Strategic Buyer Mechanical

Location: Colognola ai Colli

Are you ready to shape the future of sustainable industries?

Join GEA and become part of a global team that’s driving innovation, excellence, and impact across the food, beverage, and process sectors.

GEA is one of the leading suppliers for the food and beverage processing industry and for a wide range of other process industries. Around 18,000 employees in over 60 countries contribute significantly to GEA’s success: join them! We offer interesting and challenging tasks, a positive working environment in international teams, and opportunities for personal development and growth in a global company.

Responsibilities / Tasks

Strategy

As part of category communities, is consulted on the category strategy definition by providing business feedback and visions from the entities/BUs/Functions that the role is supporting

Sourcing

• Based on pre-alignment with category managers, either drives or supports total cost reduction, payment terms improvement & supplier-led innovation initiatives
• Supports Project procurement managers regarding sourcing activities (pre-sales and execution phase)
• Runs RfX, negotiations, and takes awarding decisions in line with both category & business strategy
• Monitors and strives for compliance adherence of relevant stakeholders to procurement processes & policies (Contract management, competitive bidding, sourcing, PR approval etc.)
• Supplier Management – for each vendor assigned to the role for Supplier Account Manager (SAM):
• Acts as last contact for escalations (cost, quality, service, compliance…)
• 1st contact for information about the main supplier account
• Monitor & manage supplier risks (e.g. within Ariba SRM, GEA Scorecard…)
• Owns the supplier roadmap / development plan
• Conducts business review meetings & leads the key negotiations (with relevant stakeholders)
• Owns sustainability scorecard in Ecovadis and other sustainability actions
• For preferred suppliers - Ensures systematic involvement in new projects/developments
• Supports qualification & implementation in new entities
• Monitor supplier capacity and/or lead times and take related actions accordingly
• When applicable - Maintains the main framework agreement (and/or NDA, COCSS v4) in Ariba CLM

Purchasing

Can create/process and follow up on purchase orders, as long as it remains a minor part of the weekly activities (80/20 approach)

Your Profile / Qualifications

• University, bachelor’s degree in engineering or Economics or similar experiences
• Procurement or Supply chain Certification (optional)
• 5+ years of experience in procurement processes
• Know-how contract management
• Cost analysis and management

Cultural Awareness

Experience with implementation of corporate procurement

• Work experience in complex organizations
• Negotiation experience
• Systems: Ariba, S2P, SAP

English (fluent)

• Ability to network and build relationships
• Internal stakeholder /supplier relationship management
• Ability to translate business requirements into RFx
• Very good analytical capabilities, problem-solving skills and ability to think strategically
• Takes ownership of the work, successes and mistakes
• Very good communication skills
• Services and delivery expert

Negotiation Expert

• Contract experience
• Commercial/analytical and engagement skills
• Availability for business travel