Market Category Specialist, Capex (East Africa)

East African Breweries PLC (EABL) is East Africa’s leading branded alcohol beverage business with extensive operations in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. They produce a wide range of beers, spirits, and adult non-alcoholic drinks, focusing on delivering high-quality brands and long-term value to investors.

The Procurement team at EABL focuses on maximizing the company's annual spend, building premium quality brands, and creating sustainable value and growth. They deliver end-to-end value across the supply chain, offer innovative supplier solutions, and drive sustainability initiatives with suppliers and agency partners. The Market Category Specialist, Capex (East Africa) will be responsible for implementing the East Africa CAPEX program within category teams. This includes managing project risks, achieving planned savings, and identifying new opportunities. The role supports the category lead in strategy development and execution, particularly for large Capital projects, Utilities CapEx, and other spend areas like MRO and utilities. The specialist will also contribute to risk management, market risk assessments, and collaborate with in-market teams to share supplier performance data and build improvement plans. Key deliverables include project delivery on time, within budget, and to specification, as well as leading the Supplier Performance Management (SPM) program for key sub-category suppliers.

1. Work with internal partners to ensure RFPs focus on key business and commercial outcomes.
2. Develop best-in-class market data, knowledge, category strategies, and sourcing events using Diageo standards.
3. Contribute to improving existing and developing new procurement tools and techniques.
4. Partner with business stakeholders to ensure sourcing exercises achieve required outcomes, manage risks, and deliver program value.
5. Develop relationships with stakeholders, partners, and suppliers for deeper insights into needs and capabilities.
6. Generate insights and opportunities from internal and external benchmarking, develop cost models, and evolve analytics capabilities.
7. Support category strategy development by capturing business requirements, analyzing market dynamics, and proposing solutions.
8. Develop and implement sourcing strategies to support sustainability targets.
9. Plan, prepare, and apply negotiation toolkits for sourcing projects, supporting contract negotiation and closure.
10. Manage contracts and ensure compliance throughout their lifecycles.
11. Support risk management activities with data inputs.
12. Apply and improve Procurement best practice standards.
13. Utilize supplier relationship management frameworks to assess performance, identify improvements, and build action plans.
14. Develop the supply base to support sustainability targets.
15. Collaborate with suppliers to unlock breakthrough opportunities and stimulate idea generation.
16. Establish standards, ways of working, and trusted relationships with global and regional suppliers to ensure strong performance and risk mitigation.

1. Graduate or equivalent qualification, with membership in a professional body (e.g., CIPS).
2. Minimum of 3 years of experience in CapEx Procurement.
3. Strong analytical and financial awareness, including understanding financial goals and value drivers.
4. Technically literate with a proven record of successful system usage.
5. Strong verbal, written, and presentation communication skills, along with strong interpersonal skills.
6. Proven track record of consistent performance and delivery.
7. Strong track record in category management, sourcing, and relationship management.
8. Ability to engage and collaborate effectively with technical teams.
9. Ability to work with in-market teams to share insights and best practices.
10. Ability to complete Pan-regional and global sourcing exercises with multiple business partners, including analysis, recommendation, and securing business alignment.
11. Ability to work with regional teams in executing sourcing recommendations and ongoing supplier performance management.