Procurement officer: Indirect Material, services & co-formulants

Job Id: 13489

City:

Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

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Department: Procurement

Function: SCM

Employee Type: Permanent Full Time

Seniority Level: Associate

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Description:

Job Title Procurement Officer: Indirect Material, services & co-formulants

Designation Procurement officer

Reporting To Head of Procurement, Africa

Function SCM

GJL 2A

Location La Lucia, Durban

ABOUT UPL:

UPL is focused on emerging as a premier global provider of total crop solutions designed to secure the world’s long-term food supply. Winning farmer's hearts across the globe, while leading the way with innovative products and services that make agriculture sustainable, UPL is the fastest-growing company in the industry. Our successes in the field add up to powerful financials. UPL delivers results from protecting crops that translate into attractive investor value. Based on the recognition that humankind is one community, UPL’s overarching commitment is to improve areas of its presence, workplace, and customer engagement.

Our purpose is ‘OpenAg’. An agriculture network that feeds sustainable growth for all. No limits, no borders.

We are one team, for maximum impact. One team with shared goals. We have a laser-like focus on what our customers need and want, on anticipating their future needs, and on how we can create innovative solutions and experiences for them. We think outside the box and go beyond our comfort zone. We believe in agility, we mix the power of speed, with structure from process. And wherever we can, we always believe in having fun

Role Summary

The purpose of this role is to manage all procurement related to Indirect Materials, Services, CAPEX and local co-formulants to support the overall business and supply chain strategies. The role ensures the delivery of procurement objectives at the right price, place, time, quantity, and quality.

The role is accountable for ensuring regulatory compliance in the procurement of raw materials. All procurement activities must comply with the UPL procurement framework policy regarding competitive bidding, ensuring contract implementation and SLAs.

The individual is responsible for consolidating information, and tracking performance against budgeted spends. The individual must collaborate across many cross-functional teams such as supply planning, commercial, regulatory, and manufacturing to achieve desired business results.

The role involves managing a selection of services under Indirect Materials (including contract manufacturing) to meet business requirements. The role also requires driving and constructing improvement processes in South Africa and ensuring good communication to stakeholders regarding cost volatility, pricing, and product availability from the sourcing pool that may impact the business.

The individual must activate procurement strategies for co-formulants to ensure consistent supply at optimal cost. An in-depth understanding of supply chain processes, planning, and logistics is key to procurement excellence. The Sales and Operational process is a critical contributor to driving purchasing actions that add value to the supply chain and manufacturing

Role Responsibilities

Functional Area 1: Procurement Strategy

Manages procurement of indirect materials and services, ensuring compliance with UPL’s procurement policies and governance framework.

Drives process improvements and represents the sub-region in system and tool implementations.

Collaborates across MRO, logistics, warehousing, and other indirect categories to achieve business results.

Activates procurement strategies for indirect materials, services, and co-formulants, ensuring consistent supply at optimal cost and compliance with UPL’s procurement framework policy.

Consolidates information, and tracks performance against budgeted spends.

Drives process improvements in procurement to enhance efficiency and cost-effectiveness while aligning with business objectives.

Collaborates across supply planning, commercial, regulatory, and manufacturing teams to achieve business results.

Functional Area 2: Financial Responsibility

Ensures pricing benefits through competitive bidding and supplier selection.

Monitors procurement activities to achieve year-on-year cost avoidance and cost reduction targets.

Drives adherence to organizational payment terms and mitigates advance payments (e.g., deposits, COD, advance payments).

Develops and implements “should cost” models based on environmental and market data to optimize pricing and support negotiations..

Optimizes payment terms to improve Net Working Capital (NWC), cash generation, and reduce transactional costs.

Functional Area 3: Tactical Execution of Purchasing

Co-ordinates requests from various supply chain departments and raises PRs/POs.

Ensures timely placement of purchase orders and escalates supply issues as necessary.

Anticipates future material and supply constraints and escalates major issues to relevant stakeholders or the SC Head.

Leads regular purchasing meetings to align stakeholder expectations.

Co-ordinates the execution of agreed purchase plans with supply chain teams, aligning with S&OP plans and customer service requirements.

Ensures efficient placement of purchase orders through GBS or other networks and communicates timely purchase volumes to vendors.

Anticipates supply constraints, develops resolution options, and escalates major issues to the Supply Commit and Regional S&OP meetings.

Represents procurement in Supply Commit and SOP planning meetings to align on demand-supply changes and sourcing alternatives.

Functional Area 4: Procurement Excellence

Ensures compliance with procurement policies through adjudicated competitive bidding and supplier evaluation processes.

Develops procurement savings projects and identifies new vendors/suppliers without jeopardizing quality or service delivery.

Prepares weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual procurement plans and reports as per business requirements.

Procures indirect materials and services based on negotiated pricing, supplier performance, and business needs.

Implements strategic supplier performance measurement for critical vendors and ensures compliance with SLAs and UPL’s procurement policies.

Manages procurement savings projects and implements vendor management programs (e.g., SRM) to improve supplier relationships.

Prepares monthly, quarterly, and annual procurement plans, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and reporting progress to stakeholders.

Procures products and services based on assurance of supply, service, quality, cost, innovation, and regulatory compliance (e.g., ROHS).

Functional Area 5: Contract Management

Manages contract implementation and ensures compliance with SLAs for indirect materials and services.

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