Nouryon is a global specialty chemicals leader. Our products are used every day in a wide range of goods, from paper, plastics, and building materials to food, pharmaceuticals, and personal care items. Together with our customers, we combine science, creativity, and a commitment to sustainability to create essential chemistry for a sustainable future. Operating from a global network of sites, Nouryon offers the opportunity to build a career with real regional and international scope.
The Role
We are looking for a Logistics Procurement Manager to lead logistics category management across the India, Middle East and Africa (IMEA) region, based in our Dubai office. Alongside regional leadership, this role also carries global category ownership for Global Express Shipment (air freight and parcel), working in close partnership with the Global Category Manager and Regional Procurement Leaders.
As global category responsibilities expand over time, this role is expected to take on additional global categories and cross-regional procurement responsibilities, which will progressively take priority over the regional IMEA scope. This is a genuine opportunity to grow from a regional category leadership role into a broader global procurement remit within a leading specialty chemicals company.
The successful candidate will deploy a logistics procurement strategy that delivers optimal total cost of ownership, ensures supply continuity, manages risk, and drives transformation across a diverse and fast-growing set of markets.
Key Responsibilities
Category & Strategic Procurement
- Develop and deploy a robust logistics procurement strategy for the IMEA region, aligned to global category strategy and business priorities.
- Hold full end-to-end procurement accountability across the region's logistics categories, including:
- Local and international road transportation, including for dangerous goods (DG) and temperature-controlled/refrigerated shipments
- Warehousing, including temperature-controlled and deep-cold facilities
- Tank farms (silo storage) and tank truck transportation
- Ocean freight (FCL, LCL, ISO tanks, SOC, COC, reefer and special equipment)
- Equipment maintenance for reefer containers, IBCs and ISO tanks
- Escorting of dangerous goods
- Air freight, freight forwarding and drayage (DG and non-DG cargo)
- Jointly lead or support, with the Global Category Manager and Regional Procurement Leaders, procurement for Fleet (ISO tanks, IBCs, containers) and Global Express Shipment (air and parcel).
- Maintain and continuously refresh Strategic Points of View (SPoVs) for each category, informed by market intelligence, freight indices and regulatory developments.
- Lead sourcing negotiations and own contracting end-to-end, including development, approvals and participation in strategic contract reviews.
Performance & Continuous Improvement
- Identify and deliver logistics optimization opportunities through benchmarking, market intelligence and business input.
- Achieve agreed savings, cost avoidance and margin-contribution targets through strategic sourcing and supplier negotiation.
- Lead the successful implementation of logistics change programs across IMEA, including change management across multiple stakeholders.
- Strengthen risk management, contingency planning and supplier diversification for the region.
- Identify, engage and build relationships with strategic logistics partners across IMEA.
- Lead structured supplier business reviews, quarterly business reviews (QBRs) and performance improvement plans.
- Oversee supplier performance against safety, service, sustainability, compliance and cost measures.
Collaboration & Business Insight
- Represent Procurement in cross-regional forums and global category discussions.
- Contribute to cross-functional and cross-regional projects spanning logistics procurement, business planning, customer service and broader logistics initiatives.
- Identify synergies across businesses within IMEA and with the broader APAC, Europe and Americas regions.
- Support commercial teams and business units in fully leveraging Nouryon's combined buying power.
- Contribute to logistics network modelling, footprint optimization and mode-selection strategy.
- Provide regular reporting and insight to leadership and business stakeholders, and ensure full adoption of logistics tools, processes and digital platforms.
What You Bring
Experience
- 5–10+ years of relevant experience in logistics procurement or supply chain roles.
- Regional experience across Middle East, Africa, India or other multi-geography markets, with proven cross-country stakeholder management.
- Solid operational understanding of logistics — ocean, road and air freight, and warehousing — including HSE requirements for dangerous goods handling and basic trade compliance.
- Proven track record in strategic sourcing methodology, sourcing strategy development and contract lifecycle management.
- Experience leading transformation and process-improvement initiatives.
- Exposure to ocean and air freight markets, regional regulation, and logistics cost modelling.
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering or a related field.
- A Master's degree in Supply Chain or Logistics is preferred but not required.
Skills & Attributes
- Fluent in English, both written and spoken; Arabic language skills are an advantage.
- Strong analytical, negotiation and problem-solving capability.
- Ability to manage multiple markets, stakeholders and competing priorities in parallel.
- Comfortable working with AI-enabled productivity tools (e.g. Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT, Palantir).
- Strong proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite and SharePoint.
- Results-driven, with strong personal integrity and a collaborative, change-positive mindset.
Why Join Nouryon
This role offers the opportunity to lead a significant and diverse logistics spend base from our Dubai hub, with a clear path to expanded global category ownership. You will work alongside experienced regional and global procurement leaders in a company that combines the scale of a global chemicals leader with a genuine commitment to sustainability and to developing its people.
Nouryon is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
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