Careers in Procurement
Procurement
Procurement professionals are responsible for all the expenditure of a business, whether through the direct management of spend budgets or through working with department managers. In general terms the role of a Procurement department is to ensure that a company gets the best deal on price, quality and service support, ensuring that the company will have continuous availability of all products through the management of suppliers. The remit of the Procurement professional is a wide one involving not only a financial perspective but also technical, creative, operational and marketing. Procurement departments have emerged from a backroom bean counting function into the commercial fulcrum of many businesses making it an excellent place to develop a career.
Procurement has grown in popularity due to its more commercial focus within business, the development of The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) and degree courses in Purchasing Management.
Procurement departments are generally split into two areas; direct products and indirect products/services. Direct products are items that are used in the production such as ingredients and packaging and indirect product/services are areas like marketing spend, stationery and IT. These two areas are then broken down by category and managed by a procurement specialist for the area. Many buyers will move from category to category gaining knowledge of many different areas but some do specialize to become experts in their field. Procurement offers a range of options to develop a career whether you expand your responsibility within procurement by specialising, managing a team or indeed use your experience to move into other areas. There are also opportunities to move into Account Manager, Category Management, Project Management and Consultancy roles.
A typical career path in Procurement
Trainee - £18,000 to £23,000 The normal routes to join a procurement department is either through a graduate scheme or join as a purchasing assistant. Generally people will spend 18 months to 2 years as an assistant buyer or a buyer before they progress.
Purchasing Excutive - £25,000 to £35,000 As people develop within procurement they often gravitate to a certain specialism, such as the knowledge of a category. At this level the role tends to become more strategic, rather than simply negotiating contracts. Planning and developing the category is key.
Purchasing Manager - £35,000 to £63,000 At this level in the career path professionals tend to either become consultants where they have specialized heavily in one area and are considered experts or will develop into a managerial role where you will manage total categories eg. Purchasing Manager for indirect products or direct products.
Controller / Director - £60,000+ Procurement is increasingly being recognized at board level. At this level the focus is purely on management and strategy. Apart from top level project management there is little hands on involvement.
Typical job responsibilities of a mid-level Purchasing Executive
Day to day
• Liasing with suppliers
• Managing internal customers
• Tender reviews
• Liasing with technical teams to gain specifications and check product quality
• Identifying new suppliers
• Reseaching the marketplace
• Drafting contracts Longer term
• Developing product/service strategies
• Range reviews
• Meeting targets
• Implementing new strategies initiatives.
