VP, Materials

Job Description

The LEGO Group is looking for an experienced procurement leader who is energized by the opportunity to further innovate within this category and inspire change. The ideal candidate will have a strong track record of continuous improvement and advancing the procurement function's performance.

Play your part in our team succeeding

The Global Procurement organization is based across the LEGO hubs and sites: Billund, Shenzhen, Singapore, London, Shanghai, and Boston, as well as in the manufacturing locations in Czechia, Hungary, China, Vietnam, Virginia USA, and Mexico. This position will be responsible for approximately 1 billion Euros in annual spend. Based in Billund, the candidate will have several subcategory managers directly reporting to them.

The primary responsibility will be to develop commodity strategies and implementation that secure the resilience of the supply base and champion total cost of ownership (TCO) reductions for Resin, Packaging, and Packing categories. The new Vice President will bolster Lego Group’s sustainability ambitions through developing sustainability across the supply chain.

This Vice President position reports to the SVP, Chief Procurement Officer, and is a full member of the Procurement Leadership Team. As a member of the Procurement Leadership Team, they will play a critical part in the overall procurement transformation journey.

Core Responsibilities

Strategic Direction and Implementation: 

• Oversee the development and execution of strategies for Materials (Resin & Packaging) and Packing.

• Continuously seek ways of improving flexibility in the supply base and build strategies that will support the LEGO factories to increase responsiveness to the markets.

• Build resilience in the supply base to mitigate risk and strengthen business continuity.

• Drive and deliver productivity results in line with the business needs

• Implement cost engineering output into negotiations by working closely with the Cost Engineering team

• Build transparency of cost and cost drivers, enabling stronger negotiation results and improving forecast reliability.

Stakeholder and Supplier Focus:

• Further embed Procurement in the company as a key business partner. Foster relationships and work closely with different business areas, other central functions, and key stakeholders to drive and oversee procurement activities in Materials & Packing.

• Secure strong global stakeholders and suppliers’ management. This role will establish and maintain contractual and business relationships with the senior management of key suppliers, while overseeing the supplier management process for their teams. 

Sustainability & Responsibility:

• This person is an integral part of the Sustainable Materials team and drives the materials journey in the supply base to achieve 100% sustainable materials by 2032.

• Drive the reduction of carbon emissions for the suppliers in the Materials & Packing categories to achieve the LEGO Group’s targets.

• Contribute to the LEGO Social Responsibility commitment and journey in playing our part to build a sustainable future for the builders of tomorrow.

• Ensure that our suppliers and partners share our values and commitment to business integrity, anyone involved in the value chain is treated fairly and with respect, and absolutely no children are allowed to work at any point in our value chain.

Procurement Expertise:

• This person will remain current with market trends and ensure the LEGO Group has a process to gain access/familiarity with emerging supplier capabilities.

• Build further the expertise and domain depth in the field of Resin, Packaging, & Packing by strengthening and developing capabilities in the teams, to support the LEGO Group’s growth ambitions. 

Ethics and Integrity:

• Apply high ethical standards and principles of integrity, honesty, and legality. Comply with the LEGO Code of Ethical Business Conduct (‘Ethics Code’), even if it means losing business or reducing profitability.

Change Leadership:

• Bring outside-in perspectives and global market intelligence insights and what other best in class companies do and their approaches; translate them into meaningful actions for the betterment of the function and the organization.

• Develop and maintain effective strategic relationships with the senior executives. Can lead change, galvanize support, and inspire commitment from teams and stakeholders. 

People Leadership:

• Lead, engage, and energize Materials & Packing Procurement organization through coaching and mentorship. Motivate team to achieve outstanding results, drive collaborative/supportive, open and honest culture, and team spirit.

• Establish and foster productive and collaborative work relationships with the manufacturing site teams through influence; ensure successful deployment and management of the category strategy.

• Set direction in accordance with procurement strategy & business plans, set KPI/targets and goals, and monitor and improve performance.

• Oversee and manage development of your own team and organization. Acquire, develop, and grow talent; build and strengthen skills and organizational capabilities.

• Drive strong and effective collaboration between the team itself spread across the globe and with their global stakeholders.

Do you have what it takes?

• Progressive experience in Procurement in international organizations.

• Experience from plastics or petrochemical industry with a developed understanding of the market dynamics and players within these industries is preferred. 

• Experience in the Packaging category is preferred. 

• Strategic ability to develop high impact sourcing strategies. Exhibits Thought leadership.

• Solid analytical skills. Able to define and understand the most critical issues.

• Strong negotiating skills. Thorough understanding of supplier markets.

• Highly skilled communicator: professional verbal and written communication, comprehensive, clear, direct, and accurate.

• Strong people-leading skills, with demonstrated ability to influence, develop, coach, and provide support effectively, also in a matrix environment – working with large cross-functional, cross-cultural and multifaceted teams.

• World class supplier relationship skills. Continuously, but constructively engaging with suppliers’ performance.

• Outstanding cross-functional leadership skills; viewed as credible by business stakeholders.

• Willingness to “constructively dissent” and challenge senior management thinking on key procurement issues.

• Visionary leader with a global business perspective. Possess the vision to anticipate changes in industry and translate potential changes to strategies to position the LEGO Group for success; have ability to establish and execute strategies that support company objectives.

• Ability to build and maintain lasting cooperative partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and leverage relationships to meet organizational objectives. 

Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis. However, please note we do amend or withdraw our jobs and reserve the right to do so at any time, including prior to any advertised closing date. So, if you're interested in this role we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

What’s in it for you?

Here is what you can expect:

Family Care Leave - We offer enhanced paid leave options for those important times.

Insurances – All colleagues are covered by our life and disability insurance which provides protection and peace of mind.

Wellbeing - We want our people to feel well and thrive. We offer resources and benefits to nurture physical and mental wellbeing along with opportunities to build community and inspire creativity.

Colleague Discount – We know you'll love to build, so from day 1 you will qualify for our generous colleague discount.

Bonus - We do our best work to succeed together. When goals are reached and if eligible, you'll be rewarded through our bonus scheme.

Workplace - When you join the team you'll be assigned a primary workplace location i.e. one of our Offices, stores or factories. Our hybrid work policy means an average of 3 days per week in the office. The hiring team will discuss the policy and role eligibility with you during the recruitment process.

Children are our role models. Their curiosity, creativity and imagination inspire everything we do. We strive to create a diverse, dynamic and inclusive culture of play at the LEGO Group, where everyone feels safe, valued and they belong.

The LEGO Group is highly committed to equal employment opportunity and equal pay and seeks to encourage applicants from all backgrounds (eg. sex, gender identity or expression, race/ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, age and religion) to apply for roles in our team.

Research shows that women and people from different minority backgrounds often only apply for a job if they meet 100% of the listed qualifications. If you dream of being a part of our team and you meet many, but not all of our listed qualifications for this role, please apply.

The LEGO Group is fully committed to Children’s Rights and Child Wellbeing across the globe. Candidates offered positions with high engagement with children are required to take part in Child Safeguarding Background Screening, as a condition of the offer.

Thank you for sharing our global commitment to Children’s Rights.

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