Cobalt Purchase Manager

Belgium - Olen
Umicore Battery Materials
Procurement, Supply Chain & Logistics

Posted on 19-04-2024

About Umicore
Reducing harmful vehicle emissions. Giving new life to used metals. Powering the cars of the future. As a global materials and technology group, we apply our specialist knowledge to offer materials and solutions that are essential to everyday life. We aim to be a clear world leader in materials for clean mobility and recycling and have turned our sustainability approach into an even greater competitive advantage. With ambitions like this, imagine what you could do?

About Umicore Battery Materials (UBM)

We are all on the move. Umicore’s rechargeable battery materials give people autonomy and connectivity. We are a pioneer in battery materials that give added range and performance to electric vehicles. Our materials also ensure longer battery life for portable electronics. To enable our customers to produce even better performing batteries we cannot stand still. We need to find new ways to do things, discover new solutions and develop new ideas. Which is where you come in.

What you will be doing
As Cobalt Purchase Manager you will strengthen and secure Cobalt intermediates (CHIP) and salts sourcing in support of the Business Head Cobalt! You are commercially responsible for our Asian and Finnish Cobalt refining operations from a supply perspective. Next to inhouse refining options, you will deal with external Co salts refining partners as well in collaboration with the Regional Supply Head for Chinese partners.

Your detailed responsibilities :

• You support the negotiation of optimum commercial terms with the selected and preferred suppliers for spot and long term contracts linked to Co salts and CHIP to be consumed by our refining partners. You handle the negotiated contracts and supplier relations together with all internal customers.
• You support the Business Head Co to determine the purchasing policy for Co raw materials (salts & CHIP). Your input will be used in the elaboration of the annual budget.
• You support the commercial negotiations, management and coordination of the supply & refining tolling operations in close collaboration with the Regional Supply Head
  • You support commercial contractual discussions regarding processing fees;
  • You act as primary HQ business contact of Umicore towards the tolling partners;
  • You lead raw material and production planning;
  • You act as the primary business contact for Umicore’s refining plant in Finland, thereby managing raw material planning, production and supply chain planning, transfer pricing, capacity allocations between BU’s and others involved.
• You assure the daily follow up of the Co stocks, hedging, etc together with the rest of the purchase team (input in SAP system, support to the daily hedging flash...)
• You act as primary business contact towards financial teams to support:
  • Profitability & financial result analysis;
  • Budget & forecast exercises;
  • Contractual set ups;
  • Transfer pricing discussions
• You collect and explore relevant supplier data in order to map the Co supplier landscape

You will be located in Olen or Brussels.

Who we are looking for

• You have acquired a master degree, preferably with a commercial focus or equivalent by experience
• You have at least a minimum experience of 2 years in a multinational environment
• Validated experience in a purchasing / commercial function is an asset
• With your strong commercial feeling, you like to take initiative in an international collaborative work environment
• You are able to translate business requirements into appropriate business work flows. A good understanding of account related work flows is a plus
• You are a great teammate
• You are stress resistant and capable of dealing with the sometimes conflicting interests
• You are a self-starting and ownership-taking person with a convincing and result driven approach and a creative and accurate mind
• You are prepared to travel on a frequent base
• You have a good knowledge of Dutch & English, French is a plus

What we offer
We aim to lead the way. Not just for our customers, but for our employees too. That is why we strive to create a collaborative environment in which we can all succeed, and a culture through which we can all share ideas, develop our expertise and advance our careers. We engage in building an inclusive work culture that offers equal opportunities for all employees irrespective of their diverse backgrounds. As you would expect from a world-leading organisation, we will also reward your contribution with a competitive salary and benefits. With all this and more, imagine what you could do?

If our battery materials can power electric vehicles, IMAGINE WHAT YOU COULD DO?