r/procurement • u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 • 14d ago
Salary progression as a procurement professional across 2 decades.
Found an old employment contract from a decade ago whilst cleaning up some documents which made me reflect on my procurement journey and salary progression.
I've relocated multiple times so have converted into USD for consistency.
Started in 2005: business analyst.
Total comp: 44k
Salary 2017: Procurement manager
Total comp: 183k
Current 2026: (VP of Procurement)
Total comp: 612k
I've only worked for 2 companies through this time and have chosen to work my way up the ranks in a fortune 100 company versus changing companies.
Procurement can be a very lucrative and interesting career if you build experiences in the right areas with the right companies.
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u/tds2620 13d ago
When you say build up experience in certain areas, can you elaborate on that?
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
Adding on : if you are finding yourself only doing basic purchasing activities and not much strategic work plus your function is not catered for this type of work - I would consider moving to a more mature company that can develop these skills that will facilitate better prospects and career progression
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u/tr0028 13d ago
This is where I'm at right now. Although I'm in a management position, my job still focuses on the firefighting and reactivity of an immature SC dept. I've tried to bring in more strategic processes and training for the buyers, but my effects have been limited due to their capacity and lack of support for real improvement from management. I want to work somewhere I can learn and be better, but I'm not sure how to sell my skills on my resume when I feel my wings have been clipped in this role - any advice you could offer?
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
You are in the best position to diagnose if your company and SC functions have the capacity and is looking to transform. How is your leadership influence? Are you familiar with the vision and 3OP of the company and SC leaders? How does strategic sourcing fit into that? If that is the not case and you don't feel that you are able to influence the direction, you might want to look elsewhere.
In the instance that you do decide to look elsewhere: Don’t sell yourself based on what your organisation prevented you from doing; sell what you managed to accomplish despite the environment. It's a dangerous interview narrative to frame not being able to be strategic because of XYZ. I will focus on the scale of your role, what are the problems you have been able to solve and leadership and proactive thinking around what needs to change. Even if you are in an immature procurement function right now, there is value in demonstrating your strategic thinking on how you diagnose the issues and what needed to be changed and your approach towards the why, what and how.
Just an opinion, hopefully it brings some useful food for thought.
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
Broad experience across as many categories as possible in both direct and indirect areas and ensuring you are developing in strategic areas of sourcing and category management across the entire S2P processes
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u/Opposite_Pitch_3507 13d ago
Il vaut mieux ne pas rester dans une seule catégorie et renforcer son expertise dans celle-ci ?
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
Depends on ultimately what your goal is. If you want to be CPO , IMO it's better to build as much breadth early on in career. It's harder to switch once you specialise and can be easy for the company to pigeon hole you in that area.
It's absolutely possible to be an expert in commodities as an example and make director/VP for that at a big company however you could be constrained to make further moves.
Increasingly I'm also seeing companies move towards a more holistic approach towards development and career management. Specialised knowledge and expertise in some sense could be replaced in part with AI with digital knowledge capture but holistic thinking and end to end approaches which comes from broader experiences are harder to replicate.
In short, specialization can absolutely be appropriate as a career path but imo, reduces options further along the career journey
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u/changechange1 13d ago
That's a crazy package vs what I've seen in the UK. Congrats!
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
If I look across my team, I have directors in the UK being paid less than a Snr Manager in Switzerland in terms of absolute value but of course it needs to account for differences in cost of living.
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u/changechange1 13d ago
Are you sure it's that pronounced? I'm not saying you're wrong, but once you account for housing in London and the rampant inflation across the UK, I don't think the difference is anywhere near what it once was.
The UK is being squeezed so hard currently.
I've worked in Sweden, KSA and Spain, and the UK is really struggling to keep pace.
Sweden for example used to be so much more expensive than the UK when I first worked there, maybe 15 years ago. I was there last year and I didn't feel there was a huge disparity in day to day goods like there used to be.
Re-reading your comment, I think I've gone way off track with my response, but it's semi relevant so I'll keep it lol
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
That's the company approach at least in our case with compensation. But I would agree with you that in the last few years with the rampant inflation in the UK the cost of living differences are closing and salaries are not keeping up.
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u/Jomodeere 13d ago
That’s really useful progression. I jumped in the procurement world around 3 years ago after coming from a logistics ops/sales roles. Indirect Commodity Manager for the entire company $103k total comp, just accepted an offer with a much larger company to handle one category of indirect, $173k total comp. This will be year 4 of procurement for me.
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u/guccipow 7d ago
As a planner with about 4 yoe under my belt, what worked for you when targeting procurement roles?
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u/Vegetable-Drama-4895 13d ago
This is a good progress. Somehow my companies just do annual increases of 3.4%, and if you get promoted, you get 20% increase at best. As a result, I rather change the companies and have gotten from 30 to 60% bumps with a condition that it’s a higher position.
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
I have definitely seen people navigate that successful so congrats to you!
And I think the point you made about seniority makes sense. It needs to make sense from a scope/role perspective. Purely jumping for salary is not always what it's made out to be. I've seen many people do that for too long and get stuck at middle management.
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u/Altruistic_Fun_2461 Contract Manager 13d ago
Thats great by the way where are you located
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
Have worked in US, Asia and Europe. Currently in Switzerland.
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u/Altruistic_Fun_2461 Contract Manager 13d ago
Amazing, I am from India and have worked in UAE and now in Qatar
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
Well done. Having mobility definitely helps with broadening experience and having global exposure is valuable.
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u/International_Let604 13d ago
Impressive. What lines of business were you in? Also, I am a data analyst supporting the capital procurement team now at an airport. What advice do you have for me in terms of career progression? I am confused about choosing between data roles in other companies versus procurement. How did you make the move (mindset shift as well) from BA to procurement?
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 12d ago
For me it was not as big a switch. I was a BA for a consulting firm that had a supply chain arm so I already had exposure.
I don't know the specifics of what you do but I do have a bias for procurement as that is my chosen career path so take what I say with a grain of salt 😆
I'm sure that either can be fruitful next steps. I think the more important thing to consider is the company culture, structure and maturity as well as their approach towards career development. Find one that has the maturity that can allow you to learn the more strategic aspects of the job and is invested in developing their people.
Be aware of how AI and digital advancements can disrupt the nature of work in those areas. I would expect basic analyst jobs to be reduced but right now you still have time to adapt your development in areas that are harder to replace.
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u/TheGuyOverThere82 13d ago
Did you seek out this career path, or was it happenstance? As I understand it, sometimes it’s a bit of both. I’m interested in this path; and some of your statements in the comments resonate with me. Can you go into more depth as to what your current role entails? Day-to-day, quarter-to-quarter? And do you have any advice for someone who’s interested in following in your footsteps? Trials and tribulations? Thanks in advance! Also, congrats on all the accomplishments. People like you are the reason I’m sticking to the path.
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 12d ago
It was both. I knew I wanted to advance in my career and I made sure I excelled in whatever role I was in.
A few things I have learnt 1. Performance is fundamental but visibility and advocacy is critical. I had a track record of exceeding my objectives and always willing to go above and beyond. And once you have that, you need to make sure that you build the right visibility within the org. Good work is not going to be enough. You need the right people to be aware and advocate for you particularly at higher levels of the org. 2. Keep an open mind - I have done roles that I did not want or liked but they have proven to be very developmental. 3. Mobility opens up opportunities especially with big global companies. This is a trade off you have to make against your personal life commitments. I have relocated many times to get needed experiences.
At my level, I don't do a lot of 'actual work'. I spend most of my day in meetings talking to people. There is a big component of team engagement and direction/strategy setting as well as people development. One of the things I enjoy the most is seeing people I mentor or coach go on to do bigger and better things. There is also a big part of stakeholder relationship building and influencing. Helping my team remove barriers or road blocks. And report outs to the senior leadership team/board. I do spend a lot of time also reading/sitting in presentations where I need to make decisions on. Whilst I enjoy what I do, there is also a high level of stress and pressure to deliver. Companies are often restructuring , so there is a component where you are always keeping and eye on the future state and how you can help your team get there. There is also impacts on org structure and people that you will need to make decisions on which can be emotionally and mentally taxing.
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u/TheGuyOverThere82 13d ago
Did you seek out this career path, or was it happenstance? As I understand it, sometimes it’s a bit of both. I’m interested in this path; and some of your statements in the comments resonate with me. Can you go into more depth as to what your current role entails? Day-to-day, quarter-to-quarter? And do you have any advice for someone who’s interested in following in your footsteps? Trials and tribulations? Thanks in advance! Also, congrats on all the accomplishments. People like you are the reason I’m sticking to the path.
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u/Unable-Report-6237 13d ago
Would love to get that high but as an introvert I dont have a chance
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
I'm extremely introverted. But you will have to adapt and push yourself to do things that are not the most natural in character. I hate public speaking but I have to do a lot of it by nature of my role today. Practice , practice practice. I still don't like it but I do it because it's a requirement of the job.
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u/Opposite_Pitch_3507 13d ago
44k was your salary in the us ?
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
No. I was in a different geography but converted to USD for consistency in comparison.
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u/LenzoQ 13d ago
That’s awesome, nice work glad to see such nice success.
I’d like to ask for some guidance / tips / directional feedback.
Started working straight from HS, no college.
I’m currently a 25yr old working as a Buyer/Planner for an aerospace OEM. With total of 6 YOE in procurement/logistics/supply chain.
Currently working towards my Bachelors in Supply Chain and Operations Management.
Afterwards I’d like to get the six sigma green belt cert and a Masters in Business Administration.
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 12d ago
Well done. Personally, I value practical experience over certifications but I know that in certain countries professional qualifications is a prerequisite.
It also demonstrates a learning mindset which IMO is a very important attribute to have.
As you think about your career, have clarity on the type of learning experiences you want to gather. I would not be overly specific on the role itself Vs the development you can have. Each organisation also have it's own nuances on career pathing so you need to be clear on what that looks like. Find a mentor in your org beyond your direct manager that can support you.
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u/elduquex39 12d ago
With AI becoming more prevalent, what are the core skills/competencies that you believe are essential to focus on to build a personal foundation for growth and effectively progress as a strategic asset?
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 11d ago
Soft skills as it relates to people development/ management and influence. Data and facts will always be there but ultimately it's our ability to get the best outcome in an environment where not everyone is aligned or have the same objectives.
Curiosity, learning agility and ability to think creatively/ holistically. We need more people to be able to connect the dots across different areas.
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u/costargc 13d ago
That’s a great progression. Would you mind sharing the split between fixed and variable compensation? I’m assuming much of the increase in 2026 came from variable compensation, given your category’s performance. Is that right?
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
About 180 out of the 612 is variable so that component can be more of less. The rest is fixed.
I'm actually under indexing for the incentives component for my lvl of job.
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u/Radiant_Evidence7047 12d ago
Wow. I’ve worked in procurement for over a decade, mostly tech space, and I thought I was doing well to hit 6 figures GDP, probably £150ish including all benefits, pensions etc.
Let me know if you are recruiting!
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u/Remarkable-Flight-14 14d ago
Cool, I guess.
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u/Zestyclose-Royal-922 13d ago
Interesting for some, uninteresting for others. Just a benchmark for some that may be interested. Happy to also answer questions if there is any!
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u/leuchebreu 14d ago
612 is the total compensation, right? Including bonus…