Procurement Controller - Cereal

Greencore; Leeds; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Greencore is seeking a proactive and experienced procurement leader to own cereal sourcing across the business. You will drive cost efficiency, implement strategic sourcing plans, and lead a team to deliver savings and strong supplier performance.

As a commercial expert and partner to senior leadership, you will shape procurement strategies, engage with multiple sites, manage risks, and champion sustainable and inclusive practices within the function.

Qualifications

• Experience of leading Cereal procurement.
• Experience and knowledge of procurement systems and processes, ideally gained in a manufacturing environment.
• Advanced negotiation capability and skill.
• Understanding and experience of market, suppliers and materials.
• Experience and understanding of all aspects of the end-to-end supply chain processes.
• A practiced understanding of value enablers, creation and preservation.
• Experience working and communicating with a diverse group of people, applying excellent stakeholder engagement skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead all procurement activity for defined sourcing areas, ensuring total portfolio cost is managed efficiently and effectively.
• Take a rigorous approach to negotiation, supporting others in the process and collaborating with key stakeholders and third parties to unlock and preserve value.
• Provide strategic leadership to the procurement team, driving savings, promoting best procurement practices, and delivering Greencore Purchasing Excellence (GPE).
• Formulate and implement a sourcing strategy to ensure that business strategies and performance targets are achieved and ensure cross functional agreement with a supporting plan.
• Specifically focus on cost control, business risk and sustainability.
• Formulate and implement supplier identification, selection and performance management processes
• Effective stakeholder engagement, including regular market and project updates.
• Where necessary, support inflation recovery in your area of expertise, including direct dialogue with the customer
• Stakeholder engagement with multi site teams to ensure correct levels of quality and inbound service levels are achieved.
• Have sound understanding of how key sites operate, and who key colleagues are to drive the procurement agenda forward.
• Where relevant, lead a team to deliver its financial, service and people vision and objectives, developing and embedding a performance culture within their team to ensure all colleagues are clearly focused on their key objectives.
• Develop and coach their team to improve their skills and performance, and maximise their potential.
• Ensure appropriate governance and risk management, with high level engagement around suppliers and markets to identify and mitigate emerging risks.
• Actively sponsor and commit the necessary resource and focus required to deliver our inclusion and diversity commitments, goals and targets and be a role model for inclusive leadership behaviours
• Actively sponsor and commit the necessary resource and focus required to support delivery of our sustainability commitments, goals and targets
• Actively manage organisational risk related to both Cyber Security and data, by committing the necessary focus, resource and investing in the skills and experience required to ensure compliance to relevant policies and legislation, along with taking ownership for personal and commercial data processed throughout the group Enable the delivery of our Data Governance agenda and champion the need for high quality data in all relevant data domains. This includes taking responsibility for data policy governance, compliance to agreed data quality standards and championing a data-driven culture in the team.

Skills

Cereal procurement

Negotiation

Stakeholder engagement

Supply chain knowledge

Supplier management

Market awareness

Tools

Procurement systems

Job description

Why Greencore?

Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we're one of the UK's leading creators of convenience food, driven by a simple purpose: to make every day taste better. As a vibrant and fast-moving business, we're proud to employ over 28,000 talented colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. Together, we bring delicious food to life. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert, with lunch and snacking in between. In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately 4bn. Our extensive direct to store (DTS) network, with 17 depots across the UK, allows us to deliver fresh and frozen food both our own and from trusted partners to thousands of stores every day, ensuring consumers enjoy the very best, whenever and wherever they shop.

What you'll be doing

Full responsibility for Cereal sourcing across the business, ensuring delivery against procurement strategies, functional plans, and performance targets. Provide direction, and performance management to drive savings, promote best procurement practices, and ensure strong supplier performance. Act as a commercial expert and strategic partner to senior leadership, continuously improving team capability and supporting the achievement of business-wide sourcing objectives.

Key Accountabilities

• Lead all procurement activity for defined sourcing areas, ensuring total portfolio cost is managed efficiently and effectively. Take a rigorous approach to negotiation, supporting others in the process and collaborating with key stakeholders and third parties to unlock and preserve value. Provide strategic leadership to the procurement team, driving savings, promoting best procurement practices, and delivering Greencore Purchasing Excellence (GPE).
• Formulate and implement a sourcing strategy to ensure that business strategies and performance targets are achieved and ensure cross functional agreement with a supporting plan. Specifically focus on cost control, business risk and sustainability. Formulate and implement supplier identification, selection and performance management processes
• Effective stakeholder engagement, including regular market and project updates. Where necessary, support inflation recovery in your area of expertise, including direct dialogue with the customer
• Stakeholder engagement with multi site teams to ensure correct levels of quality and inbound service levels are achieved. Have sound understanding of how key sites operate, and who key colleagues are to drive the procurement agenda forward.
• Where relevant, lead a team to deliver its financial, service and people vision and objectives, developing and embedding a performance culture within their team to ensure all colleagues are clearly focused on their key objectives. Develop and coach their team to improve their skills and performance, and maximise their potential.
• Ensure appropriate governance and risk management, with high level engagement around suppliers and markets to identify and mitigate emerging risks.
• Actively sponsor and commit the necessary resource and focus required to deliver our inclusion and diversity commitments, goals and targets and be a role model for inclusive leadership behaviours
• Actively sponsor and commit the necessary resource and focus required to support delivery of our sustainability commitments, goals and targets
• Actively manage organisational risk related to both Cyber Security and data, by committing the necessary focus, resource and investing in the skills and experience required to ensure compliance to relevant policies and legislation, along with taking ownership for personal and commercial data processed throughout the group Enable the delivery of our Data Governance agenda and champion the need for high quality data in all relevant data domains. This includes taking responsibility for data policy governance, compliance to agreed data quality standards and championing a data-driven culture in the team.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience of leading Cereal procurement
• Experience and knowledge of procurement systems and processes, ideally gained in a manufacturing environment
• Advanced negotiation capability and skill
• Understanding and experience of market, suppliers and materials
• Experience and understanding of all aspects of the end-to-end supply chain processes
• A practiced understanding of value enablers, creation and preservation
• Experience working and communicating with a diverse group of people, applying excellent stakeholder engagement skills

What you'll get in return

• Competitive salary and job-related benefits
• Competitive matched pension contributions
• Life insurance up to 4x salary
• Company share save scheme
• Greencore Qualifications
• Exclusive Greencore employee discount platform
• Access to a full Wellbeing Centre platform
• Enhanced parental leave and menopause policies

Throughout your time at Greencore, you will be supported with on the job training and development opportunities to further your career.

We reserve the right to close this advertisement before the stated closing date.