Job Description
HK Express is Hong Kong’s first and only low-cost carrier, always offering great value, affordable fares on one of the youngest and most modern aircraft fleets in the world.
Like you, and just like many people across Asia, we love to travel and discover new places across the world’s most diverse and dynamic region; and at HK Express, we’re opening up new travel experiences that inspire and invigorate millions of people across the region we’re proud to call home. Everything we do is focused on encouraging the spirit of adventure. Our routes provide the inspiration and spontaneity to try somewhere new, disrupting monotonous modern life. As we continue to open up new routes, often in secondary and emerging destinations, our passengers will gain access to an incredible range of places, exploring hidden gems and experiencing local cultures.
We have a diverse and vibrant team that embodies the adventurous spirit of our customers, and loves to travel too. Join us in this journey to make your career even more fulfilling and rewarding.
Role Purpose
The General Manager, Procurement is responsible for developing and executing HK Express's procurement, category management and supplier management strategies to maximize enterprise value, strengthen third-party risk management, and support sustainable business growth.
The role serves as a strategic business partner to business units, ensuring procurement decisions deliver optimal commercial outcomes, supplier performance, governance, compliance and operational resilience. The position is accountable for driving value creation through category strategies, supplier partnerships, cost optimization, commercial challenge, contract lifecycle discipline and continuous process improvement, while maintaining alignment with Cathay Group procurement frameworks and safeguarding HKE's interests.
Strategic direction for the role
- Elevate Procurement from transactional support to strategic value creation and third-party risk ownership.
- Strengthen category management, business partnering, procurement governance, controls and compliance.
- Deliver cost reduction, savings, commercial challenge and supplier performance improvement while aligning with Cathay Group procurement and protecting HKE interests.
Key Responsibilities
1. Procurement Strategy and Category Management
- Develop and implement HKE procurement and category management strategy aligned with business objectives, fleet and network plans, budget priorities and operational requirements.
- Establish category strategies across major spend areas, including market intelligence, demand management, savings opportunities and risk mitigation plans.
- Lead strategic sourcing, tendering, RFI/RFQ/RFP and major commercial negotiations to optimize value, quality, service levels, resilience and risk outcomes.
- Leverage Cathay Group procurement capabilities, scale and frameworks where beneficial, while ensuring HKE-specific operational, commercial and service requirements are clearly represented.
2. Value Creation and Commercial Leadership
- Drive measurable value creation through cost reduction, demand management, specification challenge, contract renegotiation, productivity improvement and total cost of ownership analysis.
- Introduce data-driven procurement practices using spend analytics, supplier intelligence, market benchmarking and performance dashboards.
- Support business units in balancing operational needs, financial objectives, supplier capabilities and long-term scalability.
3. Supplier and Vendor Management Strategy
- Develop and implement a structured vendor management strategy covering supplier segmentation, onboarding, performance management, relationship governance, issue escalation and exit or contingency planning.
- Establish supplier relationship management programmes for strategic and critical suppliers, including KPIs, service levels, scorecards, contract compliance reviews and regular business reviews.
- Build senior relationships with key suppliers, strategic partners and Cathay APD counterparts to drive performance, resolve issues and capture Group synergy opportunities.
- Drive continuous supplier performance improvement and ensure underperformance is escalated, remediated and documented appropriately.
- Strengthen supplier risk management, including single-source exposure, operational resilience, financial stability, business continuity, cyber/data risk where relevant, compliance and sustainability considerations.
4. Contract Lifecycle, Governance and Compliance
- Own procurement governance, policies, controls and compliance frameworks.
- Strengthen contract lifecycle management, including contract repository discipline, renewal planning, obligation tracking, variation control, supplier performance linkage and exit strategy planning.
- Ensure adherence to procurement policies, delegated authority limits, ethical sourcing standards, segregation of duties and internal control requirements.
- Improve procurement approval routes and processes, tender governance, evaluation discipline and audit readiness procurement activities.
- Coordinate with Legal, Finance and relevant business units to ensure contractual, commercial and operational risks are properly identified, assessed and mitigated.
5. Business Partnering and Stakeholder Management
- Act as the key procurement liaison with Cathay Group procurement teams.
- Build trusted and proactive relationships with business unit leaders, Finance, Legal, operational teams and Cathay Group procurement team, positioning Procurement as an early-stage commercial advisor rather than a back-end transactional function.
- Educate, coach and support stakeholders on procurement policies, sourcing best practices, vendor management expectations and commercial discipline.
6. Leadership, Transformation and Capability Building
- Develop team capability in category management, strategic sourcing, supplier management, commercial negotiation, spend analytics, governance and stakeholder engagement.
- Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, business partnering, ethical conduct and customer focus within the Procurement team.
Qualifications and Experience
- At least 12-15+ years relevant procurement, strategic sourcing or supply chain experience; aviation, travel, logistics or other operationally complex industries preferred.
- Degree in Supply Chain Management, Procurement, Business Administration, Finance, Engineering or related discipline.
- Demonstrated track record of delivering significant cost savings, cost avoidance and commercial value across multiple spend categories.
- Strong experience in supplier relationship management, supplier risk management and contract lifecycle management.
- Experience developing procurement governance, control frameworks, policy compliance mechanisms and performance reporting routines.
- Strong commercial acumen, negotiation skills, analytical capability and ability to assess total cost of ownership, service trade-offs and risk implications.
- Ability to influence senior executives and operate effectively in a matrix organization, balancing HKE needs with Cathay Group alignment.
- Understanding of regulatory requirements, governance expectations, basic contract law and ethical sourcing principles.
- Excellent command of spoken and written English.
Desirable Qualities
- Strategic, commercially minded and able to elevate Procurement from transactional support to value creation and risk ownership.
- Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to build trust, influence senior leaders and collaborate constructively across business units.
- High integrity, sound judgement and strong commitment to governance, transparency, compliance and ethical conduct.
- Balanced style: able to challenge requirements and supplier proposals while remaining pragmatic, service-oriented and solutions-focused.
- Data-driven, detail-oriented and comfortable using spend, market and supplier performance insights to support decisions.
- Strong leadership capability with experience building high-performing teams and developing procurement capability across the organization.
- Resilient, decisive and accountable, with the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-moving airline environment.
Your Future Work Life
- Fly anywhere we fly for free with your friends and family to explore the world
- Hybrid working with flexibility in workplace and working hours to foster work-life harmony
- Open office to collaborate, connect and share great ideas
- Energetic and multicultural teammates from up to 50 nationalities!
- Company-organized shuttle buses connecting the workplace with major locations in the HK Island, Kowloon and N.T.
