Milk Procurement Manager

Milk Procurement Manager

Industry: Dairy / FMCG & Beverages
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Gender: Any
Nationality: Any
Salary: Competitive
Benefits: To be discussed / Company benefits

The role will oversee milk sourcing, farmer and supplier relationships, procurement planning, pricing, contracts, collection centres, milk quality, logistics, cost control, supply risk, and procurement team performance.

The successful candidate will ensure the business consistently obtains the right quantity, right quality, right cost, and right time, while building a sustainable and diversified milk supply base.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Agriculture, Dairy Technology, Food Science, Business Administration, Economics, or a related field.
• Professional qualification in Procurement/Supply Chain is an advantage.
• Membership of a relevant professional body is an advantage.
• 7–10 years' relevant experience in milk procurement, dairy supply chain, agricultural procurement, FMCG procurement, or a related field.
• 3–5 years' experience in a managerial/supervisory role.
• Proven experience managing:
  • Dairy farmers and cooperatives
  • Milk aggregators and suppliers
  • Milk collection centres
  • Milk transportation and logistics
  • Supplier contracts
  • Milk quality
  • Procurement budgets and costs
  • Supplier performance
• Strong experience in the Kenyan dairy sector is highly preferred.
• Experience with SAP/ERP systems is an advantage.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the Company's annual and long-term milk procurement strategy.
• Forecast milk requirements and develop daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal procurement plans.
• Build and manage relationships with dairy farmers, cooperatives, aggregators, and other suppliers.
• Identify, evaluate, and onboard new suppliers and maintain an approved supplier database.
• Manage milk collection centres, aggregation activities, routes, and collection schedules.
• Ensure accurate weighing, recording, reconciliation, cooling, handling, and transfer of milk.
• Work with Quality Assurance to ensure raw milk is properly sampled, tested, and compliant with required standards.
• Monitor milk quality, rejection rates, adulteration, antibiotic residues, and other quality risks.
• Develop milk pricing recommendations and supplier incentive structures based on market, quality, volume, and cost considerations.
• Negotiate and manage supplier, cooperative, and aggregator contracts within approved authority.
• Optimize collection and transportation routes to reduce costs, losses, and transit time.
• Monitor total procurement costs, including milk purchase, collection, transportation, testing, rejection, and losses.
• Establish effective controls to detect and prevent milk leakage, fraud, unauthorized purchases, false volumes, and supplier/master-data manipulation.
• Work with Agriculture/Extension teams to improve farmer productivity, milk yield, and milk quality.
• Manage procurement data, SAP/ERP transactions, dashboards, reporting, and supplier performance analytics.
• Ensure compliance with Kenyan dairy, food-safety, contractual, and Company governance requirements.
• Lead, coach, and develop the milk procurement and field procurement teams.
• Establish and monitor procurement, supplier, collection-centre, and quality KPIs.

Key Performance Areas

The role will primarily be measured on:

• Milk supply availability and achievement of daily plant requirements.
• Raw milk quality and rejection rate.
• Supplier reliability and retention.
• Milk procurement cost per litre.
• Collection and transportation efficiency.
• Milk loss and leakage control.
• Supplier and contract compliance.
• Collection-centre reconciliation.
• Procurement savings and cost optimization.
• Farmer/supplier payment accuracy.
• Supplier complaint resolution.
• Long-term sustainability and diversification of the milk supply base.

 Core CompetenciesTechnical

• Milk procurement and dairy supply-chain management
• Supplier and farmer relationship management
• Commercial and procurement negotiation
• Milk quality and testing
• Supply forecasting and planning
• Collection-centre management
• Logistics and route optimization
• Cost management
• Contract management
• Supplier performance management
• SAP/ERP and data analysis
• Procurement controls and reconciliation
• Regulatory and compliance management

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a commercially astute, field-oriented dairy procurement professional with strong experience in Kenya's milk supply chain. They should be capable of building strong farmer and supplier networks while simultaneously controlling cost, improving quality, preventing losses, and ensuring reliable milk availability to the processing plant.

The successful candidate must demonstrate a track record of delivering measurable improvements in milk volume, quality, cost, supplier performance, collection efficiency, and supply reliability.