Description
Retail Procurement Consultant (Buying/Purchasing/Negotiation) - Supply Chain, Retail, Food, Negotiation, Buyer, Humanitarian
Do you love negotiating with suppliers and getting the best deal for your company or customer? Do you relish the challenge of improving Vendor Relationships and introducing strategic objectives that directly contribute to business success? Would you thrive on implementing process improvements and efficiency initiatives that can and will lead to making a positive difference in the world? If YES, then please read on
Our client has asked Curo to supply a Retail focused Procurement Consultant/Manager with excellent negotiation skills and strong retail (FMCG/High street - food/supermarket/grocery) sector experience. This is for a new team and there are multiple positions available so please feel free to apply even if the description doesn't match your background and experience 100%.
PROFILE
The role is to work with Country Office local teams to negotiate price reductions in our client's contracted shops - the overall objective is to achieve savings across the vendor base. This will be achieved by better contracting of retailers and aggregating the demand of smaller independent shops to get better wholesale supply prices, passed on in lower retail prices. So a lot of this will be about getting good fit-for-purpose supplier agreements in place.
Grocery/wholesale/food/supermarket retail experience: credible in front of shop owners and chain managers. Understands how retailers make money. Experience as a Buyer or Procurement/Purchasing Manager would be favoured. You will need to have a good understanding of margins and market value, knowledge of how food gets from a supplier to a shop and also be able to communicate effectively with suppliers and vendors, in essence: 'talking the language of the grocers'. Solid negotiation skills (sales experience relevant). Logical thinking and strong problem solving skills are also required, along with excellent communication skills. You will need to be a proactive person, well organised, self-motivated, methodical and driven. Experience of working with Retail Customers would be highly beneficial. An understanding of data would be beneficial.
Our client is an organisation staffed by passionate, highly skilled and fascinating people making a real difference. They are one of the world's largest humanitarian agencies fighting hunger worldwide. They reach more than 80 million people with food assistance in 75 countries each year. This is a fantastic opportunity.
Start: March/April 2016
Duration: 6-12 months initially. Extension possibilities are strong if you deliver
Personal: Good business sense, frugal/cost saving nature, cultural awareness/respect; for the local area/people, customs/traditions, appreciating how things work at local level, enthusiasm and positivity
Payment: £/day depending on experience
Expenses: Good expense allowance
Location: Amman (Jordan), Beirut (Lebanon), Turkey, Kenya + other country possibilities to follow on from a successful project deployment.
Experience: All levels from graduate upwards
Language: It will be advantageous to speak the native language of the region but it is an English speaking environment so language skills are not essential.
Qualifications: Ideally MBA/CIMA/CIPS + Business Degree or equivalent
Attributes:
- Commercial experience - Retail/Purchasing/Supply Chain/Procurement
- Strong negotiation skills: completed formal training and/or professional experience
- Business savvy
- Hard working, focused and driven
- Bright and enthusiastic
- A team player
- Logical thinker
- Highly motivated
- Well organised and highly motivated
- Calm under pressure
- Relevant product pricing knowledge/awareness
- Able to cope with uncertainty or ambiguity in a rapidly evolving project environment
- Culturally aware
- Good with numbers/Good IT/analytical skills - MS Excel/Access type tools
- Ability to haggle
- Flexible to travel/work abroad
- Available to start over the next month
Nice to haves:
- MBA
- CIMA
- CIPS
- Highly IT literate
- An understanding of relational data
- Education: degree in business studies, accounting, finance, procurement, supply chain, management or equivalent experience
Please send your CV if interested.
Please also explain:
- why you are interested in this role
- what relevant experience you bring
- what your daily rate expectation would be