General Manager - Livestock Procurement - Processed Food Industry

General Manager - Livestock Procurement

Location: Maharashtra

Function: Procurement - Sourcing

Industry: Processed Food - Poultry

Role Overview:

We are looking to hire a General Manager - Livestock Procurement for a leading player in the processed food industry. The role will be responsible for developing and executing the organisation's livestock procurement strategy, ensuring the consistent availability of quality raw material at competitive costs.

The position will lead the end-to-end livestock sourcing and procurement ecosystem, including market intelligence, farmer and supplier network development, procurement planning, commercial negotiations, quality assurance, cost optimisation and supply continuity.

Key Responsibilities:

Livestock Procurement Strategy:

• Develop and execute the livestock procurement strategy in line with business volumes, production requirements and market conditions.
• Ensure uninterrupted availability of livestock - raw material across key sourcing regions.
• Identify and develop new sourcing markets, clusters and supplier - farmer networks.
• Build a diversified sourcing ecosystem to minimise dependency on individual suppliers or markets.

Farmer & Supplier Network Development:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with farmers, aggregators, livestock traders, suppliers and collection centres.
• Identify, evaluate and onboard new suppliers based on quality, reliability, pricing and compliance.
• Develop long-term strategic relationships with key sourcing partners.
• Explore opportunities to strengthen direct procurement channels where commercially and operationally viable.

Commercial Management & Cost Optimisation:

• Monitor livestock prices, market benchmarks and regional price differentials.
• Lead commercial negotiations with suppliers, traders and sourcing partners.
• Identify opportunities for procurement savings, cost efficiencies and margin improvement.
• Develop appropriate pricing mechanisms considering seasonality, livestock availability, quality and market demand.
• Drive procurement costs in line with defined market benchmarks while maintaining quality and supply continuity.

Market Intelligence & Procurement Planning:

• Track livestock market trends, price movements and regional supply-demand dynamics.
• Monitor seasonal availability and its impact on procurement costs and supply.
• Track competitor practices and market pricing.
• Partner with business and supply chain teams to align demand forecasting with procurement planning.

Quality, Animal Health & Compliance:

• Ensure procurement of livestock that meets defined quality, health and processing specifications.
• Work closely with Veterinary, Quality, Production and Food Safety teams on livestock quality parameters.
• Ensure adherence to applicable animal health, food safety, regulatory and ethical sourcing requirements.

Supply Continuity:

• Ensure adequate availability of raw material across sourcing regions.
• Align procurement with production schedules and business requirements.
• Develop contingency sourcing plans to manage supply disruptions, seasonal shortages and market volatility.
• Balance availability, cost, quality and inventory requirements effectively.

Supplier Performance & Governance:

• Establish procurement SLAs, performance standards and KPIs for suppliers and sourcing partners.
• Monitor supplier performance across cost, quality, availability and service parameters.
• Identify procurement risks and develop appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Ensure transparency and governance across supplier selection, pricing and commercial negotiations.

Team Leadership:

• Lead, mentor and develop the livestock procurement team.
• Build procurement capabilities across sourcing locations.
• Set clear goals, KPIs and accountability for the team.
• Develop capabilities in market intelligence, supplier management, negotiation and procurement analytics.

Candidate Profile:

• 15+ years of relevant experience in livestock, milk or raw material procurement.
• Experience in the meat, dairy, processed food or allied food industries would be preferred.
• BVSc - Animal Husbandry or equivalent qualification preferred.
• Strong understanding of livestock sourcing, procurement markets and regional supply dynamics.
• Proven experience in supplier - farmer network development and commercial negotiations.
• Strong commercial orientation with demonstrated capability in cost optimisation and procurement savings.
• Strong market intelligence and analytical skills.
• Experience managing and developing procurement teams.
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional stakeholders including Production, Quality, Veterinary, Supply Chain, Sales and Finance.

Key Success Measures:

• Livestock availability and supply continuity
• Procurement cost versus market benchmarks
• Procurement savings and cost optimisation
• Strength and expansion of farmer - supplier network
• Supplier performance and quality
• Effectiveness of procurement planning and market intelligence
• Team capability and performance