Managing Director EU – Global Sourcing
Company: Uniphar Group
Division: Global Sourcing
Role: Managing Director EU - Global Sourcing
Reporting line: Trading Director, Global Sourcing
Primary Location: Netherlands
Uniphar Group is a rapidly expanding diversified healthcare services business with a global footprint and a proud heritage in Ireland. Since Uniphar became a publicly listed company in 2019, the Group has grown organically and through a series of strategic acquisitions, which continue to strengthen Uniphar’s international reach. With a workforce of more than 3,700 spread across Ireland, United Kingdom, Mainland Europe, MENA, and the USA, Uniphar is a trusted global partner to pharma and Medtech suppliers, working to improve patient access to medicines and treatments around the world.
Uniphar provides outsourced and specialised services to its clients, leveraging the strong relationships with 200+ of the world’s best known pharmaco-medical manufacturers across multiple geographies, enabled by our cutting-edge digital technology and our expert teams. Uniphar is organised into three key divisions: Uniphar Supply Chain & Retail, Uniphar Global Sourcing and Uniphar Pharma.
Our ambition is to grow to achieve €200m EBITDA by 2028 with 80% of growth delivered through organic growth.
Uniphar Global Sourcing
At Uniphar Global Sourcing we are focused on improving patient access to pharmaco-medical products by providing solutions around difficult to source or hard to find medicines globally in a cost effective and efficient way
At Uniphar Global Sourcing our mission is to improve patient access to pharmaco-medical products and by building a truly Global platform to deliver this vision
Our North Star ambition is to be the leading player in the Global Unlicensed Medicines market and to build this platform to be a €100m EBITDA business by 2032.
This Managing Director, Global Sourcing Europe role is responsible for leading Uniphar’s Global Sourcing Business in the EU which today is focussed on the Dutch, German and Austrian markets. Our ambition is to expand and grow this regional footprint by building a bigger presence in existing markets by adding new service lines and becoming more relevant to our customers and also expanding our EU platform beyond today’s footprint into new markets such as the Nordics and Eastern Europe.
Working in a matrix structure, the role holder will provide strategic and operational leadership across the group’s activities in Unlicensed Medicines, Parallel Imports, Strategic Sourcing, Speciality Distribution , and Product ownership .
As a strategic leader, the role will be accountable for delivering growth, profitability, compliance, and integration of our European business portfolio while ensuring alignment with Uniphar Group’s global strategy. The role holder will work in a matrix environment and will partner closely with the global and group functions of Uniphar group.
EU P&L and Commercial Performance
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Full accountability for the profit and loss of the European business, delivering sustainable revenue growth, margin performance and cash outcomes while proactively identifying and mitigating commercial risk.
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Monitor performance against KPIs and implement corrective actions where necessary to ensure financial targets are met.
People - Leadership, Talent & Succession
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Build, lead and develop a high‑performing EU leadership team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration and innovation, with clear succession planning for critical roles.
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Lead, coach, and enable local leaders to deliver strategic and commercial objectives, ensuring they have the direction and capability required for high‑quality execution and continuous improvement.
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Support and drive the implementation of Group HR initiatives across the EU Businesses, ensuring leaders play an active role in promoting consistent culture, values, and people practices.
European Strategy & Market Expansion
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Define, lead and execute the European strategy in alignment with Group objectives, with a clear focus on scaling Global Sourcing and related service lines across priority European markets.
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Partner with Uniphar leaders to develop additional services and commercial opportunities for Uniphar across Europe.
Business Development & Client Relationships
- Drive new business acquisition and long-term client partnerships across Europe by building senior relationships with pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, distributors and regulators.
Operational Excellence
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Influence and advocate for operational excellence across business functions by identifying process inefficiencies and collaborating with cross-functional teams to champion continuous improvement initiatives within the EU Business.
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Maximise value from Uniphar’s global platform team (Commercial, Operations & Quality) by working closely with the Group infrastructure, ways of working and governance, while driving cross‑divisional collaboration and synergies including successful integration of BModesto into Uniphar.
Governance, Risk & Regulatory Compliance
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Ensure full compliance with all European commercial, legal and regulatory requirements, maintaining robust governance, risk management and quality standards in line with Uniphar expectations.
Strategic Transformation & Major Projects
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Sponsor and oversee major strategic initiatives such as ERP integration, network consolidation and cross‑border transformation projects to strengthen operational capability and long‑term competitiveness.
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Support on key strategic M&A projects and identify potential opportunities across the EU market.
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Proactively monitor and evaluate the strategic role and integration of digital technologies and channels, ensuring strict alignment with current regulatory restrictions and compliance frameworks.
Stakeholder Representation & Executive Influence
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Act as the senior ambassador for Uniphar in Europe, providing transparent reporting, insight and strategic recommendations to Group leadership and influencing long‑term direction.
Key Outcomes
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Establish Uniphar as the leading Global Sourcing player in Europe, delivering accelerated and sustainable growth across this core strategic pillar.
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Deliver agreed financial and strategic objectives across all European operations, ensuring strong profitability, disciplined cost management and scalable expansion.
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Develop and own a robust five‑year European business plan, setting clear growth priorities, realistic financial targets and a defined roadmap for execution.
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Build, lead and retain a high‑performing European leadership team with deep expertise in pharmaceutical distribution, on‑demand sourcing and parallel importing.
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Drive strong collaboration across Uniphar divisions to deliver integrated, bundled solutions that enhance client value and maximise Group synergies.
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Deliver best‑in‑class operational performance across logistics, quality and compliance, positioning Europe as a benchmark platform within the Uniphar Group.
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Act as the senior Uniphar representative in Europe, strengthening the Group’s reputation as a trusted strategic partner to pharmaceutical companies and healthcare organisations.
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Lead the implementation of Uniphar’s ESG agenda in Europe, delivering measurable progress aligned to Group sustainability commitments and regional regulatory and stakeholder
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Embed and execute Uniphar’s global people strategy across Europe, fostering a high‑performance culture aligned to Group values, leadership expectations and ways of working.
Experience
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10+ years’ senior leadership experience within pharmaceutical distribution, healthcare services or life sciences, with accountability for commercial performance across Europe or multiple jurisdictions.
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Track record of building, leading and developing diverse, high‑performing leadership teams ideally within a matrix structure.
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Ability to lead and motivate disparate teams behind company goals.
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Demonstrated ability to drive growth, profitability and market expansion, with strong commercial judgement and focus on measurable business impact.
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Deep understanding of European pharmaceutical regulations, compliance frameworks and complex supply‑chain operations, ideally including specialist or on‑demand sourcing models.
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Proven experience operating across multiple European markets, managing regulatory complexity, cultural nuance and cross‑border operations.
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Track record of building, leading and developing diverse, high‑performing leadership teams across geographies, with an authentic, values‑led leadership style.
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Highly effective stakeholder manager, able to engage and influence senior clients, regulators and internal leadership teams, and represent the organisation externally with credibility.
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Strong enterprise mindset with the ability to collaborate cross‑functionally, drive integration and balance global strategy with local execution.
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Comfortable operating in fast‑paced, entrepreneurial environments, demonstrating agility, resilience, sound judgement and strong prioritisation under ambiguity.
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Compelling communicator with strong executive presence; fluent in English, with additional European languages advantageous.
