SCOPE  

The Procurement Lead provides global and regional category leadership and owns the development of the Category Strategy on a global basis to support key business and GREFP objectives. The Procurement Lead is strategic in nature and will focus on complex spend categories with significant business impact.  The Procurement Lead will embed the Category Strategy through effective management and engagement (Category Councils, if needed), of both internal and external stakeholders.  The Procurement Lead is also accountable for the overall delivery of savings targets as agreed with Finance and executive level business stakeholders to include. 

The Procurement Lead heads the strategy development, implementation, and provides direction to those that will execute the formalized Category Strategy.  The Procurement Lead is responsible for leading the Procurement Category Team. This team is comprised of both Global and Regional Category Managers who are collectively responsible for the strategic management of spend within the category and translation of those strategies into procurement excellence activities. As such, the Procurement Lead has accountability for procurement activities in the category from strategy-definition to the purchase order.  Through application of Category Strategy & Management tools, systems, and techniques, the Procurement Lead will deliver measurable business value (operational and financial).  In addition, they will take personal ownership of large/and or complex supplier arrangements and provide subject matter expertise to their team for other supply and commercial agreements. 

The Procurement Lead role is also responsible for partnering with executive level stakeholders, ensuring their alignment with key strategic procurement initiatives, managing, and enhancing procurement’s relationship with each of the in-scope functions. The Procurement Lead should seek to optimize procurement’s value delivery, minimize risk, and promote innovation by providing relevant market insights and category expertise.  

The role will be accountable for the strategic development of the Category Strategies in partnership with the Category Managers, ensuring that the team is successful in delivering against its savings targets, GREFP goals and KPIs. This can include ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives such as supplier diversity and Scope 3 EHG emissions. 

This role will fully embrace and adopt the Takeda Leadership Behaviors, the Procurement Lead will foster an environment that enables all colleagues to fulfill their purpose and achieve Takeda’s vision while confidently living our values every day (Integrity, Fairness, Honestly and Perseverance). 

RESPONSIBILITIES  

Business partnering  

• Establish and maintain excellent collaborative relationships with key business stakeholders, including executive leadership, within the US Region and other regions (where applicable) to ensure that regional and global business goals and objectives are met 

• Work to socialize procurement and category management best practices within the business (i.e. increased utilization of preferred suppliers, SoW optimization and the use of BuyEasy@Takeda etc.) 

• Champion procurement policy and wider GREFP initiatives, articulating their importance, value and reasoning as required (for example, Ways of Working, Sustainability, Supplier Diversity, etc.) 

• Collaborate and provide strategic guidance to the business regarding annual planning, budgeting, and forecasting cycle. 

• Align inputs from business planning and budgeting with the procurement annual plan 

• Respectfully challenge key category stakeholders, including executive leadership, based on Patient-Trust-Reputation-Business decisions as part of the business decision making process 

• Develop strong working relationships with the wider Takeda business (including supporting functions such as Legal Operations, Takeda Business Solutions etc.) to ensure alignment on key topics relevant to the Procurement function 

Category strategy development and category management  

• Lead the development and implementation of the Category strategy at both the category and sub-category levels with support of the Category Managers in alignment with organizational objectives, market dynamics and internal stakeholder needs 

• Manage strategic initiatives across the Category (i.e. Category Councils, engagement guidelines, cash flow initiatives, risk management, etc.) ensuring alignment between category activities and both regional/global requirements  

• Successfully create and execute Procurement annual plan (global/regional as required) using both external and internal market intelligence 

• Collaborate with global and regional Procurement teams, Takeda Business Services, Legal and other functions to help implement the most effective category strategies including buying channels and negotiation strategies 

• Champion GREFP values and initiatives including supplier diversity and sustainability across procurement, supporting functions and the wider Takeda business 

• Support Category Managers with the effective communication of category strategies, performance metrics (KPIs) and initiatives to internal stakeholders and senior management  

• Ensure oversight of the internal category management processes to enable timely escalation and resolution of category specific issues 

Procurement Excellence 

• Sponsor the development of a frictionless, rapid, and effective day-to-day buying experience within the category taking into account business needs and feedback.  

• Ensure the translation of the relevant category strategy(s) into day-to-day buying activity through the development and maintenance of best practice buying channels, procurement content (pricing, terms, service catalogues, buying guides, etc.) 

• Accountable for the realization of savings on each day-to-day buy through the effective application of rates, appropriate demand management techniques, and where applicable negotiation with suppliers.  

• Oversee discussions between category leadership, Global Procurement Centre of Excellence, Takeda Business Services (TBS), Legal Operations, Finance, IT and other relevant stakeholders to drive process and systems improvements that create a better day to day buying experience for stakeholders and improves value realization by Takeda.  

• Provide regular feedback to those conducting operational buying to drive continuous improvement.  

People management  

• Clearly demonstrate, actively coach and encourage the team to adopt and embrace the Takeda Leadership Behaviors (Think Strategically, Inspire others, Deliver Priorities, Elevate Capabilities) 

• Coach Category Managers to deliver contract negotiations on behalf of Takeda to secure favorable terms, pricing and statements of work, while ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. 

• Establish and communicate clear roles and responsibilities to the category team and key business stakeholders and functions 

• Drive performance excellence by setting clear expectations and providing constructive feedback 

• Lead, coach and mentor to enhance the team’s skills and capabilities both in the Procurement team and other functions 

• Conduct individual performance management processes for all direct reports and additional key partners (as required, 360 feedback reviews) 

• Engage in regular quality conversations with all direct reports and additional key partners (as required) 

• Support and champion the creation and execution of development plans for all direct reports 

• Develop a succession plan for the team that supports career development and ensure a pipeline of talent is available 

• Foster a climate that inspires, enables, encourages open dialogue, feedback and diverse opinions 

• Promote collaboration, trust and respect among team members and the wider Takeda business 

• Guide and support the team through periods of change 

• Ensure compliance with Takeda training requirements (all team members) 

• Identify budget needs to support the annual operating activities of the category team (travel, training, team meetings, etc.) and ensure this is provided as part of the annual budgeting cycle to the appropriate GREFP Leadership member. 

CAPABILITIES 

• Strategic thinking (with the ability to multi-task, think critically and prioritize) 

• Ability to inspire others 

• Ability to deliver priorities consistently 

• Elevate capabilities (self, team members and other key business partners) 

• Ability to build high-performance teams 

• Excellent interpersonal, communication, negotiation, and presentation ability 

• Superior customer service and relationship-building skills 

• Category strategy creation and execution  

• Operational buying experience and deep knowledge of good buying practices 

• Stakeholder engagement and strong business partnering expertise 

• Strategic planning and budgeting support  

• Change management  

• Excellent interpersonal skills  

• Market and supplier knowledge  

• Punctuality, accuracy, and the ability to meet deadlines  

• Strong attention to detail  

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, etc. 

EXPERIENCE 

• BA or BS required, MBA or Master’s Degree with Supply Chain/Procurement emphasis preferred 

• Minimum of 15 years of People Management experience, preferably in a complex, global environment 

• 15 plus years in-depth strategic and operational procurement experience with extensive knowledge of category management and advanced strategic sourcing methodologies 

• Minimum of 15 years working in biotech/pharma industry, or other highly regulated industries, with progressive leadership of procurement  

• Possess in-depth knowledge of Category Management and Supplier Relationship Management 

• Experience working in a complex global environment 

• Exceptionally skilled at stakeholder management including senior/executive levels 

• Strong and proven business partnering, negotiation, leadership, communication and change management skills 

• Direct experience in managing category management and development of category strategies 

• Direct experience of executing and leading operational buying activities 

• Proven Financial and Business Acumen 

• Change management and process improvement skills with direct experience in delivering business process change 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

• Some business travel may be required