Head - Procurement and Contracts

Head Procurement & Contracts

Location: Kolkata

Role Purpose :Position will lead the companys end-to-end procurement and contracting function, ensuring timely, cost-effective procurement of goods, services, equipment and technology. The incumbent will be responsible for drafting, negotiating and administering techno-commercial contracts that safeguard the company’s interests across the entire contract lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

• To develop and implement the company’s procurement strategy, policies, SOPs, and vendor-management framework.
• Draft, review, and negotiate high-value contracts, including purchase orders, supply agreements, works contracts, EPC/sub-contracts, service agreements, O&M agreements, NDAs, rate contracts, and framework agreements.
• Prepare and finalise techno-commercial terms, including:
• Technical specifications, scope of supply/work, drawings, standards, and codes.
• Performance guarantees, capacity/output guarantees, efficiency parameters, and test requirements.
• Inspection, testing, factory acceptance tests, site acceptance tests, and acceptance criteria.
• Delivery schedules, liquidated damages, delay penalties, and remedies for non-performance.
• Warranty, defect liability, spare parts, technical support, training, and post-delivery obligations.
• Payment terms, milestones, retention, bank guarantees, performance security, and advance-payment safeguards.
• Price-variation, escalation, taxes, duties, freight, insurance, packing, forwarding, and Incoterms.
• Indemnities, limitation of liability, intellectual-property rights, confidentiality, termination, force majeure, and dispute-resolution clauses.precoro+1
• Ensure that contractual risk is appropriately allocated to vendors, contractors, and service providers, particularly for delay, quality failure, non-conformity, safety incidents, IP infringement, and third-party claims.
• Coordinate with Legal, Finance, Tax, Projects, Engineering, Quality, HSE, and Operations to ensure contracts are commercially sound, legally enforceable, and operationally executable.
• Ensure procurement decisions are based on total cost of ownership, quality, delivery reliability, lifecycle cost, compliance and commercial risk—not price alone.
• Establish that each procurement takes into account cost savings, cost avoidance, supplier performance, contract compliance, cycle time, and risk exposure..
• Lead commercial and contractual negotiations with OEMs, suppliers, contractors, consultants, and service providers.
• Negotiate not only price, but also payment terms, warranties, SLAs, penalties, delivery obligations, renewal terms, and exit rights..
• Maintain a central contract cell, repository, MIS, and compliance tracker for key dates, guarantees, insurance, warranties, renewals, and expiry obligations.
• Monitor vendor performance against delivery schedules, quality standards, SLAs, payment milestones, and contractual obligations.
• Identify contractual, commercial, technical, regulatory, and reputational risks early and recommend mitigation measures.
• Support claim prevention, variation control, extension-of-time evaluation, back-charges, recoveries, and dispute resolution in coordination with Legal and Projects teams.
• Ensure procurement and contracting activities comply with applicable Indian laws, company policies, tax requirements, import-export regulation and industry standards.
• Provide regular reports to management on procurement savings, contract status, supplier risks, major claims, and cost-overrun exposures.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering—preferably Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Instrumentation, or a relevant discipline.
• MBA in Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, or equivalent qualification preferred.
• 12–18 years of progressive experience in procurement, contracts, supply chain, and commercial management.

Experience

• At least 5–7 years in a leadership role handling high-value procurement and contracts.
• Demonstrated experience in drafting and negotiating techno-commercial contracts independently.
• Strong understanding of contract law fundamentals, including warranties, indemnity, liquidated damages, limitation of liability, termination, and dispute resolution.
• Experience with ERP-based procurement systems such as Oracle, or equivalent.

Skills and Competencies

• Excellent contract-drafting and redlining skills along with Strong technical comprehension of specifications, drawings, standards, testing, and acceptance requirements.
• Advanced commercial negotiation and stakeholder-management ability.
• Analytical skills for cost benchmarking,
• Sound knowledge of procurement best practices, contract lifecycle management, and supplier relationship management.
• High integrity, attention to detail, and ability to challenge non-compliant or commercially adverse terms..
• Proficiency in MS Excel, PowerPoint, ERP systems, and contract-management tools.