Procurement Officer – Humanitarian Procurement

Job Description

Procurement Officer (NOA) | World Food Programme

The Tone:
This is a full-time Fixed Term role at World Food Programme, located in Damascus, Syria. The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, providing food assistance in emergencies and building pathways to peace and stability for people recovering from conflict and disasters. This role is critical in a complex, resource-constrained environment to ensure timely, compliant, and cost-effective procurement of essential items and services, supporting emergency response, recovery, resilience, and social protection activities.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Type: Fixed Term
• Location: In-person Damascus, Syria
• Team: Leads and manages procurement activities, providing oversight to junior staff.
• Mission: This role ensures the timely, compliant, and cost-effective acquisition of essential commodities and services, driving value for money and uninterrupted programme delivery in Syria.
• Tech Stack: ERP, COUPA, WINGS

What You’ll Actually Do
• Manage Procurement: Lead and manage end-to-end procurement activities, including issuing tenders, evaluating offers, and awarding contracts, for food commodities, non-food items, and services.
• Strategic Planning: Coordinate with internal stakeholders to strengthen procurement planning, forecast requirements, and align strategies with programme objectives for effective resource utilization.
• Capacity Building: Lead the development of procurement capabilities across WFP and relevant stakeholders through designing and delivering training initiatives and providing technical guidance.
• Team Leadership: Provide leadership, coaching, and technical oversight to junior staff, fostering professional development and ensuring high-quality procurement services and consistent application of standards.
• Risk & Compliance: Lead the development and presentation of procurement cases to relevant Procurement Committees, providing robust analysis, risk assessments, and recommendations for transparent and compliant decisions.
• Supplier Management: Manage supplier relationships, oversee vendor registration, and performance management activities to develop a reliable and competitive supplier base.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Advanced university degree in Business Administration, Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Economics, Logistics, or a related field; or a first university degree with additional years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience: With a master’s degree, at least one year of professional experience; or with a bachelor’s degree, at least three years of professional experience in procurement, contract management, or supply chain management, including leading complex procurement portfolios and managing procurement teams.
• Skills: Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end procurement processes, including planning, market analysis, sourcing, solicitation, evaluation, contract award, and management; proven experience managing complex and high-value procurement portfolios across various goods and services; demonstrated experience leading commercial negotiations, supplier performance management, and contract administration; fluency (level C) in English and Arabic languages.
• Bonus: Professional certification in Procurement and Supply Chain management, preferably CIPS Level 3 or above.