APAC Category Manager & APAC Purchasing PMO

The world’s leading supplier of mineral-based specialty solutions for industry with 14,000 employees, operations in more than 40 countries, and €4.3 billion in revenue in 2022.

Imerys delivers high-value-added, functional solutions to a great number of sectors, from processing industries to consumer goods. The Group draws on its understanding of applications, technological knowledge and expertise in material science to deliver solutions by beneficiating its mineral resources, synthetic minerals and formulations. Imerys’ solutions contribute essential properties to customers’ products and their performance, including heat resistance, hardness, conductivity, opacity, durability, purity, lightness, filtration, absorption and water repellency. Imerys is determined to develop responsibly, in particular by fostering the emergence of environmentally-friendly products and processes.

JOB SUMMARY/PURPOSE

 

The Category Manager for Strategic Raw Material APAC (excluding RAC specific raw materials) will be in charge of defining and executing the raw material sourcing strategy for PM APAC, mainly covering local/regional spend in complementarity to the Global Raw Material spend cover by Global team.

On top, she/he will be in charge of the implementation, as part of PMO scope, of global and regional transversal initiatives such as pricing reduction initiatives, sole source reduction, I3/ redesign to cost initiatives, payment terms increase project at APAC level

Within the PMO scope, he/she will be responsible for the development of the ASIA sourcing platform aiming at enhancing sourcing channels from Asia to the other locations where Imerys is operating.

 

JOB SCOPE/DIMENSIONS

 

•  PMO for APAC responds to around 800+ initiatives loaded in Quimeo around all Categories (Local/Regional/Global levels);

• APAC Raw Material role excluding RAC specific raw materials will cover around 60M€ spend coordinated among the PM APAC entities – exchanges with Heads of countries & PPMs, Product Managers, Operations, Quality, Industrial, Procurement & Supply Chain;

• APAC sourcing platform coordinator will manage requests for sourcing support from other regions as well as promote potential export suppliers from ASIA region

• Expected 10% of travel required. 

 

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 

The key Tasks & Responsibilities for the APAC Category position are the following :

• Lead a team of 1.9+ FTE

• Define and Develop PM APAC sourcing strategy for the short and long term along with the BA stakeholders.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with the suppliers used by PM APAC

• Effectively negotiate to get the best prices for PM APAC

• Negotiate, create, maintain & enforce supplier contracts

• Analyze market trends, lead external benchmarking studies and implement best practices in sourcing strategy

• Monitor and forecast markets trends and issues and determine potential risks, opportunities and actions for PM APAC to achieve supply continuity and best value

• Responsible for all ERP requests and validation process (validation of suppliers, implementation of prices lists, reporting, validation of PO…) assigned to his/her roles and responsibilities.

• Strong focus on development of new sources in collaboration with operations &  quality teams 

 

The key Tasks & Responsibilities for the PMO position are the following :

•  Works in close collaboration with the category management teams and the sub-regional purchasing teams to make sure progress is being made at the right pace and targets are being achieved.

• Will act as project manager of the transformation project (end of cycle)

• Support the suppliers’ management and quality/initiatives (audits, evaluation…) in liaise with Purchasing Network function, which includes SRM and Innovation activities

• Gather data and implement the tools and reporting at PM APAC level, all this in alignment and coordination with the Global PMO Manager

• Collect and consolidate all the spend data and suppliers from the different sites via the local buyers sites’ network /operations teams from all entities

• Develop and implement all the tools and reporting needed to support the purchasing activities within the new structure.

• Involve/source/implement/manage some software solutions related to the function and transformation (linked with consultants initiatives tracking…)

• Manage internally the Taxonomy/Purchasing Segmentation implementation and evolution

• Follow and track some KPI’s related to the function

• Animation of the Purchasing community (Purchasing + Operations) at regional level on the Tools and Reporting initiatives, with ongoing project reviews and communication on latest releases (Tools, contracts, etc…) 
   

JOB SPECIFICATIONS
 

Education and Experience requirements

 

• Solid relevant experience in sourcing & purchasing in international environment (more than 5 years)

• Established professional with broad business experience, strategic partnerships with business units, in a  global company

• Master degree in Purchasing, engineering or mining background is also a plus

• English fluent and any other language is a plus
   

Knowledge, skills, Imerys Leadership Behaviors 

• Very strong analytic and negotiation skills, with good knowledge of Excel/Google Sheets

• Extremely skilled in communication, rigor, autonomous, strong need of energy, leadership & convincing skills

• Team-oriented, dynamic and adaptable

• Demonstrated ability to develop relationships & influence key decision makers internally & externally, regionally and globally

• Proven experience in planning and leading complex negotiations

• Highly motivated & results focused with the ability to act with a high sense of urgency

• Ability to operate and execute effectively in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities and challenging deadlines

• Thorough knowledge of the markets, regulations & operations in the mineral mining world

• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills
   

Leads self 

• Flexes own style to meet the needs of others or situations.

• Manages own energy and emotions. Takes steps to set the right leadership example
   

Leads others : 

• Understands each team member and how to get the best out of them.

• Empowers team to operate outside of their comfort zone by providing learning opportunities that allow them to try new things.
   

Communicates and collaborates : 

• Leads and collaborates across boundaries.

• Effectively networks to share knowledge and insight and to drive performance.
   

Deliver results : 

• Delivers short term results while maintaining focus on the longer term.

• Adapts to changing business priorities whilst maintaining focus on personal and team results.
   

Drives improvements : 

• Gathers external insight from other organizations and customers to innovate and drive business performance.

• Looks to find ways to do things better, quicker or more efficiently.