Procurement officer: Indirect Material, services & co-formulants

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.
• Negotiates pricing and terms with suppliers and resolves contract-related issues during implementation.
• Monitors vendor conformance to SLAs and pricing but does not develop standardized tools for contract management.
• Issues purchase orders and tracks vendor compliance with organizational procurement policies.
• Drives compliance and governance in contract implementation, ensuring all vendor SLAs and terms are adhered to.
• Negotiates and resolves conflicts with vendors in case of poor performance or non-compliance, escalating issues as needed.
• Develops and utilizes contract management tools to standardize processes and improve vendor performance monitoring.
• Accountable for ensuring all purchase orders and contract amendments align with UPL’s policies and specifications.

Functional Area 6: Systems & Tools Management

• Manages procurement-related master data updates in SAP and ensures data accuracy for operational activities.
• Extracts and analyzes data from procurement tools for reporting and operational decision-making.
• Uses SAP and eProcurement tools like iValua and ARIBA for procurement operations.
• Drives procurement systems and tools adoption in collaboration with IT and GBS to improve productivity and data accuracy.
• Extracts and interprets data from ERP tools for negotiation planning and decision-making.
• Ensures efficient integration of procurement systems with broader organizational tools (e.g., SAP MDM/MDG, iValua).

Functional Area 7: Reporting and Projects

• Supports process improvement initiatives and represents the sub-region in system and tool implementations.
• Prepares procurement reports as required but focuses on operational-level reporting rather than strategic presentations.
• Supports execution of assigned projects, ensuring alignment with procurement objectives.
• Leads procurement projects and initiatives to improve processes, drive cost optimization, and achieve organizational goals.
• Ensures alignment of procurement activities with project requirements and follows up with stakeholders for execution.

Functional Area 8: Stakeholder Collaboration

• Collaborates with MRO, logistics, warehousing, and other indirect categories to achieve business results.
• Communicates market changes and risks but focuses on immediate operational concerns rather than strategic cost volatility management.
• Participates in cross-functional meetings to align procurement activities with operational goals.
• Collaborates with cross-functional teams, including supply planning, commercial, regulatory, and manufacturing, to meet business objectives.
• Communicates cost volatility, pricing trends, and product availability risks to stakeholders, ensuring proactive decision-making.
• Represents procurement in cross-functional meetings and ensures alignment on procurement priorities and strategies.

Responsibility Weightage and % of Time Spent Matrix

Responsibility

Weightage

• Procurement Strategy

15%

• Financial Responsibility

15%

• Tactical Execution of Purchasing

20%

• Procurement Excellence

20%

• Contract Management

10%

• Systems & Tools Management

5%

• Reporting and Projects

5%

• Stakeholder Collaboration

10%

Financial Accountability

• Drive cost savings through competitive bidding and supplier negotiations.
• Optimize payment terms to improve cash flow and reduce transactional costs.
• Ensure accurate landed costs for procurement forecasting.

Strategic: Strategic 30% - Tactical 70%

Number of Direct Reports: 0

Number of Indirect Reports: 0

Internal Stakeholders

• Procurement Team
• Collaborate on sourcing strategies and supplier performance improvement.
• Production Planning Team
• Align material availability with the Master Production Plan.
• Update and collaborate on Indirect and capex related projects
• Commercial Team
• Provide insights on cost trends and supply chain risks.

External Interactions

Suppliers

• Coordinate on forecasts, purchase orders, and delivery timelines
• Develop and maintain supplier relationships and strategies

Knowledge, Skills And Experience Required

Technical Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, Procurement, or a related field.
• Understanding of Purchasing and Purchasing Categories
• Purchasing and supplier account management, project management
• Strategic thinking and problem-solving methodologies, Management of Change
• Understanding of production needs and how to secure ROHS for production
• Knowledge of suppliers’ products and alternatives

Behavioural Requirements

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• High attention to detail and ability to multitask in a dynamic environment.
• Proactive mindset with a focus on continuous improvement

UPL Competencies

• Adaptability & Resilience

Recognizes and is open to changing circumstances and alters behavior and scales up as necessary; increases personal awareness and appreciation of individual and cultural differences to create an open, inclusive, and accepting workplace

• Entrepreneurial Mindset

Has a creative mindset and ability to think holistically, takes calculated risks and maximizes opportunities

• Results Orientations

Acts, pursues goals with persistence and achieves results; communicates goals and vision to the team to drive enthusiasm and ambition

• Execution Excellence

Enhances the speed of execution and builds efficiency in processes, systems, and people; has sharp focus on quality-orientation

• Strategic Orientation

Demonstrates knowledge of the social, economic, and environmental factors and how they impact the business. Identifies key issues that could impact the business and develops strategy through an analytical lens / design thinking

• Building Teams and Talent

Empowers colleagues through knowledge sharing and delegation, quickly establishing rapport; provides recognition for achievements and accomplishments

• Customer Centricity

Understands the customer needs and pain points, fulfills the needs and expectations by focusing on creating value for customers.