesting departments

8. Head of Procurement Details and Accountabilities

Contract Negotiation: Responsible for negotiating agreements, building supplier roadmaps and leading transformation programmes
Purchasing Strategy: Develops and implements an effective long-term company purchasing strategy
Best Practices: Introduces best practices and tools to enable effective decision-making and efficient execution of procurement processes
Process Standardization: Challenges, enhances and standardizes existing procurement practices across all functions and business units
Value Optimization: Ensure conformity of approach, generate economies of scale and deliver better value for money
Supplier Management: Manages professional and productive relationships with existing key suppliers and establishes opportunities with new suppliers to pursue the objectives of the TS procurement strategy
Procurement Reporting: Reports to the Finance Strategy and Planning Director to provide up-to-date status reports on procurement to include development
Forecasting Impact: Provides departmental and wider organisational forecasts, where procurement has an impact
Team Development: Builds, supports and grows the procurement team by utilising strong change management techniques and focusing on people development
Relationship Capability: Build superior supplier relationship management capability within the team and through continuous business improvement
Supplier Sourcing: Lead the team to source new suppliers, ensuring professional standards are met in terms of SLA, compliance and finance agreements
Project Coordination: Coordinate reporting and project updates, providing full visibility and an audit trail of activities for each supplier

9. Head of Procurement Tasks

Team Management: Lead, coordinate, manage and develop a team of 15 employees
International Negotiation: Drive prices and contract negotiations in the international area
Cost Optimization: Identify and develop cost-cutting potential (procurement plan, target-costing), and realize procurement targets and meet requirements relating to deadlines and quality
Cross-Functional Support: Coordinate cross-functional teams' activities and support for getting technologies transparent and available
Process Control: Develop and control procurement processes and resources
Vendor Oversight: Lead and be the main point of contact for any vendor activities (Due Diligence, Monitoring, Onboarding, Off-boarding)
Global Compliance: Drive the continuous evolution of all procurement and supplier management processes globally and work with banking entities to ensure compliance with banking regulations
External Communication: Act as the principal conduit for formal communications with external companies during the procurement process
Contract Negotiation: Participate directly in the negotiation of key contracts to obtain the best deal possible for Revolut
Business Reporting: Be a key point of contact and report to the business development leadership team and respective committees on procurement matters
Talent Development: Lead a team of procurement professionals and ensure that they receive appropriate support, training and development to achieve their full potential
Stakeholder Engagement: Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders (Production, Finance, Business Development, R&D, etc.) and understand business strategies and priorities
Leadership Collaboration: As a member of the leadership team, work across all functions to deliver the business objectives and drive continuous improvement
Regulatory Compliance: Ensure full compliance with the MHRA requirements for Pharma products and the BRC for Food and Beverage

10. Head of Procurement Roles

Executive Advisory: Support and advise the Executive Team on a wide range of issues and initiatives
Procurement Strategy: Implement a clear procurement strategy that will provide a commercial advantage to the organisation
Sustainable Procurement: Implement sustainable procurement processes that comply with public procurement regulations and OJEU
Stakeholder Support: Ensure stakeholders understand the procurement process and will advise on business cases that involve new spend
Major Procurement: Lead all major procurement exercises with guidance from the board
SRM Process: Deliver an efficient and compliant SRM process
Supplier Evaluation: Review the supplier portfolio and ensure all suppliers benefit the business and provide value for money
Supplier Relationship: Nurture existing relationships with existing Suppliers to reduce costs whilst still delivering benefits to the business
Cost Savings: Highlight inefficient spending to drive savings on external costs
Component Maintenance: Responsible for maintaining, repairing, and inspecting components at jacket foundations and offshore substations, etc.
Safety Culture: Make a positive contribution to safety culture and work with engineering specialists to enhance wind farm performance
Safety Leadership: Work with the highest regard for safety and drive a positive safety culture with actions
Asset Management: Operate, maintain, inspect, and repair onshore and offshore wind farm assets such as the topside crane of OSS, davit cranes on WTG TP, etc.
Cargo Handling: Load and unload cargo on CTVS (crew transfer vessels) and SOVS (service operation vessels)

11. Head of Procurement Additional Details

Operating Planning: Define the annual operating plan for the department
Strategy Alignment: Ensure team activities are in line with the global category strategy
Contract Execution: Ensure proper execution of all centrally negotiated contracts
Information Flow: Ensure the provision of all information to category teams promptly
Local Sourcing: Develop sourcing strategies for local spend
Contract Preparation: Ensure the availability of all specific contract requirements and conditions before tendering, negotiation, supplier selection and contracting
Contract Management: Lead all contract management activities
Supplier Oversight: Manage the overview of all supplier relationships
Stakeholder Engagement: Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders within both the global team and the local team
Procurement Development: Build a professional Procurement function to meet the growing business expectations
Team Leadership: Provide functional leadership and line management responsibility for 1 Buyer, plus identification of future resource requirements to support the long-range plan
Sourcing Strategy: Define, implement and deliver a sourcing strategy
Material Spend: Managing spend on raw materials across a diverse global portfolio of suppliers
New Materials: Sourcing new materials to support the significant investment in new product development
Cost Savings: Identify and deliver financial benefits through cost-saving opportunities, efficiencies and stock management

12. Head of Procurement Essential Functions

Procurement Management: Manage all procurement activities of Renewable Energy Business with an objective
Cost Sourcing: Secure and sustain cost-effective sourcing within the organisational framework and guidelines
Procurement Strategy: Define, implement and drive procurement strategies across all Renewable Energy projects of the Company
Contract Negotiation: Negotiate and conclude supply contracts within the defined budget and time
QCD Focus: Drive the concept of QCD (Quality, Cost and Delivery) in supply items
Supplier Partnerships: Develop strategic alliances and long-term contracts with suppliers
Tender Support: Support the Business development and bid team to get optimised cost for bought-out items at the tender stage
Supplier Development: Identify, build and maintain suppliers with a focus on long-term partnership
Organizational Transformation: Lead transformation to build procurement organizational capabilities and improve procurement efficiency
Team Leadership: Lead an effective and motivated team of procurement professionals
Stakeholder Networking: Stakeholder management (internal and External) and networking
Strategic Spend: Manage the key spend across the businesses on a strategic level
Category Strategy: Develop and drive across local strategies, as well as contributing towards the regional and global category sourcing strategies and initiatives
Business Alignment: Establish strong relationships and work cohesively with local and regional business partners to achieve commonly shared goals
Sourcing Leadership: Lead key spends through a capable team of category experts
Vendor Diversification: Be consistently involved in strategic sourcing activities to continue to drive a diversified list of vendors with a key focus on achieving cost savings

13. Head of Procurement Role Purpose

Team Synergy: Establish synergies between procurement teams and a consistent way of working between and across all 5 legal entities in GCN
Procurement Transformation: Lead GCN Procurement Transformation and establish new Ways of working to bring the GCN procurement team to new heights
Strategy Execution: Align and execute Global and/or RBU Procurement Strategies and Initiatives
Performance Delivery: Steer GCN Procurement, Total Cost of Ownership and performance delivery to support GCN business success
Procurement Planning: Craft and execute GCN procurement strategy and procurement plan, in addition to the execution of Global Procurement strategies, where applicable to GCN
Best Practices: Share and transfer Best Practices for the development of the GCN procurement team and the RBU procurement team
Project Procurement: Lead Project Procurement activities in capital investment projects
Cross-Functional Alignment: Establish rapport and New Ways of Working across other functional teams (i.e., Technical, Sales and Marketing, etc)
Spend Management: Overall accountable for the country's spend under management and strategically focusing on regional Categories (Transportation, Production Equipment, IT&T, Ground Fleet, Facility Management, Network Supplies and Services)
Stakeholder Management: Own and drive stakeholder management among all DPDHL entities in the country in a professional and strategic manner
Regional Cooperation: Develop and maintain strong working relationships and cooperation with regional divisional colleagues, strategic suppliers and external partnerships locally
Supplier Management: Conduct local and regional supplier management and identify new best-in-class regional suppliers
Team Development: Lead and develop a strategic team of direct reports and indirect reports across multiple locations
Budget Achievement: Achieve local budgets and contribute to global targets
Tender Management: Manage, prepare, conduct and lead tenders (incl. E-sourcing) for strategic spend
Contract Implementation: Ensure effective implementation of Procurement contracts

14. Head of Procurement General Responsibilities

Governance Leadership: Lead and develop the Procurement Governance Team
Strategic Development: Concentrating on development at a strategic level, ensuring all team members are proficient and maintain accurate skill sets
Team Management: Provide day-to-day management of team members including management of all HR required activities
Procurement Strategy: Develop, implement and lead a strategic procurement strategy, building and implementing innovative procurement solutions across SLA
Risk Oversight: Maintain the oversight of an effective third-party risk management program
Policy Compliance: Ensuring adherence to SLA’s global strategy, risk appetite and tolerance levels
Regulatory Liaison: Act as the main point of contact for risk functions and any regulatory interaction
Committee Representation: Attend appropriate risk forums and committees on behalf of the CPO
Compliance Oversight: Be responsible for providing effective oversight of compliance by the SLA Functions
Framework Alignment: Relevant Sourcing and Supplier Management Policy and Framework requirements aligned with wider risk management arrangements
Risk Solutions: Lead, develop and implement solutions to address business requirements and challenges whilst minimizing risk and meeting regulatory requirements
Regulatory Knowledge: Use detailed knowledge of regulatory requirements and how they impact procurement and third-party management to mitigate risk exposure
Legislative Awareness: Use knowledge of the regulatory environment to ensure visibility of future changes in legislation and regulation impacting SLA procurement and the supply chain and appropriate response

15. Head of Procurement Duties and Roles

Procurement Program: Develop a companywide procurement program, purchasing, contracts, negotiations and vendor selection, including frameworks for vendor evaluation, engagement and RFP ownership
Market Analysis: Understand market trends and identify the proper supplier expertise to deliver plans
Strategic Sourcing: Conduct capital spend analysis, identify and prioritize strategic sourcing, cost-reduction opportunities and execute corresponding RFIs/RFPs and supplier negotiations
Spend Categorization: Categorize spend, measuring against quality, service, risk and cost
Performance Measurement: Perform supplier performance and SLA measurement
Contract Negotiation: Negotiate to establish, measure, and enforce contractual terms that protect the company from supplier failure to perform
Cost Management: Develop, direct, and manage overall cost reduction targets and category-level long-term strategic plans tied to business and company goals, including contracted savings
Cross-Functional Process: Establish a cross-functional internal procurement organization process and develop internal partnerships with cross-functional teams, including Finance, Technology, Marketing, Risk, Business Development, Legal, Compliance etc.
System Implementation: Implement and/or leverage existing/upcoming enterprise systems to establish automated procurement requests, invoicing, and payment processes
Reporting Standards: Establish enterprise reporting standards on procurement volume by unit, spend and category/types
Process Improvement: Evaluate and improve procurement processes, procedures and governance, ensuring continuous improvement and cost savings
Team Building: Build a team of 1-3 procurement experts to handle and execute all company purchasing decisions

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