Operational Purchasing Team Lead - Procurement (APAC)
Notify me about similar jobsMerck KGaA has closed or removed this posting -- see current similar openings below.
About this opportunity
Work Your Magic with us! Ready to explore, break barriers, and discover more? We know you’ve got big plans – so do we! Our colleagues across the globe love innovating with science and technology to enrich people’s lives with our solutions in Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. Together, we dream big and are passionate about caring for our rich mix of people, customers, patients, and planet. That's why we are always looking for curious minds that see themselves imagining the unimaginable with us.
As a vibrant science and technology company, we believe in science as a force for good. We make a positive difference in millions of people´s lives every day.
Our passion for science and technology is what drives our more than 64,000 employees across 66 countries to find solutions to some of today’s toughest challenges and create more sustainable ways to live.
Job Summary:
As an Operational Purchasing Team Lead, you will oversee and guide the team responsible for the end-to-end operational purchasing process, from validating purchase requisitions (PRs) to ensuring compliance and timely conversion to purchase orders (POs) in alignment with company policies and service levels.
Your responsibilities:
Supervising daily team operations to ensure efficient handling of PR validations, PO creation, and follow-up with stakeholders for approvals and clarifications.
Ensuring all purchase requests meet policy, approval, and compliance requirements before PO issuance.
Monitoring and driving team performance to meet SLA, KPI, and quality standards, and implementing corrective actions where needed.
Acting as the first level of escalation for operational issues and coordinating with internal stakeholders (e.g., approvers, compliance, category managers, and suppliers) for timely resolution.
Supporting system-related activities in SAP and Ariba, including troubleshooting and training users on process steps and compliance expectations.
Conducting regular coaching, feedback, and skill-building sessions to strengthen the team’s operational and analytical capabilities.
Identifying process improvement opportunities and contributing to projects that enhance accuracy, efficiency, and stakeholder satisfaction.
Maintaining up-to-date SOPs, work instructions, and compliance documentation for audit readiness.
Preparing periodic operational reports and providing visibility to management on performance trends, challenges, and action plans.
Education:
· Minimum 5 years experience in end to end Purchasing Operations with no lessthan three (3) years on a supervisory/Team Lead level.
Key Competencies:
Procurement Process Expertise
Compliance and Risk Awareness
Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills
Stakeholder and Vendor Management
Team Leadership and Development
Planning and Prioritization
Communication and Collaboration
Continuous Improvement Mindset
Customer Service Orientation
What we offer: We are curious minds that come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We celebrate all dimensions of diversity and believe that it drives excellence and innovation, strengthening our ability to lead in science and technology. We are committed to creating access and opportunities for all to develop and grow at your own pace. Join us in building a culture of inclusion and belonging that impacts millions and empowers everyone to work their magic and champion human progress! Apply now and become a part of our diverse team!
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Procurement role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 187 comparable Procurement roles across 21 biopharma companies.
Salary context
19 of 187 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 187 comparable roles
+ 25 more countries
Seniority mix
135 of 187 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
0 of 187 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.
Currently open similar roles
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How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.