Capex Country Manager

Brussels
Purchasing & Transportation
Procurement

Posted on 05-10-2023

About Umicore
Reducing harmful vehicle emissions. Giving new life to used metals. Powering the cars of the future. As a global materials and technology group, we apply our specialist knowledge to offer materials and solutions that are essential to everyday life. We aim to be a clear world leader in materials for clean mobility and recycling and have turned our sustainability approach into an even greater competitive advantage. With ambitions like this, imagine what you could do?

What you will be doing 

Umicore’s RISE 2030 objective leads to an extremely strong growth in Umicore Battery Materials, but simultaneously also other BU’s demonstrate a strong Capex growth.  To be successful  in this growth ambition,  Purchasing&Transportation needs to transition rapidly into a strategic partner, which implies for Capex Procurement to become a strategic partner of the BU’s through the different design stages of the project, so projects are set up for success.  To drive this transition, strong leaders and experienced CCM’s are required, who not only drive this transition within their own teams, but also at the stakeholders and BU’s, and towards external  partners such as engineering companies.  The procurement objective going forward is defined by ensuring early procurement involvement at design stages, strategic partnering with BU’s, ensure optimal achievement of project success factors (HSE, Quality, Schedule, Cost), mobilization of procurement and contract management capabilities in line with the country Capex project pipeline, develop and ensure compliance with the defined best practices, and optimal use of the global  network (including leveraging and developing capabilities through category networks).

The Capex Country Manager (CCM) is accountable for all Capex Procurement within the country (or by extension the region).  The main objectives are to ensure project strategies are set up for success through early procurement involvement in the different project phases, foresee adequate Procurement team mobilization with a long term view, manage stakeholder alignment, drive change management and coach the team in order to deliver on all Capex objectives with regards to HSE, Quality, Schedule and Cost.

Your main responsibilities

• Implement Procurement as a strategic partner to the BU’s
• Deliver on all Procurement and Contract Management objectives (HSE, Quality, Schedule, Cost) for the entire Capex Country project pipeline
• Ensure early procurement involvement, already from design stage (Phase 2), and ensure project procurement strategies are defined at Stage Gate 2 and 3.
• Pro-actively plan team mobilization for Procurement and Contract Management, and plan for a long term view and optimal use of local and global resources
• Optimize the use of Procurement staff from engineering contractors, maintaining accountability at the side of Umicore (strategic and critical decisions), but optimize the use of external administrative support
• Initiate optimal use of the global Umicore Procurement and Engineering network, in order to achieve maximum leverage towards the external market, and develop and or implement category strategies accordingly.
• Actively seek out alignment with stakeholders to drive forward procurement objectives and implementation of identified best known practices
• Maintain the right balance on HSE, Quality, Schedule and Cost as defined by BU objectives, and reflect this balance in project strategies and contract award decisions
• Approve all contract award decisions up to 10 M EUR together with the BU governance structure (Program Director).
• Ensure full compliance with procurement procedures, and initiate improvement to these procedures where required with regards to Capex project efficiency and effectiveness.
• Act as coach for the team with regards to critical contracting issues, expediting and claim issues

Who we are looking for 

• University degree, in Engineering, Economics or equivalent
• Procurement background of minimum 10 years, of which minimum 5 years in a Capex environment
• Strong leadership capabilities, able to drive through change and motivate the own team and stakeholders
• Excellent negotiation skills, and able to transfer this competence towards his own team
• Good mix of conceptual/strategic thinking and practical execution
• Able to bring complex challenges in a transparent way, and mobilize multi discipline support 
• Team motivator and excellent coach
• Strong autonomous result driven personality
• Driver of continuous improvement
• Natural team leader in matrix organizations
• Good communication skills, and able to bring complex challenges in a transparent way
• A natural leader of international, multi-disciplinary teams
• Strong influencing and persuading skills
• Exemplary behaviour towards ethics and integrity

What we offer 

We aim to lead the way. Not just for our customers, but for our employees too. That is why we strive to create a collaborative environment in which we can all succeed, and a culture through which we can all share ideas, develop our expertise and advance our careers. We engage in building an inclusive work culture, that offers equal opportunities for all employees irrespective of their diverse backgrounds. As you would expect from a world-leading organization, we will also reward your contribution with a competitive salary and benefits. With all this and more, imagine what you could do?

If our battery materials can power electric vehicles, IMAGINE WHAT YOU COULD DO?