Regional Procurement Contracts Manager Middle East And Africa

Airbus Africa & Middle East context

At Airbus Africa and Middle East, we operate at the heart of one of the world’s most diverse and fast-growing regions. With all three Airbus divisions—Commercial Aircraft, Helicopters, and Defense & Space— integrated, and all support functions under the same organisation, we offer an unmatched environment for collaboration, learning, and career growth.

Our 3,000+ employees, representing 50+ nationalities, support 60+ countries across a region with a combined GDP of $6 trillion and 13 Airbus affiliates. This means global-scale impact with a strong regional presence, making roles here strategic, dynamic, and full of opportunities.

If you’re looking to work in a truly multicultural, high-impact environment where innovation, agility, and teamwork drive success, this is your chance to be part of Airbus in Africa and the Middle East.

Airbus Africa & Middle East Regional Procurement Office

You will be part of the team of Airbus Africa & Middle East Regional Procurement Office (RPO). The RPO mission is to act as a business enabler to the regional growth by: contractualising all General Procurement activities, defining the Airbus regional Procurement strategy, developing the regional supply chain footprint, contributing to Sales campaigns, securing compliance and promoting the Airbus brand in the Region, while maximizing Procurement value to Airbus across Divisions, aligned with Commodities.

Position Summary:

Hierarchically reporting to the Head of the Regional Procurement Office (RPO) Africa and Middle East (AME) and to the Head of Regional Procurement Contracts (functionally), the Regional Procurement Contracts Manager shapes the regional Procurement contract landscape, delivering specialist contract negotiation support to the local AME RPO teams, delivering best-in-class contractual expertise, guidance, standards, policies and negotiation support to the AME RPO. Thus enabling the AME Region to grow and operate in a compliant and efficient contractual environment. The Regional Procurement Contracts Manager interfaces with multiple Procurement teams, as well as with Legal and other interfacing functions (e.g. Finance, HR, Customer Services, Sales, Security…) and divisions, contributing to the growth and local empowerment of the extended Procurement Team in the Region.

Primary Responsibilities:

1) Operational activities (60%): Responsible for delivering contract management expertise and support to the AME RPO.

• Support the HO RPO AME and the HO Regional Procurement Contracts to implement a contract management engagement to the Procurement commodities which is adapted to the local needs, challenges and cultures whilst remaining consistent worldwide.
• In close cooperation with the Procurement Contract Governance team (PYCG), establish contract templates & policies tailored to the regional needs.
• In close cooperation with the Procurement Contracts teams (PYCx) and the Procurement commodities, support the most critical / strategic Local for Local and Local for Global contract negotiations.
• Create and deliver awareness sessions to the RPO community from all divisions on contractual matters, using new material & tailored content based on existing PYC material adapted to Regional needs.
• Report on Procurement contractual activities in the Region, delivering appropriate KPIs and other means
• Support the other RPOs, as required.

2) Regional Contract Management excellence, growth and empowerment (40%): Responsible for championing the deployment of robust and efficient contract management practices within the Region, securing sustainable local contractual knowledge and stakeholders recognition of the executed Transformation

• Leverage the cross-Region view on supplier contract negotiation to optimize conditions for Airbus, aligning regularly with the PYCx teams and the other Regional Procurement Contract Managers in other RPOs as required.
• Contribute to maximizing efficiency within the overall Regional Procurement Contracts community.
• Ensure proactive management of the relationship with internal business partners, including the local commodities, legal support functions and other Business Units as required.
• Contribute to an environment that drives positive change in mindset and/or culture aiming for a performance oriented organization based on robust & efficient contract management principles, which is able to continually evolve with a synergistic way of working based on best practices.
• Contribute to the wider Procurement Contracts transformation initiative.

Education:

• Required: A Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, Management, Legal, or a related field or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Qualification in Contracts. Having in addition a qualification in Procurement or Supply Chain Management is a plus.

Experience:

• Required: 8-10 years of experience in contracts and ideally in the Procurement or Legal fields too, preferably in the aviation industry.

Licensure/Certifications:

• Project Management Certification is desirable
• Any Quality Certifications are desirable

Knowledge, Skills, Demonstrated Capabilities:

• Contract Management
• Negotiation
• Demonstrated ability to work across international boundaries and cultures
• Project Management
• Ability and Flexibility to absorb new issues
• Attention to details, ability to be structured and work in an organized fashion
• Highly desirable:
• Knowledge of UAE Commercial and Contractual Law
• UAE Free Zone contracting expertise
• Airworthiness-related items contractual expertise (e.g. Contract negotiation of MRO-related activities)
• Experience on negotiating and/or sourcing in the Middle East

Communication Skills (Spoken, Written, Influencing, Proficiency in Other Languages):

• Demonstrated effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent people and stakeholder management incl. influencing and negotiating skills.
• Ability to adapt communication level and style to interact and manage at all levels, including senior leadership levels, in the Region
• Fluency in English both written and verbal is mandatory.
• Fluency in Arabic and/or French is highly desirable.

Technical Systems Proficiency:

• Word (or equivalent), Google workspace. Knowledge of eProc, SAP, Click n Buy is a plus

Decision Making, Complexity:

• The jobholder will be required to validate procurement contracts, prior to their signature by Region management up to and including the HO AME RPO, and covering combined spends amounting to dozens of millions of dollars.
• The jobholder will be required to arbitrate between multiple priorities from different internal customers.
• The jobholder will be required to make contractual decisions with long-term business impact autonomously.