Heads of Procurement in Germany
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Meet FRATCH Heads of Procurement in Germany
Ornel Franck Wora Yeno
Last position:
Purchasing Manager, Logistics & IT Manager at Onlinehandler
Proactive support of management in business field development & innovation management
New development of a suite of business applications for analyzing valuation, P&L, and market price risk data
Automation of all internal and external business and work processes
Development of AI-based and AI-supported ETL processes as well as data analysis
Business use-case development
Business and work process optimization
Enterprise architecture management
Sales data analysis and forecasting as well as capture
Inventory management & reordering
Supplier management and communication
Customs processing & clearance
Shipping handling & warehouse coordination
Interface management
Technologies used: Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams, JTL-Wawi, JTL-WMS, OTTO Partner Connect (OPC), Amazon Seller Central, DHL Global Forwarding, Jira, Draw.IO, Java (8,17,21,25), Jenkins, SonarQube, Git, Gitea, Spring Boot, Spring Batch, Vaadin, H2, PostgreSQL, Docker, Local LLMs, Postman, JasperSoft Studio, JasperReports
Udo Bocken
Last position:
Interim Head of Technical Purchasing at Riha WeserGold Getränke GmbH & Co. KG
- Leading technical purchasing with 4 employees
- Tendering, negotiating, and closing the gas supply for 2025 / 2026 and 2027
- Electricity purchasing for 2024 and 2025
- Feasibility analysis of a photovoltaic system for the sites Rinteln, Dodow, and Waibstadt, including tendering and negotiating possible partners
- Purchasing fossil fuels: diesel, gas, and electricity as well as CO2 certificates
- Purchasing industrial gases including CO2
- New setup in the area of cleaning and disinfecting agents for 3 plant sites and optimizing the stock handling of these hazardous substances
- Profitability calculation for the gas turbine (steam and electricity)
- Fleet concept: conventional drive vs. e-mobility
- Purchasing 29 new tractor units
- Two major maintenance projects: renewal of the outer shell of a high-bay warehouse as well as renewal of warehouse and high-bay warehouse logistics hardware and software
- Negotiating framework, maintenance, and consignment stock contracts including Capex and MRO with the four main machine suppliers
- Supporting performance issues during the commissioning of a new machine
- Negotiating and closing the contract for the conversion of three machines for the site in Spain
- Savings in the seven-figure range
- Return on Interim Manager (RoIM): factor 4.7
Hemangi Tawade
Last position:
Founder & Principal Advisor
- Diagnose genuine AI-readiness in procurement environments before technology investment is committed
- Identify where data quality gaps, process immaturity, and governance failures will cause AI initiatives to stall
- Guide leadership teams through the strategic, organisational, and technical decisions that determine whether AI deployments succeed or fail
- Conduct the PAF-I Diagnostic (Procurement AI-Fitness Index), a structured assessment across procurement data, process maturity, technology landscape, governance, and organisational capability
- Produce a scored AI-readiness profile with a prioritised action roadmap for leadership
- Deliver engagement models including clarity work packages, alignment work packages, momentum work packages, transformation advisory, and executive workshops
Aleksej Rovenskij
Last position:
Interim Head of Global P2P Procurement Restructuring Project / Interim Head of Procurement Department for 2 Plants at Confidential
- Led the global restructuring and efficiency improvements in operational and strategic procurement
- Restructured personnel (HR headcounts) in cooperation with works council, HR, and legal
- Outsourced partial activities (procurement and finance with invoice control) to shared service center
- Built a shared service organization
- Improved S&OP processes and digitized procurement workflows using SAP Ariba and SAP S/4HANA with e-catalogs
- Implemented SAP IBP
- Led negotiations for direct and indirect goods
- Managed 9 cross-functional workgroups
- Developed and implemented improvement proposals in coordination with corporate management
- Worked according to ISO 13485
- Achieved savings of over €7M
Alexander Döring
Last position:
Interim Manager Procurement | Head of Procurement & Strategic Sourcing at Löwenstein Medical Technology GmbH & Co. KG
- Overall responsibility for strategic and operational procurement, Procurement Management (11 FTE).
- Further development of the procurement and procurement organization, including task and role model.
- Management of cross-functional special projects (e.g. value engineering, design-to-cost).
- Development and implementation of a holistic sourcing and procurement strategy with a focus on resilience, ESG, de-risking, decoupling and cost performance.
- Execution of a comprehensive procurement transformation with a new supply chain strategy alignment.
- Reorganization of the procurement team to improve efficiency through clear role allocation and relief from non-core and non-functional tasks.
- Professionalization of contract management processes and supplier development programs.
- Process optimization along the S2C and P2P chain, including standardization and automation in line with MDR (EU Regulation 2017/745), GxP compliance & quality management systems ISO 9001 and ISO 13485.
- KPI development and optimization of the KPI system for performance and efficiency measurement in critical paths and missing parts.
- Coaching the team in strategic procurement work, project management and procurement due diligence.
- Implementation of AI-supported tools for sourcing, spend analysis and inventory management to optimize inventory.
- Achieved inventory reduction of ~31% through professional inventory management.
- Management of two cost reduction (cost avoidance) programs with quantified results: ~50% reduction in manufacturing costs for one core component and ~64% reduction in material costs for the successor platform through redesign and category sourcing.
- Savings in the low double-digit million range versus the baseline.
- Material groups: contract manufacturing, PCBA, EMS, blower, silicone injection molding, power supplies, batteries, displays, hoses, masks, valves, foams, cables, sensors, wireless modules (2G–5G), telemedicine components, laboratory services.
Thorsten Heinisch
Last position:
Head of Global Purchasing ad interim at Manufacturer of technical textiles (TIER 2/3)
Leading the global purchasing team for raw materials and indirect purchasing
Organizational development and role definition
Taking over the global logistics function
Developing a global transport strategy for 6 sites (DE, US, CN, VN)
Tender management
Defining logistics processes and mapping them in ERP Canias
Price and contract negotiations for raw materials and CAPEX
Implementing a global purchasing structure
Defining a qualification matrix and qualification requirements
Defining a product group strategy
Defining and implementing global logistics and transport standards
Reducing transport costs by 45 %
Dirk Nold
Last position:
Interim Vice President Procurement at Kaiser+Kraft GmbH
- B2B retailer for business equipment
- Revenue €590m, 1,450 employees (2024)
- Procurement volume €350m, 3 departments / 20 employees, locations in Germany, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic
- Lead of the "Beat" project to achieve COGS savings / extend payment terms / reduce minimum order quantities, reporting on target achievement
- Increased collaboration with category management & warehouses
- Training & coaching for department heads / strategic buyers
Hüseyin Ipiv
Last position:
Interim Supply Chain & Procurement Transformation Lead at Self-employed
- Took on interim mandates to structurally realign supply chain and procurement organizations with a focus on result and performance management.
- Developed customer-centric end-to-end supply chain structures to improve service levels, growth, and operational control.
- Managed strategic tender and negotiation processes to optimize supplier structures and commercial contract models.
- Designed and implemented digital and data-driven control models for forecasting, planning, and supply chain performance.
- Built operating and governance models for sustainable management of transformation, decision-making processes, and supplier management.
Lena Weigele
Last position:
Development & Roll-out of Global Procurement Processes at Autoliv Switzerland GmbH
- Development and global roll-out of central standards for indirect procurement: Strategic Sourcing, Category Strategy Management, Supplier Lifecycle Management
- Design and implementation of clear governance and accountability models
- Stakeholder management across all divisions and organizational levels
Delia Hanga
Last position:
Head of Contract Management and EPCM Procurement at Well Project Management UG
- Develop, implement, and manage the contract management framework, ensuring alignment with company policies and legal requirements
- Oversee the drafting, negotiation, execution, and administration of contracts
- Lead the procurement process for EPCM services, including the development of procurement strategies, tendering, evaluation, and award of contracts
- Identify and evaluate potential EPCM contractors and suppliers, conducting due diligence to ensure they meet company standards
- Negotiate contract terms, pricing, and conditions to achieve the best value for the company
- Develop and maintain a contract database, ensuring all contracts are accurately recorded and easily accessible
- Monitor contract performance and manage contract modifications, renewals, and terminations
- Resolve contract disputes and claims in collaboration with legal counsel
Stefan Leirich
Last position:
Director Procurement Europe at Zarges Holding GmbH
- Headed the establishment of a procurement organisation in Europe, including Lead-Buyer and NPD Buyer roles for the region as well as e-procurement and procurement tools.
- Started global sourcing.
- Drove increase in savings by three times from 2019 to 2020, reduced suppliers by 10%, quality complaints by 15% and improved on-time delivery by 10%.
- Inspired a high-performance team of more than 60 purchasing managers, regional lead buyers, supervisors supplier quality, supplier quality engineers, commodity buyers, NPD buyers and planner buyers through regular training, coaching and mentoring.
- Administered a spending budget of $200M for more than 10 production plants and regional distribution centres in Europe.
- Reduced costs by 3% EBITDA increase through effective negotiation, standardisation, VEVA/design to cost, BCCS, SCM, benchmarking, MoB, buy and resale, market analysis, relocation, outsourcing, insourcing and consolidation activities.
- Supervised formulation and implementation of category strategies with a rolling forecast by category.
- Set up SSC in Hungary including NPD, commodity and supplier quality function.
Vivian Yue
Last position:
Global Sourcing Manager, Team Lead of Six at Corsair (Fanatec)
- Lead strategic sourcing for BMW GT3/GT4, Bentley GT3, Porsche 911 GT3, and McLaren GT3 racing/steering wheels and quick-release systems; own end-to-end COGS and raw-material spend across electronics and mechanical BOMs; oversee €65M annual spend and 20-25 programs per year.
- Directly responsible for procurement of servo motor and structural parts (CNC, die-cast, injection, extrusion, stamping, anodizing) managing €30M annual spend.
- Collaborate with internal R&D teams and PMO to identify and analyze project requirements; run early ability to analyze bills of materials and technical drawings/schematics to align material strategy before RFQ.
- Lead all procurement-related functions within the project, including supplier sourcing, negotiation, contract management, supplier documentation management, and material management for assigned projects.
- Ensure supply continuity during project execution via dual-sourcing, lead-time/buffer planning, and escalation routines with suppliers and operations.
- Monitor change activities during the transition from sample to production-ready (EVT/DVT -> PVT -> MP) with engineering and suppliers to protect the company from potential supplier claims (scope, tooling, obsolescence) and keep commercial terms under control.
- Quickly and accurately identify problems and report on status and required actions to stakeholders (senior and C-level); drive root-cause actions with clear owners and timelines until closure.
Manfred Wüst
Last position:
Head of Purchasing and Project Procurement, Special Machine Engineering at Client in Hamburg
- Leading the purchasing team
- Identifying cost saving opportunities and efficiency improvements in the procurement process and implementing process optimizations
- Developing and implementing procurement strategies in coordination with product management (CTO) and operations management (COO)
- Managing and selecting suppliers for high-quality and cost-effective products and services
- Negotiating purchasing contracts and framework agreements
- Monitoring material flow between suppliers, external manufacturing and assembly companies, and in-house production
- Ensuring compliance with quality and delivery standards in coordination with QA (production)
Gunnar Menzer
Last position:
Head of IT & Procurement at S-Servicepartner Deutschland GmbH
- Responsibility for IT infrastructure across 8 sites, 2,500 users, 80 systems, 8,000 assets
- Responsibility for IT/non-IT procurement with €18M annual budget
- Central service provider management, digitalization of contracts and procurement
- Project management for scanning solution, site integration, MS SharePoint
- Leadership of 18 FTE across 3 teams
- Agile leadership in implementation of Digital Office and Digital Coach
Hanna Achilles-Auferoth
Last position:
Lead Interim Manager, Demand & Inventory Management, Corporate Strategic Purchasing Brands at Douglas Cosmetics GmbH
- Leading the Demand & Inventory team, ensuring optimal stock levels and demand forecasting across European markets
- Developed forecasting models and optimized replenishment processes, reducing out-of-stock rates and improving stock turnover
- Prepared monthly stock and inventory reports for the Controlling department, including variance analyses and performance insights, providing the basis for financial steering
- Prepared executive-level PowerPoint presentations for board meetings, translating planning data into clear, decision-oriented insights
- Reported directly to the Board of Corporate Brands
- Collaborated cross-functionally with Marketing, Product, and Supply Chain teams to align forecasts with campaign calendars and new product launches
- Drove process improvements and reporting enhancements, increasing forecast accuracy and planning transparency across key stakeholders
- Initiated and led the drive-to-SharePoint integration test case within the English Demand & Inventory team, completed in just 7 days; adopted by the Digital department as a best practice to roll out across all Corporate Brands
- Provided support to the PwC team on a strategy & corporate communication restructuring project
- Successfully implemented a Net Sales Boost Plan across 13 countries within two months, achieving significant revenue growth while simultaneously reducing overstock levels
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Heads of Procurement statistics
Aggregated from the professional profiles of matched freelancers.
Experience
22 years
Position duration
2.8 years
Positions per freelancer
11
Top business areas
Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Project Management
Top industries
Manufacturing, Professional Services, Automotive
Certification focus areas
Human Resources, Quality Assurance, Project Management
Bachelor's degree or higher
91%
Master's degree or higher
65%
Doctorate
4%
Certifications per freelancer
2
Most common languages
German, English, French
Speak two or more languages
100%
Based on our profile pool as of 26 Aug 2026.
Daily rate distribution
The chart shows how the daily rates of freelancers in this role in Germany are distributed, based on recent contracts on our platform. Each bar covers a rate range — its height shows how many freelancers charge within that range.
Average rates for Heads of Procurement in Germany
Rates are based on recent contracts and do not include FRATCH margin.
The average daily rate is the mean of all daily rates from recent contracts of comparable freelancers on our platform.
The median daily rate is the middle value of all daily rates — half of comparable freelancers charge less, half charge more. Unlike the average, it is barely affected by outliers.
Calculated based on our freelancers’ daily rates as of 26 Aug 2026. Actual rates may vary depending on seniority level, experience, skill specialization, project complexity, and engagement length.
About the role
Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Resilience
An experienced purchasing leader manages the entire procurement spectrum, from global raw material sourcing to strategic supplier contract negotiations. During periods of intense supply chain disruption, rising material costs, or corporate restructuring, these seasoned professionals stabilize operations, minimize delivery risks, and optimize purchase costs. They align modern procurement strategies with broader business goals, ensuring cash flow remains stable and manufacturing operations continue without interruption.
Core Responsibilities and Deliverables
Interim procurement leaders step in to execute complex transformation projects, audit current purchasing practices, and set up modern organizational structures. Typical deliverables include:
- Comprehensive supplier risk assessments and mitigation plans
- Renegotiated frame agreements to improve commercial terms
- Streamlined procurement workflows and digital tool implementations
- Established supplier key performance indicators and evaluation frameworks
- Transition roadmaps for permanent leadership successors
Key Skills for the German Market
In Germany, industrial manufacturers and medium-sized enterprises face strict regulatory requirements. A qualified professional navigating this landscape must understand the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains (LkSG). Strong negotiation skills in both German and English are crucial for managing local and international supplier networks. They leverage ERP systems like SAP S/4HANA to ensure full compliance and data transparency across the supply chain.
When to Engage a Freelance Procurement Leader
Organizations typically bring in external purchasing executives to handle sudden leadership departures, rapid scaling phases, or complex post-merger integrations. A freelance expert brings an unbiased, objective perspective that helps resolve critical supplier bottleneck situations and internal conflicts quickly. They are ready for immediate deployment, bypassing long executive search cycles, and focus entirely on executing specific cost-reduction, digitalization, or restructuring targets.
Frequently asked questions
Not sure where to start with Heads of Procurement? These answers cover the essentials.
While a purchasing manager focuses on daily operational buying and order placement, a Head of Procurement operates on a strategic level. They design the long-term sourcing strategy, establish supplier relationship frameworks, negotiate major master agreements, and restructure purchasing departments to maximize efficiency.
Finding a permanent executive can take several months, leaving a critical leadership gap. An interim purchasing director can step in within days to stabilize operations, manage ongoing negotiations, and keep projects moving forward while the permanent recruitment process runs in the background.
A specialized interim procurement leader in Germany establishes compliant risk management systems to satisfy the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG). They audit existing supplier networks, implement mandatory reporting workflows, and ensure all environmental and social standards are fully documented.
A modern chief procurement officer relies on robust ERP platforms like SAP S/4HANA or Microsoft Dynamics 365. They also implement specialized e-procurement systems, digital contract management software, and spend analytics platforms to drive automation and data transparency.
Most companies in Germany prefer a hybrid model for an interim Head of Procurement. While strategic planning and administrative tasks can be handled remotely, on-site presence is crucial during key supplier negotiations, plant audits, and internal stakeholder alignment meetings.
A top-tier interim management professional in purchasing is evaluated by their concrete achievements in past projects. Look for measurable outcomes, such as successfully realized cost savings, proven experience in resolving supplier crises, and hands-on familiarity with your specific industry vertical.
Yes, business-fluent German is highly recommended for a procurement director working in Germany. While global supply chain partners often communicate in English, negotiating with local mid-sized suppliers and aligning with factory managers on-site requires deep understanding of the local language and business culture.
Yes, a professional sourcing specialist often specializes in either direct procurement for manufacturing sectors like automotive and machinery, or indirect procurement for service-oriented firms. Matching the expert's industry background with your company's sector ensures they understand the specific market dynamics from day one.
The average hourly rate for Heads of Procurement in Germany is 142 €, which corresponds to a daily rate of about 1,133 € based on an 8-hour working day.
Of the freelancers working as Heads of Procurement in Germany, 91% hold at least a Bachelor's degree, 65% hold at least a Master's degree, and 4% hold a doctorate.
On average, freelancers working as Heads of Procurement in Germany have 22 years of professional experience, with a single engagement typically lasting around 2.8 years.
The most common languages among freelancers working as Heads of Procurement in Germany are German (100%), English (100%), and French (17%).
The most common industries among freelancers working as Heads of Procurement in Germany are Manufacturing (76%), Professional Services (69%), and Automotive (52%).
The most common business areas among freelancers working as Heads of Procurement in Germany are Procurement (100%), Supply Chain Management (86%), and Project Management (76%).
FRATCH Heads of Procurement main locations
Our freelancers and interim experts are at home across the DACH region — available on-site in the major business hubs or fully remote. Choose a location to discover matched specialists, local market insights and up-to-date availability.
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Philipp Thomaschewski
FRATCH CEO
