Our client, a market leading player in the mobile telecommunications industry in Africa have a requirement for a Head of Procurement in Lagos, Nigeria. The role involves Senior leadership and strategy ownership for Telecomm passive infrastructure and Integrated Site Maintenance Services; direct procurement of infrastructure components such as tower structures , Diesel Power Generator modules; Site Build, civil construction and Tower installation services; and, Site Acquisition in support of Technical Field development Projects/Operations.

Functions & Responsibilities
The ‘Head of Procurement - Technical’ will lead a Procurement team that will design, develop and oversee implementation of the company-wide strategy for: Technical Procurement.

Key accountabilities:
1. deliver effective Procurement solutions across the Business in line with the Group’s business targets and objectives;
2. deliver defined savings targets;
3. deliver defined value adding targets and measures;
4. actively manage supply risk and performance;
5. develop supply chain capability to meet future business needs; and, ultimately,
6. improve performance, improve IHS competitive advantage, and reduce costs and business risk significantly, deliver an innovative and value for money Procurement service by embedding Category strategies for the particular area of responsibility by focusing on the needs of internal and external stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

Category Management
Develop integrated strategies to ensure IHS maximizes the benefit of its supplier relationships and reduces total cost of ownership. A Category Profile and Strategy shall be developed and updated that describes the market environment, key suppliers, key contracts, risks, issues and opportunities, current spend and forecast demand within the category.

To provide category management, the candidate will facilitate a cross functional team to:
• Develop strategies in support of key projects and initiatives tailored to the category
• Develop contracting strategies
• Develop negotiation strategies for strategic sourcing events
• Develop plans to manage capacity and capability
• Develop demand profile and identify niche support
• Assess current and potential supply base
• Identify risk and support mitigation plans
• Ensure key performance indicators are in place to manage performance across BUs
• Communicate strategy, performance, risk and opportunities to stakeholders
• Communicate key presentations to senior leadership (directors)
• Execute category and contracting strategies, monitor and manage progress to plan
• Facilitate agreement with business partners and other stakeholders


Specifically:

1. Develop and maintain effective relationships with key internal stakeholders (including Executive and Group Directors) to increase awareness of Procurement and communicate, implement and monitor compliance by internal stakeholders with corporate Procurement policies and collaborate to define and articulate their strategic sourcing needs and secure their engagement and support to agreed implementation strategies.
2. Support the department’s leadership team on ‘Demand Management’ where necessary to challenge and change the organisation’s Procurement policy and buying behaviour and to provide support in resolving conflicts and removing any barriers to delivering optimum benefits via the Category Management process. In this dimension, assist Category Leads on large scale, complex Procurement projects where influence and experience can make a significant contribution to final sourcing outcomes.
3. Identify and define opportunities for synergies, revenue growth and lead Spend Analysis in order to identify and develop savings opportunity assessment, including leading external benchmarking to support this assessment, and input supply market intelligence into the budget setting process and agree any saving targets to be included in the plan.
4. Provide specialist advice, guidance and service in identification, assessment and management of potential risks associated with differing sourcing strategies and lead cross functional teams to develop Category strategies.
5. Ensure make -vs- buy opportunities are considered as part of the development of applicable Category strategies in order to reduce costs, drive operational efficiencies and/or improve customer service and, where appropriate, lead on the production of the corresponding business case.
6. Achieve cost savings objectives through creative Procurement strategies, vendor selection and review and development of favorable contract agreements.
7. Lead the end to end tender process for high value/risk contracts including leading pre and post-award negotiations on strategically significant contracts in close collaboration with Legal and other relevant supporting departments..
8. Define and manage key supplier relationships and be accountable for Supplier Relationship Management within the Category to deliver breakthrough performance in cost, service and quality,
9. Continuously support centralised IM expertise to identify and collate key, comprehensive management information based on in-depth analysis and produce regular reports to reflect the performance of the Category team on spend management, savings tracking, project tracking, performance measurement and monitoring of key suppliers and contractors and key risk management.
10. Keep abreast of developments in key supply markets and foster, establish and manage relationships with senior management of key and strategic suppliers to improve supplier performance.
11. Continuously revalidate current processes and systems and drive refinements through structured change management efforts to drive adoption of improved systems and processes, standard tools, templates, legal documents and supplier selection methodology and criteria.
12. Oversee and manage the Category team including monitoring that workload and work plans are effectively resourced and carried out in accordance with the Category Management Framework and Procurement policies and procedures.
13. Assist in defining organisational design and oversee development of roles and responsibilities and recruitment.
14. Define and develop a continuous improvement culture and monitor/coach team members by effectively managing development and performance.

First Degree, Certified Purchaser (CIPS) preferred and Master’s Degree will be advantageous.

Skills / Competence Requirement

1. Senior team and Category Management management experience: mandatory. To include:

2. Advanced Problem Solving and numerate analytical skills.

3. Excellent literacy skills.

4. Strong IT skills (MS Office, ERP, Data Analysis).

5. 15 years experience highly desirable.

Behaviours (leadership competencies)

1. Strong influencing skills at senior levels to influence acceptance of new ways of working and building strategic awareness.

2. Stakeholder relationships: building trust and fostering collaboration; excellent team management and interpersonal people skills are essential.

3. Communicating effectively: strong verbal and written communication skills.

4. Strategic thinking complimented by excellent organisational and Project Management skills.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.