The client
This family-owned business is a leading international contractor in the offshore industry, specialising in offshore pipelay, the installation and decommissioning of offshore facilities, and subsea mining. The company has a turnover of over €1.5 billion a year and around 2,500 employees, and is known for its high-calibre technical expertise and global presence. It operates a fleet of highly specialised vessels.
The head office is in the Rotterdam area, with several other offices worldwide.
Procurement
The procurement team is led by the Procurement Director, who heads up four teams:
- Fleet Procurement Contracting — Unit Head Procurement Contracts, with 7 tactical buyers and 5 data specialists
- Fleet Procurement — Unit Head of Fleet Procurement, with 9 buyers
- Project Contracting — Unit Head Project Contracting, with 7 Contract Engineers
- Projects Procurement — Team Lead Project Procurement, with 5 project buyers, one of which is this vacancy
The role
You report to the Team Lead ‘Subcontracting & Projects Operations’.
You focus on procurement for the worldwide offshore projects the company has won. Total project value can range from a few million to several billion, with procurement typically accounting for 20–50% of that. Projects are currently running in Malaysia, Australia and the North Sea, among others.
Once a client awards a project, the Contract Engineers handle the procurement of long lead items and high-value goods and services. Project buyers support the Contract Engineers with the actual ordering and expediting, and take on shorter lead time deliveries and/or items valued up to €1 million themselves. Depending on the size of the project, you’ll either be the only project buyer involved or part of a team of project buyers with a lead.
You’ll regularly need to find and select suppliers by requesting quotations. What you buy depends heavily on the type of project, but think piping, pipe recovery tools, lifting equipment, gases, transport, and yards for decommissioning offshore platforms. There is, of course, an extensive approved vendor list. You work with standard purchasing terms and conditions, which are rarely if ever negotiated — your negotiations are mainly about quality (specifications), lead time and cost. In practice you’ll be in frequent contact with project engineers about specifications (drawings), accompanying documents and so on for the goods and services being purchased. Getting what’s been ordered delivered on time (expediting) is part of your remit, as is resolving invoice issues.
The company works with SAP.
Your profile
- A qualification at Dutch MBO level (vocational, upper-secondary) or above
- Experience in the maritime or offshore sector
- Experience in project procurement, and comfortable working with ERP systems
- Experience purchasing technical products and services, and willing to ask a project engineer questions about the drawing you’re ordering from
- A good command of English (Dutch is not required)
- Resident in the Netherlands
What’s on offer
- This is a full-time position
- Salary up to €70,000 gross per year, depending on knowledge and experience
- Bonus based on individual and company performance
- 30 days’ leave
- One day a week working from home
- Pension scheme, with the employer paying 50% of the contribution
