Buyer

Purpose of the Role

This position is designed to enhance the procurement capabilities of the Southeast Asia (SEA) team, focusing specifically on Indirect Procurement and Air Transportation categories. It serves as a pivotal role to address capability gaps, foster category development, and elevate the maturity of the SEA purchasing team.

Mission

The role involves establishing standardized procurement management practices for the previously unmanaged Indirect and Air Transportation sectors in SEA. The role's objectives extend beyond achieving measurable cost reductions to include upskilling the team, instituting category-specific processes, consolidating supplier resources, and optimizing procurement systems. This foundation aims to ensure sustainable and professional long-term management of these categories.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end procurement operations for Indirect services—including corporate services such as Marketing, IT, and Intellectual services—and Air Transportation categories across SEA. This includes supplier sourcing and evaluation, quotation comparison, commercial negotiations, contract finalization, and supplier performance oversight.
• Design and refine procurement processes tailored to category requirements, align with industry procurement standards, and develop supplier management frameworks to address current management gaps.
• Drive ongoing initiatives for cost reduction and operational efficiency, monitor spend data meticulously, identify opportunities for savings, and consistently meet annual procurement efficiency goals.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to align indirect procurement and air transportation solutions with business needs, ensuring compliance, cost-effectiveness, and high-quality service delivery.
• Maintain robust supplier relationships, expand a quality supplier base, optimize the regional supply chain for resilience, and mitigate procurement risks in the targeted categories.
• Regularly aggregate procurement progress, cost-saving performance, and category development updates, and provide comprehensive reports to leadership.

Performance Indicators

• Enhance SEA team's procurement competencies in Indirect and Air Transportation areas.
• Achieve scheduled annual cost savings and efficiency targets.
• Develop a standardized category management system for these previously unmanaged procurement categories.

Candidate Requirements

• A bachelor's degree or higher in Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Logistics Management, Business Administration, or related disciplines.
• Between 2 to 5 years of practical procurement experience, with a solid background managing Indirect Procurement and Air Transportation categories; prior experience in SEA regional procurement within Airlines is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with indirect spending procurement rules, air transportation procurement processes, regional SEA procurement standards, and corporate cost-saving strategies is preferred.
• Proficient in supplier development, commercial negotiations, cost benchmarking, and supply chain risk mitigation; capable of independently managing full-cycle category procurement and project execution.
• Experienced in coordinating cross-regional business operations and adaptable to managing multiple parallel projects across SEA countries.