Associate Director International Procurement

Responsibilities

As Associate Director, International Procurement, you will report to the Procurement Director and own the strategy, performance, and people development for your category cluster. This is a 12-month fixed-term position based in Berlin.

You will lead a team of Category Managers, set the direction for supplier relationships and commercial outcomes, and operate as the senior point of escalation across operational and strategic procurement challenges. This role requires a procurement professional who is equally comfortable in a negotiation room with a strategic supplier, a governance forum with senior cross-functional leaders, and a development conversation with a direct report.

Strategy & Category Leadership

• Define and own the multi-year category strategy for your cluster, including sourcing model, supplier segmentation, risk posture, and cost ambition
• Present strategy coherently to Director-level stakeholders
• Translate market intelligence (commodity dynamics, seasonality, geopolitical risk, supply constraints) into actionable procurement decisions
• Lead cross-category standardization and process improvement initiatives

Supplier Relationships & Partnerships

• Build and steward the most strategically important supplier relationships in your cluster, including joint investment plans, multi-year contracts, and structured partnership governance
• Lead or oversee tender processes end-to-end from strategy and data-pack through to award, contract, and supplier briefing
• Act as the senior escalation point for supply disruptions, quality issues, and commercial disputes
• Develop new or alternative suppliers to strengthen resilience and competitiveness across your category network

Performance, Data & Commercial Delivery

• Take full commercial accountability for your cluster's cost performance, savings targets, and COGS variance
• Drive a data-first culture within your team, grounding category reviews, investment cases, and supplier performance assessments in robust analysis
• Contribute to seasonality planning, static pricing rounds, and volume S&OP processes with rigour and cross-functional coordination
• Oversee cost reporting, invoice validation, and supplier database quality for your cluster

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Category Managers, creating a high-performance environment that is psychologically safe, commercially ambitious, and genuinely invested in its people
• Build the capability of your team, shifting progressively from doing to enabling
• Own team capacity planning, workload prioritization, and performance development including calibration, promotion cases, and succession thinking
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, clear communication, and accountability

Stakeholder & Cross-functional Leadership

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with Product, Supply Chain Operations, FSQA, Finance, and Legal
• Represent Strategic Procurement at Director-level planning and governance meetings
• Manage upward effectively, keeping the Procurement Director informed and bringing well-framed recommendations

What We're Looking For

Experience

• 7+ years in strategic procurement, supply chain, or a closely related commercial discipline, ideally in FMCG or food ingredients
• Demonstrated track record of building supplier relationships at a strategic level, including contract negotiation, partnership governance, and managing through disruption
• Experience setting and executing category strategy across a meaningful portfolio, ideally managing a cluster of subcategories or a team
• Proven ability to lead and develop others, whether as a formal team lead or through mentoring and cross-functional project leadership

Skills & Mindset

• Strategically confident: ability to connect day-to-day procurement decisions to a longer-term commercial and supply chain vision
• Data-driven: comfortable building investment cases, analyzing COGS variance, and driving evidence-based decision-making
• Natural relationship-builder inside the business and with suppliers who can hold a firm commercial position while maintaining trust
• Coach rather than doer: instinctively look to develop the person next to you rather than solve the problem yourself
• Operationally resilient: stay focused and solution-oriented in a fast-paced, supply-volatile environment
• Proactive and accountable: take ownership, raise risks early, and bring solutions rather than problems

How We Work With You

We are Get A Job.ai, representing a confidential food industry organization for this Associate Director International Procurement role. Here's how our process works:

• Submit your application directly through the Get A Job.ai platform
• Our talent team will review your profile and schedule an initial screening conversation
• If there's a strong match, we'll prepare and submit your candidacy to our client
• We'll coordinate all interview stages and provide feedback throughout the process
• Please do not contact the client directly; all communication should go through Get A Job.ai to ensure a smooth and professional process

Pay

Compensation details will be discussed during the screening process and are competitive for this senior procurement leadership role in Berlin.

Get A Job.ai is committed to equal opportunity employment. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.