L&S Procurement Manager - EAA at Maersk Line

The Area Head of Logistics & Services Procurement – EAA is a strong leader who drives strategic business partnering, cost leadership, and operational excellence across East Africa, while leading digital innovation in procurement and building a highly engaged team.
The role reports to the Regional Head of Logistics and Services Procurement for IMEA, located in Cape Town.
We offer:

• Based in Nairobi, Kenya. 
• EAA consists of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia.  
• Managing the Area Procurement team, including team members sitting across several offices within EAA (Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mombasa). 
• Working closely in a matrix organization, harmonizing Area procurement efforts with the Regional procurement and Centre Procurement teams in close collaboration. 
• Partnering with the Area Product and Global Products (e.g. MCL, MEC, Air/LCL) Sales, Customer Experience and Finance teams on long-term game plans, including growth projects, and ensuring alignment between costs, commercial needs, customer experience and operational execution. 
• Leading negotiations, holding senior relationships, and coordinating the right Service Level Agreements between Maersk and its partners. 
• Accountable for integrating Maersk Contract Management frameworks to ensure compliance and best-in-class supplier performance. 
• Driving a strong digital footprint and agenda within supplier engagements and Area business plans. 
• Performing continuous improvement on supplier market analytics, organizing market intelligence and creating a competitive edge for Maersk's book of business through effective supply chains. 
• Cooperating closely with colleagues between the Area and the Ocean set-up in the Region. 
• Maintaining and growing the relationship with commercial logistics and services Regional directors and supporting Regional strategy through the area. 
• Expected travel to strategic vendor sites, owned assets and other areas of strategic relevance. 

Responsibilities:

• Drive strategic business partnering with the Area Leadership Team, Local and Global Product, Sales and Finance to align procurement with business growth and customer experience objectives. 
• Lead cost leadership and total cost of ownership agenda across Products (Local products, Contract Logistics, Ecommerce, Air/LCL as priority), ensuring procurement decisions are connected to P&L outcomes and budget/RoFo targets. 
• Own supplier relationship management for the EAA area, including strategic supplier negotiations, Service Level Agreements, KPIs, and corrective action plans. 
• Drive operational excellence through continuous improvement on supplier market analytics, market intelligence, and creating a competitive edge for Maersk. 
• Lead digital innovation in procurement, including adoption of e-sourcing platforms (e.g. SourceWise/Keelvar) and embedding AI-enabled procurement capabilities within the area. 
• Build and sustain a highly engaged, high-performing procurement team of 3, fostering a culture of accountability, development, and collaboration. 
• Ensure full compliance with Maersk Contract Management frameworks, procurement policies, HSSE, and regulatory requirements. 
• Cooperate closely with Regional and Global Category Leads, enabling the translation of regional category strategies into effective Area-level execution. 
• Represent the Area procurement perspective in the Regional Leadership Team and contribute to pan-IMEA procurement initiatives and best practices. 

Primary qualification:

• 10+ years of experience in Logistics, specifically Inland transportation, Warehousing, Cold Chain, Intermodal, Contract Logistics and Supply Chain Management. 
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Engineering, Business Administration or a related field. 
• Direct leadership experience, including team capability building, with experience managing multi-location teams. 
• Ability to lead digital change and transformation, including adoption of AI-enabled procurement capabilities. 
• Solid commercial acumen with the ability to link procurement actions to P&L and business outcomes. 
• High proficiency with Microsoft Office products including Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, Power BI and ERP systems. 
• Language: English (fluency required).

Additional qualification:

• Strong understanding of East African landside transportation, warehousing and contract logistics markets. 
• Knowledge of sourcing methodologies, contract management frameworks, and supplier performance management. 
• Familiarity with digital procurement tools (e-sourcing, spend analytics, AI-enabled procurement platforms). 
• Understanding of cost driver analysis, should-cost modelling and total cost of ownership principles. 
• Awareness of HSSE, regulatory, and compliance requirements in a EAA context.