Indirects Category Manager - Strategic Procurement

Lactalis New Zealand; Auckland; Hybrid; NZD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Career progression

Collaborative culture

Safety & Quality focus

Flexible working

Job summary

Lactalis New Zealand is seeking an experienced procurement professional to own a broad indirect spend portfolio across NZ. You will shape category strategies, lead negotiations, and drive measurable commercial value in collaboration with the Oceania team.

You’ll manage supplier relationships, deliver annual savings, and ensure local ownership while leveraging regional contracts. A tertiary procurement or related degree and strong stakeholder skills are essential.

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ procurement or category management experience, ideally within FMCG, food, dairy or manufacturing.
• A tertiary qualification in Procurement, Commerce, Supply Chain, Business or a related discipline, with MCIPS/CIPS membership or progress towards it highly regarded
• Strong negotiation, analytical and stakeholder management capability, with a strategic yet hands-on approach
• Proven track record of developing and executing category strategies and delivering cost savings, rebates, improved payment terms and total cost of ownership outcomes

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute New Zealand category strategies across industrial, site and corporate services, including engineering services, chemicals, energy and utilities, IT, professional services, labour hire, marketing, travel, fleet and facilities management
• Lead sourcing plans, tender activity, commercial negotiations and supplier selection, applying the right contracting approach across statements of work, rate cards, SLAs and outcome-based agreements
• Build and deliver the annual savings plan, identifying opportunities across pricing, rebates, payment terms, demand management and total cost of ownership
• Manage key supplier relationships through structured business reviews, scorecards, service-level measures and improvement plans to strengthen quality, continuity and commercial performance
• Partner with the Oceania procurement team to leverage regional contracts and joint tenders where they deliver value, while retaining local ownership where the New Zealand business requires locally tailored services

Skills

Procurement experience

Category management

Negotiation skills

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Education

Procurement/Commerce/Business qualification

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Lactalis New Zealand is seeking an experienced procurement professional to own a broad indirect spend portfolio across NZ. You will shape category strategies, lead negotiations, and drive measurable commercial value in collaboration with the Oceania team.

You’ll manage supplier relationships, deliver annual savings, and ensure local ownership while leveraging regional contracts. A tertiary procurement or related degree and strong stakeholder skills are essential.