Hofddorp/Hybrid

As the Global Senior Buyer – Dairy Ingredients your mission is to define and execute the global sourcing strategy for the Lactose & GOS categories

You are fully accountable for defining the strategic direction for the categories being managed, understand the markets and cost structures in depth, lead the sourcing and tendering process, drive SRM, manage all aspects of risks, lead and support project ideation supporting savings targets, contribute to the implementation of the Danone Impact Journey and be accountable for delivering the objectives across Danone.

Spend:  250mEUR Lactose & GOS categories.

Complexity: Fast paced consumer goods environment and specialized category within an external challenging context on business disruption and high inflation.

Main Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership & Category Ownership

• Define and lead the global category strategy for Lactose & GOS, aligned with business priorities and stakeholder needs.
• Translate market insights and cost structure analysis into actionable sourcing strategies.
• Build and maintain a robust pipeline of productivity and value-creation initiatives.

Global Sourcing Execution

• Lead end-to-end sourcing processes, including go-to-market strategy, tendering, negotiation, and supplier award decisions.
• Ensure strategic supplier engagement post-tender to deliver long-term value.
• Oversee execution of commercial agreements in alignment with legal and compliance standards.

Stakeholder & Supplier Engagement

• Influence and collaborate with senior internal stakeholders across R&I, Quality, Operations, Finance, and Legal.
• Develop and maintain strategic supplier relationships, leveraging SRM to drive innovation and performance.
• Represent Danone externally with suppliers, farmers, industry boards, and regulatory bodies.

Financial & Risk Accountability

• Own financial planning and forecasting for the category, including budget alignment, variance tracking, and savings delivery.
• Proactively identify and mitigate category-specific and macro-level risks.

ESG & Impact Contribution

• Champion ESG initiatives within the category, embedding sustainability metrics into supplier partnerships.
• Contribute to the broader Danone Impact Journey through responsible sourcing and innovation.
• Map potential risks and resulting impact.

Experience:

• 7+ years in strategic procurement (fast‑paced CPG/ingredients); delivers on cost, risk, and service.
• Entrepreneurial problem‑solver; thrives in pace and ambiguity; creates value under constraints.
• Pragmatic, hands‑on; balances near‑term delivery with long‑term strategy.
• Tenacious in ambiguity; quickly builds credibility and efficient regional/supplier networks.
• Fluent in English; effective with executive stakeholders and external partners.

Skills&competencies: 

• In-depth experience in strategic sourcing of relevant categories
• Knowledge and experience of world-class category management and sourcing practices from one or several world-class companies.
• Experienced in managing sourcing categories across multiple geographies.
• Strong commercial and business acumen and negotiation skills.
• Strong results-orientation and proven track record of consistent outstanding performance and results delivery
• Strong ability to lead, influence, collaborate, and effectively engage multiple stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills.
• Proactive and action orientated. Can make things happen regardless of obstacles.
• Presence to engage effectively with senior supplier stakeholders.
• Structured yet flexible.
• Creative and continuously looking for stretching value-adding opportunities.
• Resilient
• Proven ability to build strong supplier relationships to achieve business goals.
• Experienced in autonomously managing all procurement aspects of a category.

We’re proud to be a B-Corp certified company. That means we meet the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability in everything we do.

We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we base our hiring decisions on merit, job requirements and business needs.*

It’s an exciting time to join Danone! You’ll be joining at a momentum in cycles & procurement journey where you can make a huge impact on our business. And the best part? You’ll be supported to grow an impactful career that you can be proud of. Together, we’ll build a healthier world.

All Danoners receive a complete package of benefits. This includes a competitive salary and yearly bonus, a premium free pension and great discounts on health insurance and Danone products. We understand the importance of flexibility and offer 30 days of annual leave (with the opportunity to purchase more) and a hybrid working environment, where you can work either from home or from one of our People Hubs in Hoofddorp, Utrecht and Zoetermeer.

It’s simple – hit the “apply” button. In order to comply with GDPR we can’t process your personal data without your given consent, so please apply directly via this website. Good luck! We can’t wait to meet you.

Need more information? Please contact Anna Anitova, Talent Acquisition Manager C&P via anna.anitova@danone.com.

* all applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

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