This role was focused on direct material cost management & the contribution of direct material cost reduction to COGs and company profitability. My responsibilities within this role included the creation & ongoing maintenance of the direct material cost management process, monitoring & reporting performance against targets & identification of opportunities for cost reduction without detrimental impact to other business KPI's. In Mar 2016 I was awarded the business unit Presidents award for Innovation for our cost process architecture. The cost management role also involved providing the input on direct material cost into new business bids & product costing as well as supporting costing for stages in the product life cycle.Prior to my focus on cost management I was responsible for the procurement of the Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Solid State Disks (SSD) used within the Seagate Systems Storage business. My responsibilities included the creation of the procurement strategy, setup of supply chain, negotiating terms of trade & contract management, qualification of suppliers, managing supplier performance and ensuring costs are both competitive and within target.

Within this role I was responsible for the procurement of the Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Solid State Disks (SSD) used within the Xyratex Storage Systems business. With annual spend responsibility exceeding $600m USD per annum at peak my responsibilities included the creation of the procurement strategy, setup of supply chain, negotiating terms of trade & contract management, qualification of suppliers, managing supplier performance and ensuring costs are both competitive and within target. The role required development of product knowledge and technical skills to appreciate & determine value from the products being procured. With the supply base manufacturing in Thailand, China and Malaysia and the headquarters on the West Coast of America (Silicon Valley) I supported regular long haul business travel aligned to the objectives and requirements of the job.In addition to my commodity repsonsibilities and following the direction and objectives provided by the VP WW Procurement, I was responsible for developing the approach, training (internal and external), roll out and tracking of compliance with Xyratex's corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles in the supply chain. This involved matrix management of internal stakeholders & contributors to ensure that the Xyratex procurement and supply chain team met & exceeded our CSR goals. We successfully achieved our CSR goals for 3 consecutive years & I represented the procurement function within internal & external (EICC Validated audit process) with no observations or Non Conformances.

Within this role I was responsible for the procurement of a variety of products including Printed Circuit Board Assemblies (PCBA), Automation components (Pneumatic & Electrical), high precision machined components and sheetmetal. The role supported the Capital Equipment division of Xyratex which manufactured automated test and factory automation for the Hard Disk Drive industry. The supply base I dealt with was global and required daily communication with suppliers in Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, UK, and the USA. Business travel to these destinations was also supported. My responsibilities included the creation of procurement strategy, setup of supply chain, negotiating terms of trade, qualification of suppliers, management of cost including meeting cost reduction targets and competitive benchmarking.

Audit and Assurance Associate. Responsible for audit of Purchase Ledgers, Sales Ledgers, Fixed Assets, Trial Balances.