Director, Direct Procurement and Procurement Excellence (m/f/d)

In this role you will lead global direct materials procurement, category management, and procurement excellence within a regulated Life Sciences environment. You will shape category strategies, build a robust supplier network, and drive supplier performance and risk management to support supply security, cost optimization, and innovation. You will drive procurement transformation, standardize processes, and develop an international team to enable sustainable growth. This is a highly visible role partnering with senior leadership to advance patient outcomes and enterprise-wide strategic initiatives.

• high-visibility global leadership role
• ownership of strategic procurement categories
• opportunity to lead procurement transformation
• exposure to executive stakeholders
• collaborative and innovative environment
• professional growth and development

• Develop and execute global sourcing and category strategies for direct material spend.
• Build and maintain a supplier network to ensure quality, continuity of supply, and long-term growth.
• Lead strategic supplier relationship management to maximize value and performance.
• Drive total cost of ownership improvements through procurement excellence and cross-functional collaboration.
• Strengthen risk management, contracting strategies, and supplier capacity planning across key categories.
• Define and execute the procurement excellence roadmap.
• Standardise and improve procurement processes, governance, reporting, and analytics capabilities.
• Lead the adoption of new tools and best practices to improve organisational effectiveness.
• Collaborate with global stakeholders to drive continuous improvement in procurement activities.
• Lead, develop, and inspire an international procurement team.
• Build category management capabilities through coaching and talent development.
• Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, learning, and performance excellence.
• Drive succession planning and capability building for long-term growth.
• Partner with senior leaders across supply chain, operations, quality, engineering, R&D, finance, and commercial functions.
• Influence strategic decisions through data-driven procurement insights and market intelligence.
• Support corporate initiatives including business continuity planning and network optimisation.
• Represent procurement at senior leadership forums and governance meetings.

• 15+ years of procurement and/or supply chain experience with strategic sourcing and category management
• Strong leadership experience with large international teams
• Proven success developing and executing global category strategies for direct materials
• Extensive experience in supplier relationship management, risk management, procurement transformation, and cost optimisation
• Strong understanding of category management, contract management, and performance management
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and lead cross-functional initiatives
• Outstanding communication, stakeholder engagement, and people development capabilities
• Fluent English and German
• Degree-level qualification; MBA or advanced degree advantageous

• leadership and people development
• stakeholder management
• data-driven decision making
• global category management
• supplier relationship management
• risk management