Director, Ingredients - Meat & Cheese
Chicago, IL 
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Posted 5 days ago
Job Description
Job Description

Job Purpose

As the Director of Meat and Cheese Ingredient Procurement, you will be responsible for all strategic planning and sourcing activities for the assigned categories across the Kraft Heinz North American Zone (U.S. and Canada). You will use your experience and knowledge to mentor and develop a team of category managers to build comprehensive strategies at the category level and implement the strategy through the sourcing process. You will manage key supplier relationships and strategize and lead key negotiations. To succeed, the role requires a strategic procurement expert adept in the complexities of ingredient procurement to drive both financial and performance results. You will also manage key internal partners, including Business Units, Operations, Finance, Quality, R&D, and Global Procurement teams. The role is ultimately responsible for the full financial performance of the meat and cheese portfolio, productivity development, and delivery.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities

  • Build and maintain excellent relationships with mid- to executive-level clients and suppliers on an ongoing basis to ensure customer satisfaction and increase influence over total category spend.

  • Develop new capabilities for Kraft Heinz through people by hiring the right talent, ensuring clarity on the vision and jobs tobe done, anddriving engagement through effective coaching, guidance, and people development.

  • Lead sourcing and category management for a comprehensive portfolio of sophisticated and critical categories to Kraft Heinz.

  • Establish and deliver performance goals for a portfolio of categories representing a significant amount of spend.

  • Lead strategic sourcing projects for supplier selection and optimization to implement Category Management vision and strategies, delivering on business needs based on data and insights and using external best practices.

  • Manage supplier relationships, facilitating Supplier Business Reviews, and act as a high-level escalation point for performance and risk issues.

  • Lead discussions with critical suppliers around long-term objectives and strategies, ongoing market trends, innovation, and technological advances.

  • Identify the most crucial supplier relationships in collaboration with operations and commercial; create a roadmap for improving or changing relationships for improved value aligned with category strategies.

  • Be an inspiring leader and enabler for continuously improving internal and external routines and business processes.

  • Manage a prioritized portfolio of projects for the category in the near and long term.

  • Led the supplier selection and RFx award process by driving highly sophisticated contracts following policies and processes, applying expert-level negotiation techniques and tools in all situations.

  • Actively understand category dynamics (current market, pricing, cost drivers, industry, and supplier variables) through trade groups, publications, etc., and communicate changes to business partners.

  • Own, build, and deliver productivity and cash targets aligned with overarching goals and objectives, focusing on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

  • Manage total cost of ownership at the category level through collaboration with data analytics and be accountable for measuring and reporting value delivery.

  • Enable continuous process improvement and cost reduction.

  • Ensure the strategic sourcing process is robustly applied to all sourcing projects.

  • Collaborates with global procurement peers to ensure support and alignment with the supported functions.

People Management Responsibilities

  • Team (salaried): 7 directs, 12 total.

Expected Experience & Required Skills

  • Bachelor's degree in marketing, supply chain management, finance, business, or equivalent. MBA and advanced Procurement qualifications preferred (CPM, CPIM, etc.). Candidates with equivalent experience will be considered.

  • 10 to 15 years of direct Procurement experience, with a minimum of 5 years of meat, cheese, dairy, and/or commodities experience.

  • Experience building high-performing teams by setting clear direction and priorities, leaning into coach and guide, empowering the team, and driving accountability.

  • Strong Business acumen with the ability to understand and explain Procurement results and variances to non-Procurement audiences.

  • Results-oriented, adept at solving complex challenges and dealing with ambiguity; anticipates and adjusts to problems and obstacles in the team or the organization.

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills; proven track record of building effective business relationships.

  • Effective negotiator and influencer with demonstrated examples with internal stakeholders and external suppliers/partners.

  • Strong strategic thinker who considers various perspectives and impacts of issues and can project them into the future.

  • Ability to quickly develop organizational agility, e.g., knows how to get things done through formal and informal channels and is an effective delegator.

  • Ability to prioritize your time and others' time on what's most important while eliminating roadblocks for the team, creating focus.

  • Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) and have an understanding for source-to-pay tools (SAP, Ariba, Workday, etc.).

Location(s)Chicago/Aon Center

Kraft Heinz is an Equal Opportunity Employer that prohibits discrimination or harassment of any type. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Applicants who require an accommodation to participate in the job application or hiring process should contact NATAI@kraftheinz.com .


It is the continuing policy of The Kraft Heinz Company to afford full equal employment opportunity to qualified employees and applicants, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental handicaps, military or veteran status, sexual preference, or any other protected condition or characteristic in conformity with all applicable federal, state, provincial and local laws and regulations.
Final candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without Company sponsorship. Exceptions requesting work visa sponsorship will be reviewed on a case to case basis.

 

Job Summary
Start Date
As soon as possible
Employment Term and Type
Regular, Full Time
Required Education
Bachelor's Degree
Required Experience
10 to 15 years
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