Procurement Lead Buyer Maternity Cover

🌟 Join Superdrug Head Office - Make a Real Difference Every Day! 🌟

🎉 Why Superdrug?

Passionate about Beauty and Health? Want to be part of an innovative, trend-setting retailer? Our vibrant Head Office, based by East Croydon station, is a fantastic environment filled with hundreds of brilliant personalities.

We're a team that puts our customers and our teams at the heart of everything we do. At Superdrug, we aim to be the best in accessible health & beauty, loved by our customers for value, choice, friendly advice, service and fun.

Our success comes from our people – they make the difference. We're all about personality, we have fun, and we work hard to deliver That Superdrug Feeling.

📅 Here's the exciting bit… A day includes

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our Procurement team as a Procurement Lead Buyer - Non Trade. As a senior procurement business partner, you'll be responsible for delivering strategic sourcing, tendering and contract management activities across a range of non-trade spend categories.

Working closely with stakeholders across Finance, Legal and Operational teams, you'll provide commercial expertise, lead procurement projects and drive value through effective supplier management and commercial decision-making. As a senior member of the team, you'll champion best practice, continuous improvement, innovation and governance while supporting the achievement of wider business objectives.

📝 Key Responsibilities

• Lead strategic sourcing, tendering and contract management activity across non-trade spend categories.
• Partner with Directors, Heads of Department and contract owners to provide commercial guidance and challenge where appropriate.
• Work closely with Finance, Legal and Operational teams to deliver successful procurement projects and contracts.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with suppliers, external partners and internal stakeholders.
• Collaborate with Group Procurement colleagues across the wider AS Watson organisation.
• Deliver commercial value through effective sourcing, supplier negotiations and contract management.
• Ensure procurement activities are compliant, efficient and simple for stakeholders to navigate.
• Drive continuous improvement across procurement tools, processes and ways of working.
• Support delivery of annual procurement objectives and wider strategic initiatives.
• Manage tender and sourcing projects to secure the right suppliers and commercial arrangements.
• Prepare investment and approval submissions to support governance and decision-making processes.
• Maintain accurate contract information, savings tracking and procurement reporting.
• Develop and enhance procurement guidance, templates and tools for business stakeholders.
• Lead initiatives to improve procurement efficiency, effectiveness and stakeholder experience.
• Act as a trusted commercial advisor and role model within the procurement team.
• Support the delivery of strategic team objectives, including automation, AI adoption and process improvements.
• Coach and support colleagues by sharing knowledge, expertise and best practice.
• Influence stakeholders to drive positive commercial and operational outcomes.
• Promote a culture of collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Champion high standards of governance, compliance and customer service.
• Tech & AI: Helping your team understand when to use AI, when to rely on human judgment, and how to combine both.
• Tech & AI Rethinking how work gets done - Actively shifting work from repetitive tasks to higher-value activities as AI takes on routine work.
• Tech & AI Role modelling behaviours to encourage confidence with AI. Actively developing your ability to use AI effectively and think critically about outputs.
• Tech & AI Strengthen Human Touch - Keeping the human element strong: Balancing AI efficiency with human coaching, empathy, and team cohesion

💡 Personal Attributes

• Strong relationship-building skills with the ability to work effectively across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Commercially minded with a passion for finding practical solutions that create value.
• Highly organised with excellent planning and attention to detail.
• Comfortable balancing commercial opportunities with risk management considerations.
• Strong influencing and negotiation skills.
• Ability to switch confidently between strategic thinking and hands-on delivery.
• Skilled at managing multiple priorities and projects simultaneously.
• Passionate about continuous improvement and process optimisation.
• Curious and innovative, with an interest in emerging technologies and AI-driven solutions.
• Results-focused and motivated by delivering measurable outcomes.
• Collaborative and supportive, with a team-oriented mindset.
• Generates detailed customer focused initiatives, in line with the Finance strategy and supports with execution.
• Listens to the customer and implements new ideas and ways of working which are designed to improve service considering both Online and Offline.
• Ensures the team priorities actions which delight the customer/team member.
• Customer Focus: Be the voice of customers and orchestrate the organisation to live the brand purpose and inspire a customer-first culture to build customer love in every touchpoint of our online and offline platform.
• Establishes strong relationships at all levels.
• Can manage tough/complex messages with all stakeholders.
• Role model collaboration to the team to exceed goals.
• Positive attitude towards feedback, uses this to generate initiatives to meet/exceed expectations, and shares feedback in a meaningful way.
• Effectively manages their team by playing to strengths and proactively addressing its opportunities. Ensuring everyone wellbeing & diversity is considered and celebrated.
• Feels empowered to challenge across different career bands and roles. Supporting other team members in shaping their work to do so
• Proactively keeps up to date with market and consumer trends in their specialism and feeds this into department strategy.
• Uses data and insights to challenges the status quo to keep us ahead of the competition.
• Uses data to inform and generate new ideas and make decisions to improve on future plans.

✅ Desired but not Essential

• Degree qualified in Business, Finance, Social Sciences or a related discipline.
• Professional procurement qualification such as CIPS.
• Experience within a retail or large multi-site organisation.
• Experience using technology, automation or AI-enabled tools to improve business processes.

📋 What You'll Need

• Significant experience within procurement, strategic sourcing, supplier management or commercial contract management.
• Experience building strong relationships with a variety of business stakeholders.
• Proven experience delivering procurement projects, tenders or commercial initiatives from planning through to implementation.
• Understanding of commercial negotiation, supplier selection and contract management principles.
• Working knowledge of governance, compliance and business approval processes.
• Strong analytical skills with experience using data and reporting to support decision-making.
• Ability to balance commercial priorities with operational requirements and risk management.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Leadership experience that demonstrates the ability to influence others, drive change and support continuous improvement.

💡 Here's what's in it for you

• 33 days holiday rising to 38 days with length of service (inclusive of bank holidays)
• 2 staff discount codes for yourself and a family member or friend
• 30% discount on Superdrug Own Brand Products both in store and online
• Hybrid working patterns available depending on role responsibilities with 2 days working from home and 3 days in our stylish, modern and collaborative office close to East Croydon Station
• Company pension matching and bonus
• We offer Wagestream – a money management app that gives you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn it
• Being part of more! We are part of a group who work closely with Savers, The Perfume Shop and Three UK
• We are part of A.S. Watson Group, the world's largest international health and beauty retailer with over 15,700 stores in 25 markets!
• Unrivalled Learning and Development programmes
• Enhanced maternity/shared parental/adoption leave, company sick pay and pregnancy loss support

Come and be part of something special!