Chief Procurement Officer / Head of Procurement
What is in the Chief Procurement Officer job description?
The Chief Procurement Officer leads the central procurement and supply chain function within an organisation. The role is responsible for the organisations strategic purchasing policy, supplier base and ensures there is an effective end-to-end procurement and supply chain service.
What will be your responsibilities?
A Chief Procurement Officer responsibilities are a vital part of the procurement and supply function within any organisation. You’ll be responsible for creating the procurement and supply chain strategy and identifying any gaps again existing policy and procedures.
Here are some more of your responsibilities that you may have in the role of Chief Procurement Officer.
- Manage the entire lifecycle of sourcing and procurement projects, from planning and bid preparation to budget/forecasting, negotiation, invoicing and reporting.
- Develop product category strategies aligned with business needs, build a supply chain capable of delivering the desired service levels, at competitive cost and ensure suppliers are willing to invest in the strategy.
- Drive savings by developing and applying various strategies such as volume leverage, supplier concentration, supply chain segmentation and negotiate prices, schedules and other terms as required.
- Develop collaborative long-term partnerships with suppliers, contractors and outsourced service providers to reduce costs, to meet legislative requirements and achieve high quality outcomes.
- Drive cost improvements across the supply chain through continuous review and revision.
- Develop a strategy with key stakeholders on inventory management and manage and control inventory levels within agreed parameters and maintain accurate stock levels.
- Responsible for regular forecasting demand to ensure on time supply. Monitor and evaluate supplier performance against metrics for price, quality, delivery, and customer service.
- Identify appropriate department KPI’s and measure and monitor performance against these.
- Control and co-ordinate the site-based stores function to ensure adequate control of stock levels and cost efficiencies against budget.
- Ensure that procurement activity is compliant with all relevant regulatory and best practice frameworks.
The CIPS Digital Academy
The CIPS Digital Academy provides access to learning programmes in procurement and supply. It enables your organisation to develop consistency in knowledge and skills and helps to reduce supply chain risk throughout your organisation.
What qualifications do you need?
If you’re looking to move into a role of Chief Procurement Officer, you’ll need a combination of professional qualifications, experience and sound soft skills.
- Health and safety knowledge.
- Experience of implementing asset management systems.
- Ethical Procurement and Supply certificate.
- Proven and visible leadership capability, with the ability to use a variety of leadership approaches in order to achieve results.
- Proven project/programme management experience.
- Able to constructively challenge the status quo.
- Excellent written and verbal communications skills.
- Diplomatic with excellent negotiating skills.
- Clear, logical thinker, able to present a compelling business case supported by data and analysis.
Accredited degrees and programmes
Browse through our university partners and accreditation statements to find an undergraduate or postgraduate degree programme that suits your needs to help you achieve your internationally recognised professional designation. Upon completion of one of our accredited degree programmes, and following a minimum of three years' work experience in the procurement and supply profession, you’ll be eligible to apply for MCIPS.
Salary benchmarking: What does a Chief Procurement Officer get paid?
In the UK, typically the Chief Procurement Officer gets paid on average £160,166 based on the UK Salary Guide 2023. A Chief Procurement Officer sits in the Advanced Professional level, the breakdown is as follows:
Advanced Professional
- UK: £160,166
- Australia: $208,066
- New Zealand: $182,900
- MENA: $123,790
- South Africa: ZAR 1,237K
- Sub-Saharan Africa $90,400
- North America: $125,504
- Europe: €127,846
Salaries may increase if you are studying with CIPS or change sector. To find out more about the salaries of procurement and supply professionals let our salary calculator do the hard work for you.
Further your career
The Management Entry Route (MER) is designed for procurement professionals, operating in a senior strategic role. You'll receive a practical pathway that will guide you to MCIPS status, without having to go down the traditional learning and exam route. You will be assessed for your experience, knowledge and responsibility through an online assessment and a remote (Zoom/Teams) interview.
MANAGEMENT ENTRY ROUTE