Role overview
The APAC Procurement Lead owns end-to-end procurement leadership across all APAC projects and service contracts from quotation stage support through to execution and supplier management. The role ensures competitive, accurate bids in the sales process and delivers cost efficiency, quality, timeliness, and compliance during execution.
This role is the single point of accountability for procurement strategy, sourcing decisions, and supplier performance across APAC.
Responsibilities
1. Quotation & Bid Support
- Partner with the APAC Sales Head, Proposal Team, and Operations to deliver accurate, competitive supplier quotations for bids.
- Source and validate supplier pricing, lead times, and commercial terms during tendering.
- Recommend value-engineered alternatives to improve competitiveness without compromising compliance or quality.
2. Strategic Procurement Leadership
- Develop and execute APAC-wide sourcing strategies to leverage volume and negotiate favorable terms.
- Align procurement strategies with business growth plans, P&L targets, and vertical playbooks.
3. Project & Service Delivery Procurement
- Oversee timely procurement of materials, equipment, and subcontracted services to meet delivery schedules.
- Coordinate with Execution Leads to align procurement timelines with project/service milestones.
4. Supplier Management & Risk Mitigation
- Establish, maintain, and monitor preferred supplier relationships.
- Implement supplier performance reviews and improvement plans.
- Create dual sourcing and contingency strategies to mitigate supply chain risk.
5. Team Leadership
- Directly manage all APAC procurement specialists and administrators.
- Allocate workload dynamically across the region to balance capacity and demand.
- Build procurement capabilities through training, mentoring, and succession planning.
6. Compliance & Governance
- Ensure all procurement activities comply with corporate policies, legal requirements, EHS standards, and ethical sourcing practices.
- Maintain accurate, auditable procurement records and reporting.
Requirements
- 12+ years in procurement leadership within industrial water, process industries, EPC, or infrastructure sectors.
- Proven success in multi-country procurement management, including China, SEA, and ANZ.
- Strong understanding of how procurement decisions impact bid competitiveness, project margins, and P&L.
- Track record of securing favorable commercial terms from global and local suppliers.
- Proficient with ERP/procurement platforms; able to drive adoption of centralized tools.
- Skilled in leading distributed teams directly, without regional management layers.
- Hands-on, proactive, able to operate equally in strategic discussions and tactical problem-solving.
- English essential; proficiency in Mandarin or another key APAC language advantageous.
