Director of Procurement

About the Role

Front End Limited Company is seeking a Director of Procurement to lead the procurement function across its eight solution verticals, including Offshore, Energy, Industrial Facilities, Geoscience, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomy & Mobility, Space, and Mining. This full-time role, based in Al Khobar, requires a commercially astute and operationally grounded professional with over 10 years of experience. The Director will serve as the primary procurement authority for maritime and offshore operations, including the Aramco-chartered vessel fleet, while also driving strategic sourcing, supplier development, and contract governance across the company's industrial and technology portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead all procurement for Front End's offshore vessel operations, including technical spares, FIFI systems, life-saving appliances, navigational equipment, deck consumables, and port disbursements.
• Manage procurement obligations from Saudi Aramco time charter agreements, ensuring compliance with Charter Party technical schedules.
• Apply BIMCO standard contract frameworks (SUPPLYTIME, SHIPMAN, CREWMAN, GENCON) in vendor agreements and ensure documentation aligns with BIMCO best practices.
• Coordinate with marine operations and shore support teams to align procurement timelines with vessel schedules and dry-dock plans.
• Manage ship chandler, port agent, and technical service provider relationships across key ports in Saudi Arabia, GCC, and international call points.
• Ensure procurement decisions reflect OCIMF TMSA and SIRE requirements.
• Procure crew welfare items, PPE, and consumables in compliance with MLC 2006 supply chain standards.
• Own the enterprise-wide procurement strategy for all Front End solution segments.
• Develop category management plans for each vertical and build sourcing strategies.
• Lead high-value tendering and RFQ/RFP processes, ensuring competitive market testing and transparent evaluation.
• Partner with Business Development to assess supplier capabilities and local content for new Aramco and SABIC opportunities.
• Manage procurement input into project bids, ensuring cost accuracy and supplier commitments.

Supplier Management and Governance

• Build and govern a qualified supplier base across maritime, energy, industrial, and technology categories regionally and internationally.
• Lead major supplier contract negotiations, applying commercial leverage and total cost of ownership analysis.
• Maintain and improve Front End's Approved Vendor List (AVL), ensuring alignment with Saudi Aramco SRMS qualification requirements.
• Implement formal supplier performance management, including KPIs and corrective action frameworks.
• Identify and act on supply chain risks and maintain contingency sourcing for critical items.

Commercial and Cost Discipline

• Drive year-on-year cost savings through strategic sourcing, spend consolidation, and supplier rationalization.
• Develop and maintain a procurement spend dashboard aligned to executive reporting cycles.
• Partner with Finance to ensure procurement plans align with project budgets and cash flow forecasts.
• Establish clear procurement authority levels and delegation matrices.

Compliance and Ethics

• Ensure all procurement activities comply with Saudi procurement regulations, ZATCA requirements, and client supply chain codes of conduct.
• Maintain zero-tolerance enforcement of Front End's anti-bribery and anti-corruption policy.
• Apply BIMCO's ethical standards and IMO supply chain requirements across all maritime vendor engagements.
• Maintain audit-ready tender files, award justifications, and contract modification records.

Team and Process Leadership

• Build and lead a capable procurement team, setting clear accountability frameworks.
• Drive adoption and optimization of procurement modules within Front End's ERP environment (NetSuite).
• Integrate procurement workflows with Asana-based project management and the company's AI-enabled bid submission pipeline.
• Champion digital procurement tools and AI-assisted sourcing to improve cycle time and category intelligence.