AMEA Procurement Operations Sourcing specialist
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Function: Procurement – Marketing & Sales
Region: AMEA
Reporting to: AMEA Procurement Head of Marketing & Sales
About the Role
The AMEA Marketing & Sales Procurement Operations & Sourcing Specialist (POSS) is a regional Procurement role combining Procurement Operations, Governance and progressive Sourcing responsibilities across the AMEA Marketing & Sales Procurement team.
Designed for an ambitious Procurement professional looking to broaden their regional Procurement experience, this role offers the opportunity to build expertise across Procurement Operations while progressively developing sourcing, commercial and stakeholder management capabilities.
Acting as the operational backbone of the AMEA Marketing & Sales Procurement team, the Specialist will drive Procurement excellence, governance and operational coordination while progressively supporting RFx activities, sourcing projects and supplier engagements across the region. By taking ownership of operational and governance activities, the Specialist will enable Category Buyers to dedicate more time to strategic sourcing, negotiations, supplier relationship management and business partnering.
This role is designed as a development opportunity, with the objective of progressively expanding sourcing responsibilities and preparing for a future Category or Zone Buyer position.
Key Responsibilities
Procurement Operations and Coordination
- Coordinate operational and administrative Procurement activities across the AMEA Marketing & Sales Procurement team.
- Act as the primary operational interface between the Procurement team and support functions, including Legal, Source-to-Vendor, Master Data Management, Purchasing Operations and Finance.
- Coordinate supplier onboarding activities and monitor progress through to operational readiness.
- Proactively follow up on outstanding actions, timelines and process milestones.
- Identify, resolve or escalate operational bottlenecks where appropriate.
- Ensure Procurement documentation, trackers and governance records are complete, accurate and up to date.
Governance, Compliance and Supplier Data
- Coordinate Procurement governance activities across the AMEA Marketing & Sales supplier portfolio.
- Manage supplier compliance follow-up, including EcoVadis, sustainability requirements and future Global Procurement initiatives.
- Maintain supplier, contract and compliance data.
- Manage the regional contract register and proactively monitor contract renewals and expiry dates.
- Maintain preferred supplier lists and supplier segmentation information.
- Ensure Procurement records and documentation remain audit-ready.
- Support the deployment of new Procurement policies, governance requirements and global processes across the region.
Reporting and Procurement Excellence
- Maintain Procurement dashboards, KPIs, trackers and recurring reporting.
- Support savings reporting and Procurement performance monitoring.
- Prepare analyses and presentation materials for leadership reviews, supplier performance discussions and business updates.
- Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize and automate Procurement processes.
- Support the implementation and adoption of Procurement tools, digital solutions and process improvements.
- Explore opportunities to leverage AI-enabled Procurement solutions and automation to improve team productivity.
- Maintain Procurement templates, playbooks and knowledge repositories.
Sourcing Support and Capability Development
- Support RFx activities across Marketing & Sales categories.
- Conduct supplier research, market analysis and sourcing preparation activities.
- Support the preparation of sourcing strategies, supplier evaluation files and recommendation materials.
- Participate in supplier meetings and commercial negotiations alongside Category Buyers when appropriate.
- Progressively manage lower-complexity sourcing projects under the guidance of senior Buyers.
- Take increasing ownership of sourcing activities as experience and capability develop.
Role Boundaries
The Procurement Operations & Sourcing Specialist supports Procurement execution but does not independently own:
- Category strategy
- Final supplier selection or award decisions
- Major commercial negotiations
- Business stakeholder ownership
- Contract drafting or legal negotiations
- Supplier master data creation
- Purchase Order creation
- Invoice or payment processing
These responsibilities remain with the Category Buyers or the relevant specialist functions. The Specialist is expected to coordinate effectively across these functions to ensure efficient execution.
Key Stakeholders
The role will work closely with:
- AMEA Procurement Head of Marketing & Sales
- AMEA Marketing & Sales Category Buyers
- Global Procurement Excellence Team
- Global Procurement Sustainability Team
- Legal
- Source-to-Vendor
- Master Data Management
- Purchasing Operations
- Finance
- Business stakeholders
- Regional and global suppliers
Candidate Profile
Experience
- 2–5 years of experience in Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement Operations or a related business function.
- Exposure to sourcing, supplier management, Procurement governance or operational Procurement processes.
- Experience working in a regional, international or cross-functional environment is preferred.
- Experience within Marketing, Sales, Media, Agencies, Professional Services or Indirect Procurement would be an advantage.
Skills and Capabilities
- Strong organizational, coordination and project management skills.
- Proactive mindset with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities, stakeholders and deadlines.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Analytical mindset with strong data management and reporting capabilities.
- High attention to detail while maintaining a broad business perspective.
- Strong interest in Procurement, sourcing, negotiations and supplier management.
- Continuous improvement mindset with an interest in digital transformation, automation and AI.
- Strong Excel and PowerPoint skills.
- Experience with Procurement platforms such as SAP, Coupa, Ariba or Oro is an advantage.
- Experience with spend analytics platforms (e.g. Sievo, SpendHQ) is a plus.
- Exposure to Procurement orchestration, intake or AI-enabled Procurement platforms (e.g. Zip, Omnea, Fairmarkit, Keelvar or Lio) would be an advantage.
- Fluent English is required.
What Success Looks Like
Success in this role will be demonstrated through:
- Improved operational efficiency across the AMEA Marketing & Sales Procurement team.
- Increased Buyer capacity for strategic sourcing and commercial activities.
- Rapid understanding of Procurement processes, the wider business environment and the role Procurement plays in delivering business value.
- Strong internal relationships with key support functions, enabling efficient execution of Procurement activities.
- Accurate and proactively maintained supplier, contract and compliance data.
- Strong governance and continuous audit readiness.
- Timely, reliable and insightful Procurement reporting.
- Effective coordination across Procurement support functions.
- Successful deployment of global Procurement initiatives across the region.
- Measurable process simplification, standardization and automation.
- Progressive development of sourcing capabilities, demonstrating increasing autonomy in managing sourcing projects and readiness for a future Category Buyer role.
Career Development
This role is designed as a long-term development opportunity within the AMEA Marketing & Sales Procurement organization.
Based in Korea and mentored by the ASEA & ANZ Procurement Lead, the successful candidate will gain broad exposure to regional Procurement Operations, governance, sourcing projects and cross-functional stakeholder management.
As capability and experience develop, the individual will progressively expand their sourcing responsibilities, with the objective of transitioning into a future Category or Zone Buyer role.
