Driven to create unique home-grown food concepts that bring people together, the Independent Food Company is a UAE-based hospitality company with multiple concepts under its umbrella – SALT, Parker's, Grind, Somewhere, Public, Soil and Kumo.
We are presently seeking to hire a highly qualified Procurement Specialist - Capex to join our Procurement & Supply Chain team in the UAE. This is a senior operational role requiring deep knowledge of F&B and hospitality procurement across multiple categories — including kitchen equipment, stainless steel custom fabrication, HVAC, MEP, coffee equipment, fit-out, and related Capex works.
The role demands a candidate who can independently manage the full procurement cycle — from receiving and prioritizing incoming requests, through RFQ, negotiation, comparison, and approval, to delivery tracking and payment follow-up. The ideal candidate is highly organized, commercially sharp, and brings enough industry knowledge to hit the ground running with minimal onboarding.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Delivery Tracking, Expediting & Follow-Up
- Own the end-to-end delivery tracking process for all open Capex purchase orders — maintaining a live tracker with ETAs, milestones, and status for every line item across all active projects.
- Conduct daily proactive follow-up with suppliers on all active and at-risk deliveries — calls, emails, and written confirmations logged without exception.
- Identify delays early, assess impact on project timelines, and escalate with a clear summary and resolution plan.
- Coordinate with site teams, project managers, warehouses, and logistics contacts to confirm receipt, inspection, and sign-off on all delivered goods.
- Chase outstanding delivery confirmations, test certificates, warranties, O&M manuals, and close-out documentation from suppliers.
- Resolve delivery discrepancies independently — short shipments, wrong specs, damaged goods — and document all outcomes and supplier responses.
- Maintain a comprehensive delay log and expediting history per supplier and PO, used as the basis for vendor performance reviews.
2. Incoming RFP & Request Management
- Act as the primary point of contact for all incoming procurement requests from internal teams, project managers, and site operations across all brands and locations.
- Log, categorise, and prioritise every incoming request — ensuring nothing is missed, duplicated, or left without a clear owner and timeline.
- Scope out each request with the requestor: clarify technical specifications, quantities, urgency, and budget parameters before initiating procurement action.
- Track each request through its full lifecycle: intake → RFQ → bids received → comparison → approval → PO issuance → delivery → close-out.
- Follow up proactively on open requests pending information, internal approvals, or supplier responses.
- Maintain a shared, real-time request log providing full visibility of every active and pending item at any point.
- Flag stalled, overdue, or escalated requests with a clear status update and recommended next action.
3. RFQ, Negotiation & Bid Management
- Independently prepare, issue, and manage RFQs for all Capex equipment and services — including commercial kitchen equipment, cold rooms, cooking lines, stainless steel fabrication, HVAC, MEP, FF&E, coffee equipment, and fit-out works.
- Ensure all RFQs are issued with complete, accurate technical specifications, scope of work, and commercial terms.
- Drive competitive tendering — secure a minimum of three qualified bids per RFQ and manage the full submission and clarification process.
- Lead commercial negotiations with shortlisted vendors on pricing, delivery schedules, payment terms, and warranty conditions — targeting best value, not just lowest price.
- Identify and challenge inflated pricing, unreasonable lead times, or unfavorable terms and push back with data and market knowledge.
- Document all negotiation outcomes, agreed concessions, and final commercial positions for every award.
4. Comparison Sheets & Approval Packages
- Produce detailed, professional bid comparison matrices — covering price, delivery, payment terms, warranty, spec compliance, and quotation vs. rate card analysis — ready for sign-off without rework.
- Prepare complete approval submission packages: vendor recommendation with full commercial justification, savings summary, risk notes, and all supporting documents.
- Ensure every comparison sheet and approval pack is audit-ready and aligned with the company's approval authority matrix and financial controls.
- Manage the full approval workflow — routing documents to the right stakeholders, tracking sign-offs, and escalating bottlenecks proactively.
- Maintain a master approval log across all active procurement activities.
5. Vendor Management & Supplier Development
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with key suppliers across all F&B and Capex categories in the UAE market.
- Develop and maintain a preferred vendor list with up-to-date commercial terms, lead times, and performance ratings.
- Conduct periodic vendor performance reviews based on delivery reliability, quality, responsiveness, and commercial competitiveness.
- Identify and onboard new suppliers to strengthen the vendor base and ensure competitive tension across all categories.
- Manage supplier capacity checks for rush orders and project acceleration requirements.
- Ensure all vendors are properly registered, compliant, and maintain valid documentation on file.
6. Payment Follow-Up & Reporting
- Track all payment milestones per PO — advance payments, delivery payments, and retention releases — against agreed contractual terms.
- Liaise with Finance to ensure invoices are submitted correctly, approved, and processed on time.
- Review all supplier invoices for accuracy against PO terms: quantity, price, milestone completion, and supporting documentation.
- Maintain a real-time payment status log and flag disputes, non-conforming invoices, or outstanding payments before they become issues.
- Provide regular procurement performance reports: open RFQs, delivery status, savings achieved vs. budget, and vendor scorecard updates.
Requirements:
- 5+ years of progressive procurement experience, with a focus on Capex and technical categories.
- Deep, hands-on knowledge of F&B and hospitality equipment procurement — this is mandatory. Categories must include: commercial kitchen equipment, cold rooms, cooking lines, extraction systems, dishwashing, stainless steel custom fabrication, coffee equipment, and similar.
- Proven experience procuring HVAC, MEP, FF&E, and fit-out works for F&B or hospitality projects specifically in the UAE.
- Demonstrated ability to independently manage the full procurement lifecycle across multiple concurrent projects without close supervision.
- Strong track record of supplier negotiation — able to challenge pricing, drive savings, and secure favorable commercial terms.
- Experience managing delivery tracking and expediting across 50+ open purchase orders simultaneously.
- Proven ability to prepare professional comparison sheets, bid analysis documents, and approval packages to a standard ready for senior sign-off.
- Solid understanding of UAE market suppliers, pricing benchmarks, and lead times across F&B Capex categories.
- Experience working across multiple brands or projects simultaneously within a hospitality or F&B group is highly preferred.
