Synthomer is a leading supplier of high-performance, highly specialised polymers and ingredients that play vital roles in key sectors such as coatings, construction, adhesives, and health and protection – growing markets that serve billions of end users worldwide. Headquartered in London, UK and publicly listed there since 1971, we employ c.3,900 employees across our 5 innovation centres of excellence and more than 29 manufacturing sites across Europe, North America and Asia. Around 20% of our sales volumes are from new and patent protected products.
At our innovation centres of excellence in the UK, Germany, China, Malaysia and Ohio, USA we collaborate closely with our customers to develop new products and enhance existing ones tailored to their needs, with an increasing range of sustainability benefits. Since 2021, we have been proud holders of the London Stock Exchange Green Economy Mark, which recognises green technology businesses making a significant contribution to a more sustainable, low-carbon economy.
- Develop and maintain the procurement process to for achieving high operation efficiency and meeting internal & External compliance standards.
- Actively engaged in understanding of business needs and define strategic approach to the procurement of indirect products and services, logistics and Capex.
- Develop & implement sustainable Procurement Strategies, meeting business needs & driving functional excellence, taking into account the balance of short & long term, cost and risk, for China in agreement with the business leadership and the global functional leadership.
- Develop and execute negotiation strategies for pricing with suppliers in line with market conditions as determined by market analysis.Evaluate and monitor agreed contract price to ensure price is right dependent on changing market conditions. Agree targets for cost reduction for spend category and implement plans to achieve the targets.
- Supplier contract management and leading contract negotiation in line with standard Company terms and conditions for portfolio/area of responsibility (taking advice from legal team where terms are not standard).
- Manage and develop indirect spending database, drive continuous cost saving based on data analysis & market study.
- Maintain indirect spending category and relevant SAP system setting.
- Manage and drive continuous improvement on SAP process to align with business needs. Understand, as far as practicable, the China Government’s policy towards the chemical industry.
- Manage and develop supplier relationships through regular meetings, audits, review performance, draw up savings road maps and targets and seek ways to achieve and improve on procurement strategy.
- Undertake risk management for critical suppliers/products, assess risks based on supply shortages or limited sources and ensure plans in place for alternatives.
- Work in conjunction with technical/production teams when assessing and implementing alternatives.
- Build a strong China procurement team through strategic workforce planning, training & coaching, organization optimization Policy compliance and supplier risk management.
- Actively participate in company SHE related activities & achieve personal SHE objectives & comply with company policies, with particular regard to SHE, QM, Code of Conduct & Employment Handbook
- Other work assigned by supervisor.
🌍 Global Benefits Overview
💰 Competitive, market-aligned compensation
🎯 Discretionary global bonus scheme
📈 Discretionary Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) – for senior positions
🚗 Company car or car allowance – varies by region and role
🩺 Healthcare – tailored to regional locations
👶 Parental leave and family support – maternity, paternity, adoption (aligned with regional policies)
🏡 Working options – flexibility where it matters, based on role and business needs
📚 Learning & development opportunities – training, online platforms, buddy/mentorship programs, Internal Synthomer University with L&D offers
💙 Wellbeing support – employee assistance program (EAP), mental health resources, wellbeing initiatives
🌱 Retirement / pension contributions – plans vary by country
🤝 Culture of Inclusion – where everyone can thrive
🏆 Performance culture, global reward & recognition programmes
Skills Required
- Develop and maintain procurement processes to achieve operational efficiency and compliance
- Strategic procurement for indirect products, services, logistics and Capex aligned with business needs
- Develop and implement sustainable procurement strategies balancing cost, risk and time horizons
- Negotiate supplier pricing and manage contract pricing based on market analysis
- Supplier contract management and leading contract negotiations (liaise with legal when needed)
- Manage and develop indirect spending database and drive continuous cost savings from data analysis
- Maintain indirect spending category and relevant SAP system settings; drive SAP process improvements
- Understand China government policy relevant to the chemical industry
- Manage supplier relationships through meetings, audits, performance reviews and savings roadmaps
- Undertake risk management for critical suppliers/products and ensure alternative supply plans
- Collaborate with technical and production teams when assessing and implementing alternatives
- Build and develop the China procurement team via workforce planning, training and coaching
- Comply with and participate in SHE, QM, Code of Conduct and company policies
What We Do
Synthomer is a business-to-business speciality chemicals producer. We create value for all our stakeholders by applying our expertise and innovation capabilities to provide high-performance water-based polymers and ingredients to a wide range of blue-chip customers in multiple attractive end markets. Synthomer are headquartered and stock listed in the UK. We have more than 30 operational sites across Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia including four innovation centres of excellence. The Company employs around 4,200 entrepreneurial, highly skilled employees with the expertise and experience to drive our success worldwide.
