Head of Indirect Procurement

Role Overview

This role owns BURN's indirect spend — the goods and services the business buys to keep itself running, rather than to build the products it sells — and turns that spend into a properly managed set of categories. Day to day you sit between internal departments such as IT, HR, Marketing, Finance and Operations and the external supplier market, running sourcing projects, negotiating terms, and holding vendors to the service levels they committed to. Indirect costs are easy to lose visibility of and hard to recover once they drift, so disciplined sourcing in this seat protects margin and lets the wider organisation move quickly with suppliers it can rely on.

Key Responsibilities

• Run end-to-end sourcing for assigned indirect categories: agree requirements with the requesting department, shortlist and evaluate suppliers, and negotiate commercial terms and service commitments.
• Onboard new vendors, maintain the supplier base, and monitor performance against agreed service levels so problems are caught and corrected before they disrupt operations.
• Act as the procurement point of contact for IT, HR, Marketing, Finance and Operations — translating their needs into clear specifications, sourcing plans and supplier recommendations.
• Handle the contract lifecycle, including renewals, variations and documentation, keeping records accurate and ensuring every engagement complies with company procurement policy.
• Track indirect spend by category and supplier, surface consolidation and cost-reduction opportunities, and report on savings achieved and policy compliance.
• Lead and develop the indirect procurement team, distributing workload, coaching team members and keeping delivery on schedule.
• Champion continuous improvement across procurement processes, templates and tools, making sure ERP and procurement systems are used consistently and correctly.
• Set the standard for fair, documented and defensible buying decisions, with accuracy and attention to detail applied to every transaction and approval.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Diploma or equivalent education is essential; a Bachelor's degree is preferred.
• Formal studies or coursework in Procurement or Supply Chain Management is an advantage.
• Minimum of five years in a similar procurement or sourcing position, ideally gained in a manufacturing environment.
• Working knowledge of procurement best practice, vendor management, contract negotiation and ERP systems.
• Practical proficiency with procurement platforms and the Microsoft Office suite, including comfortable use of spreadsheets for analysis and tracking.
• Excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills, with the confidence to influence stakeholders at different levels of the business.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability — comfortable working through spend data, comparing supplier proposals and building a clear case for a recommendation.
• High level of integrity and close attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to guide a team or supervise procurement activity is preferred.

What We Offer / Why Join

• Ownership of the indirect portfolio, with scope to shape category strategy rather than simply process transactions.
• Regular, direct partnership with leaders across IT, HR, Marketing, Finance and Operations.
• A procurement team to lead, develop and grow.
• A genuine mandate to improve how procurement works — processes, tooling and supplier relationships alike.
• A working culture that expects buying decisions to be transparent, ethical and well documented.