Group Procurement Specialist – ()
Description
The Group Procurement Specialist is responsible for the end-to-end operational execution and coordination of non-technology procurement activities across the Group, including competitive sourcing, single and sole sourcing administration, contracting support, and purchase-to-pay execution. The role ensures that procurement transactions are executed efficiently, transparently, and in full compliance with approved Group procurement policies, procedures, approved sourcing strategies, and delegated authority limits, while delivering value for money, supporting business continuity, and maintaining complete, auditable procurement records.
The role operates within approved governance frameworks and executes procurement activities within approved authority limits, escalating risk, compliance, and exception matters to the appropriate oversight functions for review and approval, without assuming governance ownership, policy interpretation authority, risk acceptance responsibility, or vendor lifecycle management accountability.
The KEY responsibilities
3.1 Sourcing Execution and Policy Adherence
The role is responsible for executing sourcing activities in strict accordance with approved Group Procurement policies, procedures, approved sourcing strategies, and delegated authority limits. This includes applying the correct sourcing route, competitive, single source, sole source, or emergency procurement, based on documented business requirements and approved thresholds. The role ensures that sourcing documentation is complete, accurate, and compliant before progression to approval, and formally rejects non-compliant submissions with documented rationale where requirements are not met without exercising policy interpretation or exception approval authority.
3.2 Competitive Sourcing Management (RFI, RFQ, RFP)
The role manages end-to-end execution of competitive sourcing events, including RFIs, RFQs, and RFPs, using approved sourcing platforms. This includes publishing sourcing documents, managing bid timelines, responding to bidder clarifications, collecting submissions, and ensuring equal and transparent treatment of suppliers in line with approved evaluation criteria. The role validates alignment of supplier proposals with approved technical scopes and consolidates technical and commercial evaluation outputs for submission to authorized approvers, without independently approving sourcing outcomes.
3.3 Commercial Evaluation, Negotiation, and Award Processing
The role leads commercial evaluation and negotiation activities within approved authority limits and approved negotiation mandates, covering pricing structures, delivery terms, payment conditions, warranties, and service commitments. Following approval of sourcing recommendations, the role prepares and issues award letters, ensures alignment between approved sourcing outcomes and contractual commitments, and initiates contracting workflows in collaboration with Legal and other control functions without approving contractual deviations or unapproved variations.
3.4 Single and Sole Sourcing Administration
The role administers single and sole sourcing requests by validating justification completeness, confirming alignment with procurement policy requirements, and ensuring appropriate approvals are obtained prior to execution. This includes compiling sourcing documentation, coordinating negotiations within approved parameters, and ensuring that all approved justifications and supporting records are properly archived for audit purposes. Risk acceptance, policy interpretation, and approval of exceptions remain outside the role’s remit.
3.5 Supplier Due Diligence Coordination
The role coordinates supplier due diligence activities required for procurement readiness through approved systems and tools. This includes initiating due diligence requests, tracking supplier submissions, and ensuring required screening is completed prior to award or contracting. The role facilitates information flow between suppliers and risk or compliance teams for assessment and approval, but does not own risk assessment outcomes, onboarding decisions, or approval authority.
3.6 Contract Administration and Lifecycle Support
The role supports contract lifecycle administration by ensuring that executed contracts are correctly recorded, amendments are processed with appropriate approvals, renewals are coordinated in line with procedures, and contract records remain current and auditable. The role escalates contractual issues, disputes, or deviations through defined channels and supports documentation for dispute resolution or contract closure without exercising termination or risk acceptance authority.
3.7 Purchase-to-Pay (PR-to-PO) Execution Control
The role controls procurement transaction integrity by reviewing purchase requisitions for completeness and compliance prior to processing and ensuring that purchase orders accurately reflect approved sourcing and contract terms after confirmation of required approvals. The role ensures all PR-to-PO documentation is properly recorded in the ERP system and maintains full traceability of procurement transactions to support financial control and audit review.
3.8 Emergency Procurement Processing
The role administers emergency procurement requests by validating documentation completeness, confirming approvals are in place, and ensuring post-event regularization is completed within prescribed timelines. This ensures that emergency procurement remains controlled, auditable, and compliant with Group standards and does not create unmanaged commercial or regulatory exposure.
3.9 Delivery Verification and Non-Conformance Administration
The role manages procurement-related delivery controls, including conditional acceptance, rejection processing, and corrective action coordination. This includes issuing formal non-conformance documentation, tracking remediation actions, and escalating repeated delivery failures or contractual breaches through appropriate channels for resolution by accountable functions.
3.10 Reporting, Documentation, and Audit Readiness
The role is responsible for maintaining complete, accurate, and auditable procurement records across sourcing, contracting, and transactional activities. This includes preparing procurement reports for management, supporting internal and external audits, and ensuring that procurement decisions and actions are fully documented and defensible as execution records rather than assurance or policy sign-off.
Qualifications
EXPERIENCE
9.1 Professional Procurement Experience
The role requires a minimum of five (5) years’ relevant professional experience in procurement and supply chain management within structured, policy-driven organizations. This experience must demonstrate progressive responsibility in sourcing execution, contracting, commercial negotiation, and procurement delivery, with a strong emphasis on compliance, documentation discipline, delegated authority adherence, and value-for-money outcomes within formally governed procurement environments.
9.2 Non-Technology Category Procurement Experience
The role requires demonstrable hands-on experience in non-technology procurement categories, including goods, works, professional services, facilities, logistics, administration, or other operational spend areas. This experience should include execution of competitive and non-competitive sourcing events, supplier evaluations, negotiations, and contract execution in line with approved sourcing strategies, authority limits, and documentation standards within controlled procurement environments.
9.3 Commercial and Sourcing Strategy Experience
The role requires experience in developing and executing sourcing strategies at transaction or category level, including market analysis, sourcing approach selection, supplier engagement planning, and negotiation strategy execution subject to approved governance frameworks. Strong commercial experience in supplier engagement, contract execution, and management of commercial risk is essential to support defensible procurement outcomes through disciplined execution and escalation rather than policy ownership.
9.4 Regulated and Multi-Entity Environment Exposure
The role requires experience operating within large, regulated, or multi-entity organizations where procurement activities are subject to formal governance frameworks, delegated authority limits, and audit scrutiny. Exposure to financial services, infrastructure-heavy organizations, public sector, or similarly regulated environments is strongly preferred, as is experience supporting procurement across multiple business units or subsidiaries while maintaining segregation of duties and audit readiness.
Must-Have Qualifications and Certifications
A Bachelor’s degree in Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Business, or a closely related discipline from a recognized institution. In addition, the role requires a Professional Diploma in Procurement and Supply Chain Management (MCIPS or an equivalent internationally recognized procurement qualification) where applicable under organizational and statutory requirements.
Active membership in the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM) with a valid practicing license is required, in line with applicable statutory requirements for procurement professionals operating within the Group.
10.2 Nice-to-Have Qualifications and Certifications
A Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Logistics, or a related postgraduate qualification is an added advantage.
Additional professional certifications in contract management, supplier relationship management, project management, risk management, or process improvement (e.g. Lean or Six Sigma) are also considered beneficial, as they enhance execution quality, analytical capability, and operational effectiveness.
