Senior Procurement Manager- Southern Europe

Senior Manager Procurement, Southern Europe

About Plaza Premium Group and the role

Plaza Premium Group is a global leader in integrated airport hospitality, with award-winning lounges, dining, passenger services and airport experiences across international markets. In Southern Europe, this Senior Manager Procurement role is a hands-on leadership position focused on making procurement a real performance lever: sharper supplier value, stronger food and beverage cost control, better purchasing discipline, improved inventory practices and visible business impact.

Why this role matters

This is not a reactive purchasing role. It requires someone who can look ahead, challenge demand before money is spent, bring supplier innovation into the business and turn procurement into a driver of profitability, productivity and operational excellence. The right person will be close to the operation, understand how lounges consume, waste, order and execute, and convert that insight into practical improvements.

Reporting line and key relationships

Reports to the Associate Director Finance Southern Europe, with a dotted line to the Europe Procurement Manager. The role works closely with Operations, Food and Beverage, Logistics, Finance, Commercial and local leadership teams to ensure procurement decisions are commercially sound, operationally realistic and aligned with regional priorities.

What you will own

Proactive procurement leadership

Lead procurement across Southern Europe with an active, forward-looking mindset, moving the function from transactional buying to structured planning, supplier challenge, demand discipline and measurable value creation.

Food and beverage cost leadership

Own procurement initiatives in food and beverage, one of the most important cost and margin areas of the business, challenging product specifications, supplier models, consumption patterns, portioning, waste and purchasing behaviour.

Partner with Operations and Food and Beverage teams to improve menu economics, reduce waste, strengthen stock discipline and ensure purchasing choices support both guest experience and profitability.

Supplier strategy and commercial negotiation

Build supplier partnerships that deliver value beyond price, including quality, reliability, innovation, service levels, flexibility and operational support.

Lead negotiations with a total value mindset, using benchmarks, volumes, consumption data and business needs to improve contracts, pricing, service performance and supplier accountability.

Identify where supplier consolidation, new sourcing models or alternative products can improve value without weakening the customer experience.

Business transformation and operational improvement

Use procurement as a business improvement function, challenging how the organisation buys, consumes, stores, moves and controls goods and services.

Bring practical ideas to simplify processes, reduce complexity, improve execution and support new lounge openings, commercial initiatives and transformation projects.

Operational presence

Stay close to lounges, kitchens, logistics flows and frontline teams to understand what is really driving spend, waste, stock issues, service pressure and supplier performance.

Translate operational insight into action, with clear follow-up on cost per passenger, waste, stock rotation, ordering accuracy, supplier delivery and product usage.

Cost visibility and savings delivery

Work closely with Finance to identify, validate and monitor procurement savings, ensuring initiatives are measurable, credible and linked to actual business performance.

Improve spend visibility, supplier reporting and procurement dashboards so that decisions are based on facts, not habits or assumptions.

Governance, controls and procurement discipline

Strengthen procurement governance, contract management, delegated authority compliance, supplier documentation, purchasing discipline and audit readiness.

Stakeholder influence

Act as a trusted procurement partner to Operations, Finance, Commercial and regional leadership, bringing challenge, judgement and practical solutions to business decisions.

Influence teams without relying on hierarchy, building alignment around better buying, stronger supplier performance and disciplined execution.

Inventory, logistics and process improvement

Improve ordering, replenishment, stock control, storage practices and product standardisation, working wi