Media & Marketing Procurement Director

Earlier this year, Unilever announced an agreement to combine its Foods business with McCormick & Company, creating a scaled global flavour powerhouse. The proposed combination would bring together iconic Foods brands, including Hellmann’s and Knorr, with McCormick’s portfolio to create a global leader across spices, seasonings, condiments and complementary food categories, supported by strong retail and foodservice platforms. McCormick brings more than 135 years of heritage, a presence in 150+ countries and territories, and a portfolio of trusted brands. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, with completion estimated for mid-2027.

Job Title Media & Marketing Procurement Director

Function Procurement

Scope Global

Country Location and Worksite Details Netherlands – Hofplein 19, Rotterdam

Salary range: € 100.800 - € 138.600 gross per year, depending on experience and internal peer positioning.

JOB PURPOSE

This role exists to define the global procurement strategy for marketing, media, creative, agencies and related services, covering an approximately €750+ million spend base and setting portfolio priorities, commercial frameworks, governance and performance expectations for execution by global and regional teams. The role shapes a future-fit operating model that combines global scale with Business Group, Business Unit, brand and market responsiveness, reduces fragmentation and pools expertise across geographies. Working with Marketing, Media, Brand leadership, Business Groups, Finance, Legal and strategic supplier partners, the role enables growth, marketing effectiveness, responsible sourcing, social sustainability, digital transformation and long-term value creation across the marketing value chain.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead, develop and empower a 16-FTE Global Media & Marketing Procurement organisation comprising this role, seven Managers—all reporting directly to this role—and eight Assistant Managers, with responsibility for approximately €750+ million in global spend.

• Define the global Marketing and Media procurement strategy, including portfolio priorities, commercial frameworks, governance and performance expectations for global and regional execution.

• Shape a future-fit operating model that combines global scale with Business Group, Business Unit, brand and market responsiveness while reducing fragmentation and pooling expertise.

• Set measurable portfolio outcomes across financial delivery, marketing effectiveness, return on marketing investment, innovation, risk and responsible sourcing, holding portfolio leaders accountable for delivery.

• Build strategic partnerships with agencies, media owners, platforms and marketing-service providers through joint roadmaps, transparent remuneration models, commercial benchmarks and outcome-based incentives.

• Lead multi-year value programmes and major global agency reviews, tenders and RFPs in close collaboration with Marketing, Media, Finance, Legal, Business Groups and Business Units.

• Set global contracting, supplier-governance, media-measurement and data standards that strengthen transparency, brand safety and decision quality across traditional media, digital platforms, retail media, ad-tech and mar-tech.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Extensive senior procurement leadership experience across Marketing, Media, Creative, Agency or related indirect portfolios in large, complex multinational organisations.

• Demonstrated success defining global and multi-regional portfolio strategies, operating models and value agendas that support business growth and marketing effectiveness, with experience operating at comparable spend and organisational scale.

• Deep commercial expertise in strategic sourcing, negotiation, contracting, agency economics, remuneration models, benchmarking and media measurement.

• Proven success leading global agency reviews and RFPs and governing strategic partnerships with major agencies, platforms and media partners to deliver measurable value beyond savings.

• Strong financial and business acumen, executive stakeholder engagement, influencing capability and proven leadership of global, virtual and cross-cultural teams.

• Enterprise leadership mindset, with the ability to set clear priorities, lead through ambiguity and rapid market change, balance strategic thinking with execution, build trusted senior stakeholder relationships and develop high-performing procurement talent.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in a major consumer goods, retail or similarly marketing-intensive multinational organisation.

• Exposure to retail media, ad-tech, mar-tech, data and AI-enabled commercial models, or to responsible-sourcing and social-sustainability practices.

• Experience developing procurement capability, team engagement or succession pipelines in a global or matrix environment.