Associate Procurement (m/f/d) - Eastern Europe - focus on Ukraine

About KWS

KWS is one of the world’s leading plant breeding companies. Over 5,000 employees in more than 70 countries generated net sales of around €1.8 billion in the fiscal year 2022/2023. A company with a tradition of family ownership, KWS has operated independently for 165 years. It focuses on plant breeding and the production and sale of seed for corn, sugar beet, cereals, vegetables, oilseed rape and sunflower. KWS uses leading-edge plant breeding methods to continuously improve yield for farmers and plants’ resistance to diseases, pests, and abiotic stress. To that end, the company invested more than €300 million last fiscal year in research and development. 

Ihre Aufgaben:

At KWS Berlin, we are looking for an Operational Buyer for our operations in Eastern Europe within the Global Transaction Center as part of our ONEGLOBE initiative. You are responsible to ensure effective and highly efficient transactional processes, while providing  state of the art transactional services daily to internal and external stakeholders. The role works closely with the Team Coordinator of the respective area to support proper task coverage and workload distribution, while collaborating with the Lead of GTC Procurement Team to support the roadmap execution. You guide and support business users in all relevant aspects. Also the role drives continuous process improvement and facilitates the standardization, digitalization, and automation of the of the end-to-end source-to-pay process. This is a permanent and full time position.

Your responsibilities:

• Process purchase requisitions, orders, and contracts for Goods & Services as per defined scope and in accordance to the defined service level agreement (SLA).
• Process requests from internal users via the internal ticketing system in accordance to the defined service level agreement (SLA).
• Conduct and analyze requests for quotations (RFQs) and executes tactical buying for Goods and Services for defined thresholds and spend categories.
• Monitor the spending patterns in the supported KWS legal entities and provide suggestions on potential catalog implementation for defined spend categories.
• Support the SAP S/4 HANA roll-out as applicable performing the necessary tasks during the process roll-out, including knowledge transfer, testing and user training.
• Drive PO quota improvement initiatives in the supported legal entities to increase compliance and process adherence.
• Provide end-user education and trainings on the procurement process and tools.
• Support end-to-end process application by collaborating closely with the other departments (Accounts Payable, ExHub Procurement, Master Data Management, General Ledger and Controlling, Global IT etc.)
• Execute activities based on process documentation and drive standardization by addressing any deviations proactively.
• Foster relationships internally and externally and contribute to a positive team atmosphere.

Your Profile:

• Preferably academic degree in Business Administration or related field
  Sound knowledge of general procurement processes
• Preferably two or more years of professional experience in procurement
• Experience in shared service centers
• Experience in working in ERP systems (preferably SAP)
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Customer orientation and extraordinary service attitude
• Analytical skills and hands-on mentality to solve problems
• Result-oriented and solution-driven mindset with focus on high quality
• Process-driven team player with solid judgment and decision-making capabilities
• Strong attention to detail and ability to maintain accuracy in a fast-paced environment
• Fluent in English and Ukrainian and one other language from Romanian or Turkish. Any other Eastern European language is an advantage.