Head of Procurement - Packaging, UK&I

pladis Foods Limited; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

pladis Foods Limited is seeking a Head of Packaging within UKI Procurement. You will lead regional packaging category strategy, drive supplier relationships, and own budgetary planning while coordinating with Global Procurement to deliver value.

The role requires strong leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to navigate a complex global supply base. Based in Chiswick, travel to factories/suppliers may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor degree or equivalent experience.
• Significant procurement/category leadership experience, ideally in packaging.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity in a complex, multicultural environment.
• Proven track record of cross-functional collaboration and leadership.
• Strong analytical skills and a balance of hands-on and strategic thinking.
• Available to work in Chiswick 3 days a week and travel as required.

Responsibilities

• Implement and manage procurement-driven processes and tools within your packaging categories.
• Deliver top results across strategic dimensions of the mission for UKI Packaging.
• Build and maintain SRM with strategic suppliers for long-term value.
• Lead budgeting (AOP) for packaging and key cost-model assumptions.
• Ensure successful negotiations and contracts for local sub-categories.
• Manage regional sourcing activities and report packaging activity per company formats.
• Contribute to category governance aligned with global standards.
• Drive regional sourcing strategies to achieve savings targets.

Skills

Bachelor degree

Packaging procurement

Leadership & influence

Cross-functional collaboration

Analytical skills

Strategic vision

Operational execution

Chiswick work arrangement

Education

Bachelor degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Want to help us bring happiness to the world? Want to join an ambitious and fast growing global biscuits and confectionery business investing heavily in iconic global brands, infrastructure and people? Then this is the place for you. As proud bakers and chocolatiers and custodians of iconic global brands, we don’t compromise on the quality of ingredients in our products or on the people we hire. We are looking for entrepreneurial spirits who share our passion for bringing happiness to our consumers and who embody our Winning Traits. To succeed at pladis you need to be purpose-led, resilient and positive to succeed here because we expect pace and agility, we insist on collaboration and demand accountability. If that is your thing, then pladis offers global ambition, a clear Vision and roadmap for success, challenge, and unrivalled opportunities to learn and make an impact.

The Procurement function is made of 130 professionals working across the world to create competitive advantage for pladis through long and mid-term sourcing strategies and strong supplier relationships. Our 2026 Procurement vision- Beyond the Stars aims at delivering more value for the business along 5 key business deliverables: Supply Continuity, Cost Out, Cash Flow optimization, Sustainability and Supplier Innovation.

We work as a matrix organization, with Global Categories leveraging the pladis global size and Regional Procurement ensuring a strong connection and proximity with our 3 regions: UEA (UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia & New Zealand), Turcamena (Türkiye, Central Asia, Middle East & North Africa), and International (Asia, the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa). Within UKI Regional Procurement, the Head of Packaging reports directly to the UKI Procurement Director, who in turn reports into the UEA President. (S)He drives (in alignment with Global Packaging Procurement team) the Packaging Category (70 M£ spend). In addition the role will play a key part in the Regional Procurement Leadership Team, developing strategy and leading procurement change initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Implementing all Procurement-driven processes & tools within your categories
• Delivering top class results across all 5 strategic dimensions of our mission via UKI Packaging team
• Build strong SRM (Supplier Relationship Management) with strategic suppliers, to build long-term relationships
• Support your team with the contract execution when significant breaches of service / quality are identified
• Lead AOP (budgeting process) for packaging, and key cost-model assumptions (labour, energy, chemicals, etc) in collaboration with Global Procurement
• Ensure that successful negotiations and supply agreements are implemented and manage all contracts for local sub-categories
• Manage the supply base performance and lead issue resolution
• Understand the market fundamentals on a regional and global scale to develop key supply partners to support pladis growth agenda
• Be the face of Packaging procurement actively across pladis UKI and Global Procurement
• Establish the regional category governance framework aligned with global standards and policies
• Review and report all Packaging activity in the pladis endorsed format aligned to the business drumbeat
• Lead all regional sourcing and purchasing activities for the Category and manage all internal relationships as required to deliver against the regional sourcing strategies and savings targets
• Implement and provide input for the category management strategies set by the Global Team for cost reduction or value improvement that result in tangible benefits to the bottom line.
• Manage a team of direct reports to deliver against our 5 key strategic deliverables

Essential Skills

• Bachelor degree or equivalent experience
• Significant experience in Procurement ( with a proven success in running a Category at regional or global level, in a worldwide organization) ideally within packaging
• Ability to deal with ambiguity within a complex and multicultural environment
• Proven ability to work with cross-functional team, with a collaborative mindset.
• Natural leadership & influence skills
• Strong analytical skills
• Ability to be hands on operationally as well as building a long term strategic vision
• Available to work in Chiswick 3 days a week / travel on request to factories & suppliers.

Desirable Skills

• Proficiency in another language is a +
• Previous work experience in matrix procurement organization.

pladis is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List.

pladis is an ambitious global snacking company and home to much loved brands including McVitie’s, GODIVA and Ülker. pladis also owns regional brands Jacob’s, Go Ahead, Flipz, Turtles, BN, Verkade and many more products across sweet and savoury biscuits, wafer, cake and chocolate.

Formed in 2016, pladis is the proud steward of over 300 years of family baking and confectionery experience.

The expertise of our 15,000+ global workforce spans 26 bakeries and factories and is united by our purpose: to ‘bring happiness with every bite’. As a responsible business delivering the highest quality products and exceptional service, pladis’ products have the potential to reach more than four billion people across the world.

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