The CIPS Procurement & Supply Salary Guide, in partnership with Hays, is based on an annual survey of 5,000+ procurement and supply professionals and analyses trends in talent recruitment and retention, including trends by job level.
According to the 2025 guide, leaders and directors in procurement (those at “influencing” level) need refined leadership skills and want to work in organisations that prioritise procurement.
What is an “influencing” level professional?
“Influencing” level professionals are individuals who manage and build strategic relationships. Those who negotiate complex issues and motivate others to achieve organisational goals. Generally, they’d be described as “leaders” and “directors.” Professionals at this level have a strong organisational impact and must exercise a significant amount of evaluative thinking and judgment in their work.
Here are some typical roles at “influencing” level:
Chief Procurement Officer
Commercial Director
Head of Procurement
Operations Director
Procurement Consultant
Procurement Director
Supply Chain Director
If this sounds like you, then keep reading for the latest insights tailored to your job level.
Five insights that matter for influencing-level procurement professionals
1. Soft skills matter
Procurement professionals are expected to have a diverse range of skills at all levels of their career. That includes soft skills – those that are harder to automate even as AI rises to prominence across the economy.
The Salary Guide’s respondents said that the skills senior professionals most need to display are influencing ability (58%), communication (48%) and internal stakeholder management (45%).
2. MCIPS professionals stand out
The survey data show that more than half of procurement employers overall are looking for candidates who either already are MCIPS or are studying toward it. But at the influencing level, that figure is 62%, meaning the designation could make a crucial difference for any influencing level professional looking for a new role.
3. Influencing professionals are making more – but uplifts are even
A full 77% of influencing professionals in the UK have received a pay rise in the last year, with an average increase of 5.25%. However, this does not set them apart from the other levels; at the opposite end of the scale, 68% of “delivering” professionals had received a pay rise – and the average increase was 6.09%.
4. Seniority means bonus eligibility
Two-thirds of influencing level procurement professionals in the UK are eligible for bonuses. That’s 3 points higher than the 63% of “leading” level professionals eligible for one, and 13 points ahead of those at “managing” level.
Crucially, there is a major gap between sectors: 65% of procurement professionals in the private sector are eligible for bonuses, but only 27% in the public sector are. In the third sector, it’s only 17%.
5. Senior leaders are optimistic about the profession’s future
The professionals who participated in the Salary Guide survey were positive about the future of procurement, with a majority saying they see the profession gaining ground in visibility, respect and overall involvement in organisations’ projects.
It was those at influencing level who showed the most optimism. In the UK, for example, 74% of them agreed that directors and heads of other departments understood what procurement professionals could offer – and 72% said the perception of procurement and supply has improved in the last 12 months.
Use our salary calculator to benchmark your role better
For a practical sense of what this all means for your role, use our salary calculator to find out what you’re worth and to compare yourself to others in the profession. The salary calculator provides average salaries for procurement and supply roles globally and can be filtered by not only job level, but also region, gender and sector.