Purchasing Manager, Paperboard

Sabert Corporation is a global leader in food presentation, service and packaging products. Its customers include food service professionals, food manufacturers, fast food chains and large retail chains.

Through partnerships with its customers, Sabert Corporation Europe develops its products and production processes in a culture of sustainable development.

Nivelles is the European production and distribution centre for Sabert Corporation products. We also have sites in the United Kingdom (Flitwick) and Poland (Łódź), which specialise in cardboard and processed paper.

More than 330 people work at Sabert Europe, whether in researching solutions tailored to its customers, production, developing its sales networks, logistics or administration.

Over the years, Sabert has strengthened and diversified its portfolio to offer multi-material food packaging solutions incorporating plastic, cardboard and pulp (moulded fibre). This approach enables the company to respond quickly and effectively to market developments, while meeting growing expectations in terms of sustainability and performance in food packaging.

Joining Sabert means becoming part of a fast-growing international company committed to sustainable innovation.

Sabert is seeking for its site located in Flitwick a Purchasing Manager, Paperboard.

Business trips to Sabert Belgium and suppliers are to be expected from time to time.

ROLE PURPOSE

To lead strategic procurement for paperboard across the European Business Area, protecting margin, supporting Sabert’s innovative USP, improving supplier performance, and ensuring supply continuity.

Over time, the role will broaden beyond paperboard, developing capability across other substrates (pulp, plastics, and related materials) to support long term procurement continuity and succession planning.

This is a strategic procurement role, not an operational buying role.

KEY RESPONSIBLITIES

1. Paperboard Strategic Sourcing Leadership

1. Own sourcing strategy for paperboard raw material and traded goods, aligned to business needs and growth plans
2. Lead supplier selection, agreements, and any minor or major renegotiations
3. Manage index linked pricing mechanisms and resets, ensuring transparency and control
4. Build resilience through dual sourcing where required

2. Commercial Discipline and Margin Protection

• Build and maintain clean pricing logic for raw material cost movements
• Support tender and RFQ pricing governance, ensuring margin integrity
• Work closely with Commercial to anticipate cost movements and protect pricing positions

3. Supplier Relationship Management and Performance

• Own paperboard supplier relationships and governance cadence
• Lead structured quarterly business reviews
• Drive measurable improvement in quality, service, claims reduction, and responsiveness
• Manage escalation of supply risk and quality issues

4. Procurement Governance, Reporting and Sustainability

• Maintain governance over supplier contracts, commercial risk exposure and renewal strategy.
• Develop procurement performance dashboards and KPIs to driver vendor performance, cost transparency and risk management
• Improve process discipline for approvals, rebates, and documented agreements
• Build structured procurement processes and documentation to ensure continuity, transparency and organisational resilience
• Embed sustainability criteria into supplier selection and sourcing decisions
• Support delivery of company sustainability commitments through responsible sourcing of paperboard
• Work with suppliers to improve environmental performance, compliance and material innovation.

5. NPD and Specification Commercial Oversight (Paperboard Related)

• Partner with NPD and Operations to ensure new paperboard developments meet target cost and performance
• Challenge specification creep, ensure cost sign off discipline
• Support tooling and supplier decisions from a commercial and sourcing perspective

EXPERIENCE, SKILLS & CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

• Strong experience in strategic procurement or sourcing in paperboard and paperboard packaging.
• Proven negotiation capability with suppliers
• Commercially minded, comfortable with margin and cost modelling
• Structured, disciplined, reliable, strong documentation habits
• CIPS qualification, Level 4+, or equivalent, and regime of recent continuous professional development
• Degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering or related discipline, or equivalent experience