Director of Procurement

The Director Procurement North America will be responsible for establishing and leading the centralised procurement function, covering both direct and indirect categories across North America. The role is responsible for the organisation's strategic procurement framework, managing the supplier base, and ensuring an effective end-to-end procurement and supply chain service.

As the first member of the procurement team, the role will lay the foundations for future team growth and influence the company’s procurement culture and strategy.As the Head of Procurement, the role will be a vital to the success of the new procurement function within Brickworks and will be responsible for creating the procurement and supply chain strategy and developing / rolling out procurement policies and procedures. Other responsibilities will include:

• Manage the entire lifecycle of sourcing and procurement projects, including planning, bid preparation, budgeting/forecasting, negotiation and reporting.
• Lead category management, aligned with business needs. Build a supply chain capable of delivering desired service levels at competitive costs, ensuring suppliers are invested in the strategy.
• Drive savings by applying strategies such as volume leverage, supplier concentration, supply chain segmentation, and negotiating prices, schedules, and other terms as needed.
• Develop collaborative partnerships with suppliers, contractors, and outsourced service providers to reduce costs, ensure compliance with legislative requirements, and achieve high-quality outcomes.
• Drive cost improvements across the supply chain through continuous review and process optimisation.
• Create inventory management strategies with key stakeholders, maintaining accurate stock levels within agreed parameters and ensuring efficient inventory control.
• Regularly forecast demand to ensure timely supply, monitoring and evaluating supplier performance against key metrics for price, quality, delivery, and customer service.
• Identify and track department KPIs, measuring and monitoring performance against targets to ensure accountability and continuous improvement.
• Control and coordinate site-based stores functions to ensure adequate stock levels, managing cost efficiencies within budget constraints.
• Ensure compliance with all relevant regulatory, ethical, and best-practice frameworks in all procurement activities.
  
  
  

Required Skills/abilities:

• Leadership: Proven and visible capability to influence and lead a cross-functional team, with the ability to use a variety of leadership approaches to achieve results.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop and implement procurement strategies that align with business goals.
• Building Relationships: Initiates and maintains collaborative relationships, is socially confident and quick to build rapport and trust with others. Creates a positive first impression at all levels, both internal and external to the organisation.
• Customer Focus: Motivated by exceeding expectations of internal and external stakeholders and fulfilling obligations to others. Interacts with customers in a friendly, considerate manner, responding to social cues appropriately. Treats all customers equally.
• Decision making: Able to identify and understand issues and opportunities, to be able to compare data from different sources and identify possible consequences to reach an appropriate course of action or solution. Confident using judgement to make decisions based on the information available, even if it is not complete, the situation is ambiguous or with no precedent. Able to reach an appropriate decision in a timely manner, and present persuasive business cases backed by data and analysis.
• Implementation: Reliable, detailed-focused and meticulous. Consistently follows through on plans and deliverables to ensure they are carried out in a timely manner. Assuming responsibility for coordinating people, time and budget to meet goals as required.
• Influencing: Using appropriate interpersonal styles to gain acceptance of ideas and plans or to change a person’s perspective; modify one’s own behaviour to accommodate tasks, situations, and individuals involved.
• Innovation: Ability to think ahead and proactively apply knowledge and judgement to generate new and innovative solutions, ideas, and approaches to problems. Is strategically minded, future-oriented and shows foresight to anticipate issues before they arise, taking a creative approach to solving problems. Takes a broad perspective and is open to taking calculated risks.
• Commercial acumen: Strong understanding of cost drivers, risk management, and value creation within procurement.
• Learning Focus: Has a growth mindset in being proactive and self-motivated to seek new ideas and different perspectives, to continuously enhance their own knowledge and skills. Ability to learn new concepts and skills quickly and then apply these to their work.
• Negotiation: Effectively influencing others during a discussion aimed at reaching a mutual agreement. Asks questions, explores options, identifies different motives and manages conflict to reach outcomes that gain the support and acceptance of all parties.
• Teamwork: Work cooperatively, supports and collaborates with team members and across other teams to successfully achieve targets and business outcomes. Appreciates the benefits of diversity and works well with a variety of people.
  
  
  

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Commerce, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, or a related field.
• Professional procurement certifications (e.g., CIPS, MCIPS) are advantageous.
  
  
  

Experience:

• Extensive experience (10 years) in procurement roles covering both direct and indirect categories.
• Similar experience of leading a small team.
• Proven ability to develop procurement strategies and manage end-to-end procurement processes.
• Experience with supplier relationship management and contract negotiations.
• Previous experience establishing or transforming procurement functions is a plus.
• Experience in manufacturing, construction, or heavy industry is advantageous but not essential field.
  
  
  

Other requirements:

• Undertake additional duties as required such as, during periods of leave of other staff.
• Undertaking activities in a safe manner and cooperating with Brickworks and divisional WHS requirements to improve safety in the workplace by:
• Reporting unsafe work practices, equipment, incidents and near misses.
• Working safely to reduce risk to themselves and others.
• Following WHS policies, procedure and direction.
• Utilising and maintaining PPE as required.