Procurement Category Specialist

Ornua is an Irish dairy co-operative that markets and sells dairy products on behalf of its Members, Ireland's dairy processors and, in turn, Irish dairy farmers. Ornua is Ireland's largest exporter of Irish dairy products and has annualised sales of €3.4 billion. Headquartered in Dublin, Ornua has a strong global team of 2,900 employees, operating from 10 business units worldwide, including 13 production facilities. Ornua's core purpose is to build profitable routes to market for Irish dairy products.

The Group is structured across two divisions: Ornua Foods and Ornua Ingredients. Ornua Foods is responsible for the marketing and sales of Ornua's consumer brands, including Ireland's most successful food export, Kerrygold, as well as Kerrygold Dubliner, Pilgrims Choice, Forto and BEO milk powders.

Ornua Ingredients is responsible for the procurement of Irish and non-Irish dairy products, for the sale of dairy ingredients to food manufacturing and foodservice customers across the world, and for managing volatility through de-risking and trading strategies.

At Ornua, our Values lie at the core of everything that we do and how we behave both individually and as a business. Our five values, and their underlying behaviours, encourage us to Seek and Embrace New Ideas, Make It Happen, Be Our True Selves, Show You Care and Achieve Great Things Together.

At Ornua, our co-operative ethos lies at the heart of how we do business. We care passionately about driving sustainable, profitable growth, underpinned by our ambitious 'Path to Prosper' strategy. We have delivered significant growth in our core business, and we have ambitious plans for continued growth over the next five years.

Why This Role is Valuable

Ornua requires a Procurement Category Specialist to support Ornua's Warehousing & Logistics category in line with overall business objectives. This will be a fixed term contract until the end of June 2025. The role involves managing supplier relationships and supporting the development of a low-cost supply base to offer competitive products in a highly competitive market.

Key Areas of Responsibility:

1. Support the development of a Category Strategy aligned with the overall procurement and business plan.
2. Understand the product portfolio and spend under management to support a segmented supply chain solution.
3. Gain expertise in the spend category markets and dynamics.
4. Assist in the development and ongoing management of the Warehouse & Logistics category procurement.
5. Support the development of a Warehouse Capacity Plan in conjunction with Supply Chain Operations.
6. Assist in managing risk by analyzing current/future market transport conditions and defining contingency plans.
7. Support the development of the contracting process & frameworks consistent with legal, regulatory, and business requirements.
8. Function as a liaison and key contact within the business units to ensure that commercial relationships between the suppliers and business requirements are aligned.
9. Deliver cost improvement through the execution of sourcing plans and managing RFI/P & Auctions.
10. Manage transactional approvals and process/policy compliance.
11. Serve as an escalation point to internal business stakeholders for supplier relationship concerns.
12. Provide commercial leadership and market insight of procurement trends and new developments in the market-space for assigned categories.
13. Participate in procurement initiatives and strive to continually improve procurement processes and procedures, leveraging the use of e-procurement tools.
14. Manage Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) for key suppliers.
15. Travel occasionally, both domestically and internationally.

Key Requirements:

1. Proficient stakeholder management across all levels of the organization.
2. Commercially astute.
3. Proven procurement Category Management Skills, ideally with knowledge in Freight & Warehousing.
4. Strong decision-making ability and team management skills.
5. Proven negotiation and conflict management skills with the ability to resolve issues at all levels of management.
6. Ability to define action plans to resolve program/project issues and implement corrective actions where required.
7. Experience leveraging e-procurement tools, planning, and leading RFI and RFP's, e-Auctions.
8. Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, or equivalent.
9. CIPS or APICS or other Certification advantageous.
10. 2-3 years of procurement / supply chain experience in relevant categories.
11. Dairy Industry experience and FMCG industry knowledge are preferential.

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