Manager – Indirect Procurement

United Breweries Ltd.; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

United Breweries Ltd. is seeking a commercially strong Manager – Indirect Procurement to partner with Marketing and Commercial teams, driving procurement across key marketing-related spends.

This Individual Contributor role will own categories and business relationships, collaborating with Brand, Trade Marketing, Sales and Finance to deliver value, speed and governance. The ideal candidate will bring Marketing Procurement experience across creative agencies, influencer marketing, POSM, events

Qualifications

• Experience in marketing procurement across agencies, influencer marketing, POSM, events and production.
• Ability to partner with Marketing, Brand, Trade Marketing, Sales and Finance.
• Focus on value, speed, governance and end-to-end category ownership.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary procurement partner for Marketing and related stakeholders.
• Develop category strategies aligned with marketing and business goals.
• Lead end-to-end sourcing, including RFP/RFQ, supplier evaluation and contracting.
• Negotiate commercials, retainers, fees, and production costs with agencies and suppliers.
• Drive cost savings, rationalisation and value creation.
• Coordinate with agencies and influencers on remuneration models and costs.
• Standardise specifications, consolidate demand and leverage scale.
• Ensure governance, contracts, POs and risk management are in place.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Marketing procurement

Strategic sourcing

Negotiation

Category management

Market intelligence

Cost optimization

Job description

Experience - 5–8 years

We are looking for a commercially strong and business-oriented Manager – Indirect Procurement to partner with the Marketing and Commercial teams and drive procurement across key marketing-related spends.

This is an Individual Contributor role with end-to-end ownership of assigned categories and business relationships. The role will work closely with senior stakeholders across Marketing, Brand, Trade Marketing, Sales, Finance and other functions, helping the business make better commercial decisions while ensuring procurement delivers value, speed and governance.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience in Marketing Procurement, with exposure to categories such as creative agencies, influencer marketing, POSM, trade marketing, events, activations and marketing production.

The role is not limited to sourcing and negotiations. The successful candidate will be expected to understand the business objective behind the spend, challenge requirements constructively, bring external market intelligence and develop commercial solutions in partnership with stakeholders.

1. Business Partnering & Stakeholder Management

• Act as the primary procurement business partner for Marketing and relevant Commercial stakeholders.
• Build strong, trusted relationships with Brand, Marketing, Trade Marketing, Sales, Finance and other business teams.
• Engage stakeholders early in the planning cycle to understand business objectives, campaign requirements and commercial priorities.
• Translate business requirements into effective procurement and sourcing strategies.
• Proactively challenge specifications, ways of working and commercial assumptions to identify opportunities for better value.
• Bring market intelligence, supplier insights, benchmarks and external best practices to business discussions.
• Balance business speed and agility with commercial discipline, governance and compliance.
• Build procurement credibility by demonstrating that Procurement can enable the business rather than simply manage transactions.

2. Marketing Procurement

• Own and manage procurement across Creative & Advertising Agencies, Influencer / Creator Marketing, POSM & Promotional Merchandise, Trade Marketing Procurement, Events, Activations & Experiential Marketing, Marketing Production, Printing, Fabrication & Visibility Materials, and Digital and other marketing services, as applicable.
• Develop category strategies that align with the broader marketing and business strategy.

3. Strategic Sourcing & Commercial Management

• Lead end-to-end sourcing initiatives, including requirement understanding, market assessment, RFP/RFQ, supplier evaluation, negotiation and contracting.
• Develop robust negotiation strategies using market benchmarks, supplier economics and total-cost analysis.
• Negotiate commercials, retainers, mark‑ups, agency fees, production costs, rate cards and other commercial constructs.
• Drive measurable cost savings, cost avoidance and value creation.
• Identify opportunities for demand consolidation, standardisation and supplier rationalisation.
• Develop commercial models that provide the business with flexibility while ensuring competitive pricing.

4. Agency & Influencer Procurement

• Partner with Marketing teams on the commercial evaluation and selection of creative, digital, influencer and other marketing agencies.
• Establish appropriate agency remuneration models, rate cards, retainers, project fees and mark‑ups.
• Benchmark agency commercials and identify opportunities for optimisation.
• Develop structured procurement approaches for influencer and creator engagements.
• Improve transparency around influencer fees, agency commissions, deliverables, usage rights and campaign-related costs.
• Ensure the agency ecosystem remains competitive while supporting continuity and quality of delivery.

5. POSM & Trade Marketing Procurement

• Partner with Trade Marketing and Sales teams to understand requirements across markets, channels and locations.
• Develop sourcing strategies for POSM, visibility materials, promotional merchandise and trade marketing requirements.
• Drive standardization of specifications, materials and rate cards wherever commercially viable.
• Consolidate demand and leverage scale across markets/business units.
• Work with suppliers to optimize cost, quality, lead time and execution capability.
• Identify design-to-cost and specification optimization opportunities.

6. Supplier & Market Management

• Build and manage strategic relationships with key marketing suppliers and agencies.
• Conduct supplier performance reviews and establish appropriate SLAs/KPIs.
• Develop supplier benchmarking and market intelligence to support business decisions.
• Identify emerging suppliers, new capabilities and innovative commercial models.
• Maintain appropriate competition and supplier resilience across critical categories.

7. Procurement Transformation & Value Creation

• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize and digitise marketing procurement.
• Improve visibility of marketing spends and supplier economics.
• Develop procurement frameworks, rate cards, preferred supplier models and contracting structures.
• Identify opportunities to reduce fragmented and tail spend.
• Use spend analytics and data to identify trends, opportunities and areas of commercial leakage.
• Drive adoption of procurement processes without compromising business agility.

8. Governance & Risk Management

• Ensure sourcing and contracting activities comply with procurement policies and governance requirements.
• Ensure appropriate contracts, POs, approval mechanisms and commercial documentation are in place.
• Partner with Finance, Legal and other control functions on key commercial arrangements.
• Identify and proactively manage commercial, contractual and supplier risks.

Key Success Measures

• Sustainable cost savings and commercial value creation.
• Improved marketing spend visibility and control.
• Stronger agency and supplier commercials.
• Competitive and benchmarked rate cards.
• Improved influencer and creator marketing economics.
• POSM and trade marketing cost optimisation.
• Stakeholder satisfaction and procurement adoption.
• Supplier performance and innovation.
• Simplification and standardisation of procurement processes.
• Improved governance without slowing down the business.