Procurement Manager

Nigel Wright Recruitment
The ClientGreen Lithium Refining Limited believes the electric revolution is fundamental to reducing the carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change. Securing the supply and refining capability of lithium chemicals is a vital step in enabling the electric revolution and this is where Green Lithium steps in.There is currently no large-scale lithium chemicals refining capability in Europe despite a significant market opportunity. Working with key strategic partners to address the need to improve the European battery-metal supply chain, Green Lithium will support the ‘net-zero’ ambitions of society to transition to the future green economy.They are on an exciting journey to build the UK’s first lithium refinery in the North-East of England. Once operational, the full-scale refinery will produce high-purity lithium chemicals and will employ 250 local, highly skilled people. The company will harness industry-leading process technology enabling clean, low-carbon processing of high volumes of lithium ore whilst supporting long-term economic prosperity in the local area. The OpportunityGreen Lithium has partnered exclusively with Nigel Wright to recruit a Procurement Manager.The Procurement Manager will be integral to formalising supply agreements (from business opportunity throughout the procurement lifecycle) and to implementing greater structure into the sourcing processes, standardising procurement contracts, associated terms of business, SLAs and supplier management in preparation for scale up. Ensuring a robust supply chain essential to a full-scale lithium refinery project and operation.

• Procurement and contract negotiations will cover a variety of areas, raw materials e.g. Lithium bearing minerals and chemical reagents, utilities and other operational supplies essential to the operation of the refinery.
• Global supplier relationship management and -development, assessing and ensuring quality of materials, stability of supply, scalability and vendor ESG credentials against the context of project finance.
• Continuous market benchmarking and sourcing with a focus upon environmental sustainability, localisation and new market innovations
• Optimising supplier partner collaboration to drive maximum value from the supply chain (tier-1 and beyond)
• Complex contract and framework negotiations/-authoring appropriate to scale-up and full-scale production, often starting from first principles with counterparties in addition to third-party funder requirements in mind
• End-to-end margin management via collaboration between Supply and Sales in order to maintain margins whilst mitigating risk, working with other teams to develop optimal OPEX forecasts and budgeting
• Devising, documenting and implementing procurement process best practice, associated systems and contracts’ registers etc which can then be disseminated to other teams e.g. Capex and other project streams
• Expediting, and materials management within varying levels of UK and global regulations (e.g. Chemical imports)

About YouGreen Lithium is seeking a skilled and experienced Procurement Manager, preferably qualified to MCIPS level, from within Energy Distribution, Powergen, Petrochem, O&G, Chemicals or industrial Pharmaceutical sector(s). To succeed in this role you will:

• Be accustomed to blank-canvas procurement projects, adept in tailoring and delivering procurement best practice appropriate to business requirements
• Have a proven track record of delivery in a greenfield, entrepreneurial environment with limited systems and processes
• Be commercially astute, have advanced data analysis skills and will understand and develop end-to-end margin management via collaboration between Supply and Sales
• Be a dynamic, innovative-thinker, solutions-focused team player, flexible and agile, with strengths in stakeholder/supplier relationship management
• Ideally, have experience in change management, NPI, new plant developments and/or OPEX management from a procurement-perspective
• Be a strong team player, taking pride working with a high-performing team capable of balancing risk management with value creation
• Enjoy asking questions, thereby helping Green Lithium to be more surgical in its decision making. Measuring value creation and growing future enterprise value will come naturally to you
• Able to work regularly on site in Teesside. The role will also involve some travel within the UK and a small amount internationally

Green Lithium embraces hybrid, flexible working and with a geographically dispersed term it values bringing the team together for face-to-face working on a regular basis. This is an exciting opportunity to join one of the area’s most exciting businesses in the next stage of their growth as they build the UK’s first lithium refinery bringing a huge social opportunity to the region.