Senior Procurement Manager
We’re looking for a Senior Procurement Manager to join our Procurement team. This role will deliver a purposeful, resilient and economically effective supply base fit to meet our high-growth needs.
We’re looking for a Senior Procurement Manager to focus on the sustainable development of our key strategic suppliers at tails.com. The ideal candidate will bring robust procurement experience, having set a strategy and delivered it through a team.
Changing the world of pet food for good
We’re tails.com, a dog food subscription company with a big difference. We create truly tailored food for each and every dog we serve. We start by asking people a few simple questions about their dog. Then we use that information to create their dog’s unique tails.com recipe – so their dog gets exactly the nutrition they need, in the taste they love, delivered to their door every month. It’s clever stuff.
We’ve got ambitious plans. Having created an entirely new category in pet food, we’re now scaling fast in the UK and Europe – backed by Purina, one of the world’s largest pet food companies. You’ll join a bunch of smart people working towards the same goals – and a bunch of smart-ish dogs, all working on their own thing.
Together, we’ll change the world of pet food for good.
People. Process. Planning.
That’s what buying and procurement at tails.com is all about. People first – because it takes good people to build the kind of long-term, trusted partnerships with suppliers that we do, and it takes great people to create and deliver an exceptional product.
Process, because we can only do what we do by being able to see how the whole system – physical product, digital product, and personal service – fits together. Then we make these complex processes as simple and streamlined as possible. So our team are pattern-spotters, insight-hunters, and change-makers; people ready to be flexible, adaptable, and help us improve in everything we do.
And planning, because we’re here to see as much of the future as we can - to make sure we have enough food for the dogs we serve. We’ve been data-driven from day one, finding new and better ways to draw the insights that help us plan for next week, next year, or five years from now.
Sound like a team you'd like to join? Here’s how you’ll make a difference:
The role
The Senior Procurement Manager will deliver a purposeful, resilient and economically effective supply base fit to meet our high-growth needs over the next few years. This individual manages the tails.com strategy for our critical supply partners, in both direct and indirect categories. They are responsible for shaping and developing our key suppliers. They optimise supplier performance through agreed mutual initiatives. They ensure these partners can sustainably grow with us by identifying our future business needs and managing the risk of our increasingly complex and critical supply base. They achieve these aims through category forums, working closely with procurement managers and internal stakeholders, to build a robust and competitive supply network in the UK and Europe.
You will be responsible for:
- Leading the process for supplier re-segmentation
- Leading the process of supplier development and transformation
- Negotiating high-risk and high-dependency terms
- Optimising multi-territory and multi-category supply agreements
- Agreeing and delivering mutual sustainability and profitability initiatives with key suppliers
- Acting as the single point of contact for key strategic supplier relationship management
The skills you’ll bring:
- Strong strategic, commercial and critical thinker
- Experienced practitioner of strategic procurement
- Previous experience working with contract manufacturing
- Experience working on diverse procurement categories
- Proficient in senior stakeholder management, influencing and building high trust relationships
- Excellent communication and presentation skills in English - written and verbal
- A supportive and collaborative leadership style with experience in developing high-performing teams
- A track record of working successfully in cross-functional teams, with internal and external stakeholders
- Experience delivering change through rapid-growth environments
- Confident and experienced negotiator of complex strategic spend portfolios
- Ideally CIPS level 5 Advanced Diploma
Our commitment
We’re proud to be an active equal opportunity employer. We want to give everyone a fair chance to join us in changing the world of pet food for good. We do this by conducting a structured recruitment process for all candidates, as well as actively promoting our roles to communities that are under-represented at tails.com.
During your interview process you’ll meet some of our team with varying levels of responsibility and experience. We want to give every candidate a fair interview process and if you need any reasonable adjustments made, please let us know.
What's in it for you?
- Competitive salary, reviewed annually
- Annual bonus, based on company performance
- Flexible core hours, giving you true work life balance
- Hybrid role to ensure this role works for you
- 25 days of holiday (excluding bank holidays) which increases over time to a max of 27 days
- 9/10 day working week to enhance your wellbeing without a reduction in pay and leave allowance
- Optional 5 days unpaid leave and 1 paid volunteer day each year
- When you need a change of scenery, you can work from abroad 2 weeks every 6 months
- Health insurance for you, paid by tails.com and discounted gym membership
- Extended maternity, shared parental and adoption pay. Up to 6 months at 70% pay, linked to statutory parental pay
- Flexible paid care leave to support immediate dependents, people close to you and pets
- An external financial coach to support a range of topics - debt management, savings and investments
- In house L&D team, with access to year round courses to help drive your development
- 50% discount on all tails.com and 40% on Republic of Cats products
What’s next?
If this sounds like it matches your experience and what you’d love to do, we can’t wait to hear from you! If you’re unsure whether you fit our criteria exactly, please get in touch anyway. And because we believe that diverse teams perform better, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.
Here’s a taster of how our recruitment process works:
- Upon submission, your application and CV will be reviewed by the Hiring Manager.
- If selected, you will then have a brief call with our Talent Acquisition Manager so we can learn more about your general background and experiences (15-20 mins).
- If selected for the next stage, you will then have a video call with the Hiring Manager to discuss your background, experiences, and skill sets in depth (60 mins).
- Should you be successful, you will then be invited to our office to present your recommendations in response to a provided task to a panel of interviewers (60 mins).
- Lastly, the final interview will be a video call with our Chief Commercial Officer (30 mins).
- Department
- Procurement
- Locations
- Richmond
- Remote status
- Hybrid Remote
Senior Procurement Manager
We’re looking for a Senior Procurement Manager to join our Procurement team. This role will deliver a purposeful, resilient and economically effective supply base fit to meet our high-growth needs.
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