As Head of Procurement, you will be responsible for defining and executing procurement strategies across the division, ensuring procurement supports business growth, profitability, customer service objectives, and the VSC 2030 vision.
You will lead strategic supplier partnerships, oversee major commercial negotiations, strengthen procurement governance, and build a high-performing procurement organisation capable of supporting an increasingly dynamic global business environment.
- Develop and execute procurement strategies aligned to business objectives.
- Lead category management across key spend areas and critical commodities.
- Drive supplier segmentation, strategic supplier management, and global sourcing initiatives.
- Identify market trends, emerging risks, and opportunities to strengthen competitiveness.
- Own divisional procurement savings targets and value creation initiatives.
- Lead strategic supplier negotiations and long-term agreements.
- Drive Purchase Price Variance (PPV) improvements and total cost of ownership reductions.
- Utilise benchmarking and should-cost modelling to maximise commercial performance.
- Strengthen supplier performance across quality, delivery, lead times, and responsiveness.
- Lead supplier development and capacity planning initiatives.
- Drive supply continuity planning and risk mitigation strategies.
- Build supply resilience through dual sourcing and proactive risk management.
- Champion procurement excellence through governance, standardisation, and best practice.
- Enhance procurement analytics, digitalisation, and performance reporting.
- Support integrated business planning and wider supply chain transformation programmes.
- Drive continuous improvement across procurement processes and capabilities.
- Lead, coach, and develop the procurement organisation.
- Build succession pipelines and future capability.
- Foster collaboration across procurement, planning, operations, engineering, and finance.
- Create a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
We're seeking an experienced procurement leader who combines strategic thinking with strong commercial acumen and a proven ability to deliver results in complex manufacturing environments.
You'll bring:
- Degree qualification in Supply Chain, Procurement, Engineering, Business or a related discipline or equivalent.
- Significant procurement leadership experience within manufacturing or industrial sectors.
- Proven success in strategic sourcing, category management, and supplier negotiations.
- Strong financial and commercial acumen.
- Experience leading procurement transformation and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Leadership experience within global or multinational organisations.
Ideally, you'll also have:
- CIPS or equivalent professional qualification.
- Experience within semiconductor, vacuum technology, industrial equipment, or engineered products industries.
- Exposure to IBP, ERP systems, and digital procurement tools.
- Experience managing global sourcing networks.
- Culture of trust and accountability
- Lifelong learning and career growth
- Innovation powered by people
- Comprehensive compensation and benefits
- Health and well-being
This role is based in the UK. While we support flexible ways of working, the successful candidate must be able to regularly attend our Burgess Hill site to collaborate with key stakeholders and support business priorities
Talent Acquisition Team: Melanie Maria Guttridge
