Chief Supply Chain Officer — Upstream Portfolio

The mandate

An upstream portfolio has a supply network designed for an earlier demand pattern and a more stable geopolitical environment. Inventory is abundant in some categories but unavailable where asset schedules need it, supplier concentration is not consistently linked to consequence and procurement savings can obscure expediting, logistics or downtime cost. A pending transition-investment choice now depends on whether the network can support a different asset and activity mix.

The Chief Supply Chain Officer will own supply-chain performance across a NOK 32,400 million operated asset and trading perimeter and lead approximately 900 employees and material partners. The scope includes category strategy, contracting, supplier risk, inventory, warehousing, logistics, materials planning and procurement operations. Interfaces with maintenance, wells, projects and technical authorities are as important as negotiations with vendors.

This onsite Stavanger leader reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor. The board needs a fact-based network choice, not an indiscriminate cost programme. Resilience, working capital and fulfilment predictability must improve together without weakening safety, quality or local regulatory obligations.

Why this seat is open

The position was not included in the approved hiring plan. It became urgent when the transition-investment decision exposed fragmented ownership of network capacity, inventory and geopolitical risk. Interim leaders maintain essential procurement and logistics, yet none can arbitrate the end-to-end design. The appointment is targeted within four to six weeks after a qualified shortlist.

What you will own

• Map demand by asset, activity, material criticality and time horizon, distinguishing stable consumption from shutdown, wells, project and contingency needs.
• Redesign the physical and supplier network around service consequence, lead time, transport routes, customs exposure, inventory economics and geopolitical scenarios.
• Establish critical-material policies using failure consequence and recovery time rather than item value or historic consumption alone.
• Create supplier concentration and financial-health visibility through tiers, including dependencies hidden inside original-equipment and service-provider relationships.
• Reconcile inventory records to physical condition, technical interchangeability and actual availability; dispose of obsolete stock without discarding scarce contingency value.
• Reset category strategies where headline savings have increased expediting, quality, downtime or working-capital costs elsewhere in the system.
• Integrate supply readiness into transition capital gates, ensuring equipment, spares, contractor capacity and logistics are validated before schedules are approved.
• Develop supply-chain leaders who can work credibly with assets and technical authorities while maintaining commercial challenge and ethical sourcing controls.

The first 12 months

During the opening 60 days, assess the materials and suppliers most capable of constraining safe production or transition projects. Walk warehouses and review shortage, substitution, expediting and non-conformance histories with asset teams. Freeze only those network commitments that would prejudice the pending investment choice, avoiding broad disruption to current operations.

By day 100, present network scenarios showing service, capital, working-capital and geopolitical consequences. Identify decisions that are reversible and those requiring early commitment. Agree criticality rules, supplier-risk escalation and a small set of categories where immediate intervention can reduce both exposure and cost.

Months four through eight should implement the chosen changes in a contained portion of the network. Rebalance stock, secure alternate sources for priority dependencies and link planning parameters to current asset schedules. Renegotiate contracts where total system cost contradicts claimed savings, and establish supplier development where switching would create greater risk.

At twelve months, priority materials should be more available with less excess working capital, and transition investments should carry supply-readiness evidence. The board should understand remaining geopolitical dependencies and the cost, lead time and trigger for each mitigation option.

What the board will measure

• Ninety-eight per cent availability for designated critical materials, excluding demand outside the approved planning assumptions.
• A 12% reduction in addressable inventory working capital while maintaining contingency holdings justified by consequence and recovery time.
• Thirty per cent fewer premium-freight and emergency-expediting events across the selected categories.
• Dual-source, stocked, redesigned or explicitly accepted mitigation for every top-tier geopolitical supplier dependency.
• Supply-readiness validation completed before final approval of all material transition-investment gates.
• Purchase-price savings reconciled to logistics, quality, downtime, inventory and contract effects for three consecutive quarters.

The person

You are a Chief Supply Chain Officer, EVP Procurement or Manufacturing Executive with 18–22 years in upstream energy, chemicals, industrial services, mining, utilities or a comparable asset-intensive network. You have redesigned supply around demand and risk rather than using procurement savings as the sole measure.

The minimum accountable scale is NOK 18,800 million in P&L, book, budget or portfolio and leadership of at least 750 people. You have personally governed critical materials, supplier concentration, inventory, logistics and major-project readiness. Your examples should include a geopolitical or supplier disruption in which pre-agreed choices changed the outcome.

The role is based onsite in Stavanger and supports international relocation. Material time with assets, suppliers and warehouses is expected.

Compensation and terms

The expected package comprises NOK 4.2–5.8 million base plus annual incentive and LTI. Final positioning will reflect perimeter and current mix; long-term awards carry standard performance, vesting and conduct conditions. Mobilisation planning may recognise a notice obligation of up to six months.

Confidentiality

The listed group, assets, suppliers, inventory positions and transition alternatives remain undisclosed. Further detail is conditional on qualification, reciprocal interest, diligence and executed confidentiality safeguards.