Are you a detail‑oriented Direct Procurement Manager with strong relationship skills ready to deliver measurable impact? If yes, this role offers the opportunity for you to shape our supplier strategy, optimise costs, ensure supply continuity and be part of a business at a pivotal point in its journey.
Changing the world of pet food for good
We’re Tails.com, a dog‑food subscription company that creates truly tailored food for each dog we serve. By asking simple questions about a dog’s needs, we generate a unique recipe that delivers the required nutrition and flavour, delivered to their door every month.
Build our brand
We’re building a brand fast. We set ambitious goals and prefer to test ideas and learn quickly rather than spend months building a business case. That means we celebrate successes and learn from mistakes as we move quickly.
The role
We’re looking for a Direct Procurement Manager to join our newly renovated HQ in Richmond. This high‑impact role has end‑to‑end ownership of all direct spend at Tails.com, covering food and packaging.
You will be responsible for:
- Strategic Sourcing: Develop, own, and lead category strategies for kibble, wet food, treats, packaging and other pet‑health products & accessories using Nestlé’s 7‑step sourcing and supplier segmentation frameworks.
- Supplier Relationship Management (SRM): Work with suppliers and the supply‑chain team to monitor performance through KPIs and regular reviews, driving corrective actions and building positive relationships with strategic partners.
- RFP/RFQ’s: Lead tenders and competitive bidding processes to source new suppliers that support growth, innovation, sustainability and margin targets.
- Cost Savings and Mitigation: Analyse spend data, identify cost‑saving initiatives and manage commodity reviews with existing suppliers in line with the contract.
- Supply Risk Management: Build and maintain a business continuity plan, validating contingency sites for high‑impact SKUs to guarantee supply continuity.
- Contract Management: Negotiate new and existing contracts to secure favourable terms, build dossiers to ensure commitment to agreed commercials and compliance with Tails.com testing standards.
- Forecasting and PPV: Provide accurate and validated forecasts to finance, inform forward investment and business spending, tracking deviations from forecasts and working closely with finance and suppliers to ensure alignment.
- Environmental & Social Governance (ESG): Keep the Code of Conduct up to date, ensuring supplier compliance with Nestlé standards and working with external partners to improve the Tails BCorp score.
- Market Study & Travel: Maintain a strong understanding of the manufacturing landscape, tracking market dynamics, supplier capabilities and emerging opportunities; attend industry trade shows and site visits within the UK and abroad as required.
The skills you’ll bring:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree or similar is desirable.
- Experience: 5+ years in procurement and strategic sourcing with a proven track record of delivering measurable cost savings and value creation.
- Proficiency with Excel and detail‑oriented data analysis, comfortable maintaining large datasets.
- Contract experience: Setting up and negotiating contracts with familiarity of contract law.
- Strong negotiation and deal‑making ability, maintaining positive relationships while prioritising under pressure.
- Certification: CIPS (Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply) qualifications is useful but not essential.
What's in it for you?
- Competitive salary, reviewed annually.
- Annual bonus based on company performance.
- Flexible core hours for work‑life balance.
- Hybrid role to accommodate personal preferences.
- 25 days of holiday (excluding bank holidays), increasing to a maximum of 27 days.
- 9‑10 day working week to enhance wellbeing without reducing pay or leave allowance.
- Optional 5 days unpaid leave and 1 paid volunteer day each year.
- Remote work from abroad 2 weeks every 6 months.
- Health insurance paid by Tails.com.
- Extended maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption pay (6 months at 70% pay).
- Flexible paid care leave for immediate dependants, people close to you and pets.
- In‑house L&D team with year‑round courses to support development.
- 50% discount on all Tails.com products.
- Discounted gym membership.
Our Commitment
We’re proud to be an active equal‑opportunity employer. We conduct a structured recruitment process for all candidates and actively promote our roles to under‑represented communities. During the interview process you’ll meet team members of varying levels of responsibility and experience. If you need reasonable adjustments, please let us know.
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