Chief Procurement Officer jobs
Maintaining the efficiency of the procurement efforts of the employer’s key operations will be the responsibility of the chief procurement officer. She or he will need to keep in constant touch with the suppliers to ensure they are aware of future needs and also to keep costs as low as possible. Because procurement is so closely tied to profitability, the chief procurement officer will also need to be constantly surveying the market to find out whether savings could be made by switching suppliers, or indeed to decide whether a close client relationship is worth paying extra for if it brings efficiencies in other ways.
The procurement officer will need to have a keen sense of the market in which his or her employer operates, in order to gauge good costs and spot trends that could lead to prices rising or falling. Good intelligence will allow better planning to take place at board level, and the longer in advance they are made aware of such changes, the better will be their decisions.
The job will probably also involve a good deal of negotiation with suppliers to drive down prices, but a sensitivity towards their own requirements will be required; in some markets, suppliers themselves have a lot of bargaining power.
Good chief procurement officers can make a huge difference to the company’s expenditure, and therefore particularly skilled and experienced operatives can be remunerated extremely well.
The skills required
For such a senior procurement role, the entry requirements will be strict. Typically, experience of working in a procurement environment should be several years, but ten or fifteen would not be an unusual request. Management skills will be required, as the chief procurement officer will be overseeing a whole team, especially in larger companies. And finally, experience in the type of goods being supplied to the employer will be hugely advantageous to potential candidates.
An ability to work independently of senior management and make critical decisions without constantly referring them to the board will be highly valued. Chief procurement officers will be judged on their experience and results, and as long as they are delivering and maximising profits, their personal stock will be forever on the up.
Chief Procurement Officer Jobs in Cheltenham
Cheltenham is a historic spa town (sometimes called Cheltenham Spa) in Gloucestershire, about 7 miles (12 km) to the east of the county town, Gloucester. The town grew in popularity after a royal visit in the late 1700s, which brought its mineral waters national renown. It is known internationally as a site of festivals. There are the Literature, Jazz, Science and Music festivals to occupy the locals and bring in tourists, but most famous of all is the one simply called the Cheltenham Festival, a week-long National Hunt horse-racing event culminating in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The town is a hotbed of high-tech industry, too, with electronics and aerospace playing their parts in the local economy. Tourism is and important wealth creator too. The west of the town is dominated by the UK’s national intelligence and eavesdropping centre, the GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), an organisation that dates back to the First World War and has been at Cheltenham since 1951. During the Second World War it was located at the famous Bletchley Park.
The blend of hi-tech industry, an affluent populace and a thriving retail sector make Cheltenham a prime location for a variety of supply chain, logistics and procurement positions, and Chief Procurement Officer jobs will appear in and around the time from time to time, although GCHQ will probably know about it before we do!
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Cast UK’s procurement opportunities
Cast UK were founded by specialists in the logistics, supply chain and procurement trade, and our consultants are also drawn from these backgrounds, so we know what employers and candidates are looking for.
If you’re looking for a job in procurement, whether you’re relocating for personal reasons or are simply looking for more job fulfilment, there could well be an employer who’s looking for the skills you have, so please get in touch with Cast UK. At any given time, we have jobs all over the UK, so wherever you live, or plan to live, we are well placed to find work that suits your skills. Employers often approach us to find managerial and executive candidates, so if you’re in logistics, we’d be delighted to hear from you.
To find out more about how Cast UK can help you recruit a Chief Procurement Officer for your business or find you a job as a Chief Procurement Officer then contact one of our consultant team on 0333 121 3345.
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