Global Category Director, Media & Digital Agencies

ABOUT WELLA

“Wella” is one of the world’s leading professional and retail hair companies. It is a beauty collective with a mission to enable consumers to look & feel like their true self. Its love brands, which include beauty icons such as Wella, Clairol, OPI, and ghd (all together “Wella”), are co-created by & designed for the beauty junkies of today & tomorrow. Following the signing of an agreement with global investment firm KKR for the divestiture of Coty’s Professional and Retail Hair businesses, “Wella” is on its way to become a fully independent, standalone company with its own management team and operational structures. At closing, our new company will have presence in over 100 countries and an estimated annual net revenue of $2.3Bn. “Wella” and its brands, are and will remain committed to a range of social causes as well as seeking to minimize its impact on the environment. For additional information about “Wella” please visit https://www.wellacompany.com/

ABOUT PROCUREMENT

At Wella Procurement you are responsible for bringing the best ideas, talent and capability to support the company’s business needs.  You will develop and execute sourcing strategies which deliver best value in terms of innovation, quality, service, cost and cash. 

We invest in our relationships: procurement teams develop and manage important external business partner relationships to enable the delivery of the company’s plans and growth objectives. 

Working with your Wella colleagues you will represent our business needs toward external business partners and be an active advocate who also flows ideas from our external partners into Wella teams.  You will work to enable our business and an agile and effective supply chain for all our goods and services, responsive to the changes in our business.

At Wella we strive to continuously improve the environmental and ethical profile of our supply chains working with our business partners to deliver this in a truly sustainable way.

We operate with discipline. We have a solution mindset.  We work to understand and help solve the challenge, one step at a time.

THE ROLE

The Procurement Director – Global Marketing Services & Media is responsible for defining and leading the global procurement strategy across Marketing Services, Media, Retail Marketing, Consumer Promotions, Creative, and Digital Marketing categories, representing approximately $300M in annual spend. This high-impact leadership role drives commercial excellence, transformation, and strategic value creation in support of Wella’s growth ambitions.

Working closely with the VP Indirect Procurement, senior Marketing and Digital leaders, Finance, and regional teams, you will lead and develop a team of six procurement professionals, fostering a high-performance culture focused on collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement. You will inspire teams and stakeholders to embrace the next generation of value drivers, moving beyond traditional savings to unlock growth, innovation, effectiveness, risk mitigation, and sustainability outcomes.

As a trusted advisor to senior leaders, you will influence strategic decisions on supplier ecosystems, operating models, agency partnerships, and external capabilities. You will be accountable for category strategies, value delivery, supplier relationship management, and multi-year transformation roadmaps, leveraging market insights, governance, and commercial expertise to optimize investments and improve business outcomes.

You will champion strong stakeholder engagement across Marketing, Digital, Finance, Supply Chain, and regional teams, building alignment behind strategic priorities and ensuring successful execution of global initiatives. In all activities, you will act as a commercial leader and strategic business partner, delivering measurable results with purpose while ensuring strong stewardship of company resources and creating sustainable long-term value for Wella.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Business Leadership & Value Creation

• Define and execute the global category strategy across Marketing Services, Media, Retail Marketing, Consumer Promotions, Creative and Digital Marketing spend, managing a portfolio of approximately $300M.
• Partner with Marketing leadership to accelerate strategic transformation initiatives, leveraging supplier innovation and external capabilities in advanced marketing analytics, AI-powered content creation, modern creative delivery models, and global harmonization to drive effectiveness, agility, and brand growth.
• Lead strategic supplier selection, negotiations and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) programs, building strong partnerships with key agencies and external providers to deliver continuous improvement in quality, service, talent and value.
• Deliver annual business objectives and long-term transformation roadmaps, leveraging spend analytics, market intelligence and governance to optimize investments and improve business outcomes.
• Act as a senior commercial advisor to stakeholders and leadership teams, ensuring strong stewardship of company resources, robust contractual governance, and alignment with Wella’s ethical and environmental sourcing commitments.

Organization & People Leadership

• Lead, develop and inspire a global team of 6 procurement professionals, fostering a high-performance culture centred on collaboration, accountability and continuous learning.
• Build strong governance and engagement models with global, regional and local stakeholders, positioning Procurement as a trusted and indispensable business partner.
• Influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams in the definition and execution of category strategies and transformational initiatives.
• Drive capability development through coaching, succession planning, best-practice sharing and ongoing training to ensure the team delivers maximum value and impact.
• Champion procurement excellence through the adoption of innovative tools, streamlined processes and new ways of working that improve sourcing effectiveness and stakeholder experience.

QUALIFICATIONS

Profile and education:

• Seasoned leader (10-15 years), with experience in a global Marketing Services and Media.
• Work experience in an international environment and matrix organizations.
• Capable and proven track record of stakeholder management including business Leaders (internal and external).
• Track record in commercially supporting company-wide transformation in Marketing space.
• Experience in developing and managing organizations, including conflict management.
• Excellent analytical skills, negotiation skills, strategic thinking and collaboration skills.
• High level of reliability, personal integrity, autonomy and ownership.
• Strategic, structured, pro-active and solution-oriented way of working.
• You are business driven, pragmatic and results-oriented. You drive strategy into results at pace.
• Excellent English communication and interpersonal skills. Strong ability to communicate complex topics in concise terms to various stakeholders including C-Suite.
• Master degree qualified preferably in Marketing, Business, Engineering, Supply Chain or other relevant discipline. MBA advantageous.
• High degree of fluency in written and spoken English is required.

Key competencies and demonstrated Skills:

• Results oriented individual with solid proven track record in delivering value (cost and cash) and improving effectiveness of sourcing networks.
• Strategic thinking balanced with ability to execute.
• Team leader with ability to share a vision, inspire, coach and develop both local and remote reports.
• Proven Collaboration, Influencing, Negotiation, Communication skills.
• Track record in driving strategy into execution. Can do attitude.
• Ability to detect risk areas and red flags.
• Knowledge of enterprise IT systems and apps.
• Knowledge of e-sourcing tools.
• Able to travel in support of business (0-20%).