Marble Buyer - International Sourcing

Role: Manager / Senior Manager – Marble Sourcing (International) · Location: Mumbai (HQ), with extensive overseas travel · Reports to: Head of Sourcing / Marble Head

The mandate

Our client is a large, listed Indian building materials company with a multi-decade brand, national retail footprint. Including a growing marble business. The company currently sources marble and natural stone through a mix of agents and intermediaries, which adds cost and reduces control over quality, consistency, and origin story. This role is being created to take sourcing direct — building relationships with quarries across key marble-producing geographies (Italy, Turkey, Iran, Vietnam, Brazil, and others as relevant), and putting in place a repeatable process for evaluating, buying, and quality-checking blocks and slabs at source. Done well, this role materially reduces landed cost, improves supply reliability, and gives the company first access to distinctive material before it reaches the broader market.

What you will own

• Identify, evaluate, and build direct relationships with quarries and block suppliers across major marble-producing regions internationally
• Travel to quarries to inspect blocks/slabs in person, assess quality, veining, consistency, and yield before purchase
• Negotiate pricing, payment terms, and shipping/logistics directly with quarry owners, cutting out layers of trading intermediaries
• Set up and run a repeatable sourcing process: supplier shortlisting, sample evaluation, QC checklist, and purchase approval workflow
• Build and maintain a vendor database — quarry contacts, material specifications, pricing history, and reliability track record
• Track global marble market pricing and availability trends to inform buying decisions and timing
• Coordinate with the plant and logistics teams on shipment planning, customs/import documentation, and landed cost tracking
• Report on cost savings achieved versus prior agent-based sourcing, and on supply pipeline health

What you bring

Must have

• 6–10 years in stone/marble buying, sourcing, or trading, with direct quarry-level purchasing experience (not only domestic trading-desk buying)
• Demonstrated experience travelling internationally to inspect and buy marble/natural stone at source
• Working knowledge of marble grading, veining, block-to-slab yield, and quality variance across origins
• Experience negotiating directly with quarry owners or block suppliers (not solely through agents)
• Comfort with import logistics basics — shipping, customs documentation, landed cost calculation
• Valid passport with no travel restrictions; willingness to travel internationally on short notice, frequently

Strongly preferred

• Existing relationships with quarries or suppliers in Italy, Turkey, Iran, or Vietnam
• Exposure to setting up a sourcing function from scratch rather than operating within an existing one
• Working proficiency in a second language relevant to a major sourcing geography (Italian, Turkish, etc.)

What we look for beyond the CV

• Someone who will personally travel and inspect material — this is a hands-on buying role, not a desk role managing agents
• Comfort operating with significant autonomy while reporting into a lean, founder-style leadership structure
• Ability to build trust-based relationships with quarry owners directly, often across language and cultural differences
• Judgment to walk away from a deal that looks good on paper but fails on quality or reliability

Reporting and structure

Reports to the Head of Sourcing / Plant Head. Key internal interfaces: plant/production, logistics and import operations, and finance (for landed cost and payment terms). No direct reports initially; scope to build a small sourcing team as the vendor base scales.

Compensation

Commensurate with experience.

How to apply

Share your CV in confidence; shortlisted candidates will be contacted directly.