Meat Procurement Manager

Meat Procurement Manager

Full-Time

South Holland, IL 60473, USA

Summary:

This role will look to optimize the protein supply chain while collaborating across all functions to drive value and productivity. The ideal candidate will possess a continuous improvement mindset, with a passion for identifying opportunities both in process and specifications.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Market Discovery and Weekly Execution:

• Responsible for maintaining optimal meat inventory levels, for assigned protein categories, at all sites (plants, warehouses, 3PL).
• Execute aligned sourcing strategies, purchase orders, and manage inbounds to ensure timely delivery to plants.
• Actively survey the market for price discovery, proactively identify supply/demand imbalances, communicate and act.

Supplier Relationship Management and Development:

• Responsible for managing supplier quality and service. Proactively collaborate with suppliers to improve quality and service.
• Communicate issues and/or claims with suppliers and drive resolution of claims, root cause identification, and meaningful/measurable corrective actions.
• Lead/contribute in periodic business reviews with strategic suppliers, covering historical performance and future opportunities.
• Build/Enhance trust, developing a mutually beneficial relationships with suppliers making the company a preferred customer.
• Actively surveying the market for opportunities with in specifciations and new sources of supply.

Market Intelligence/Performance/Sourcing Strategies:

• Monitor key market drivers, analyzing price/supply data to identify market trends, risks and opportunities for assigned categories.
• Actively communicate promotions, cost advantages, product availability, market trends, and supplier item changes to keep key stakeholders informed.
• Key contributor in the process of understanding market trends, seasonal buying practices and forward buying opportunities and the development of financial models to drive procurement decisions and cross functional alignment.
• Lead formal and informal communications

Internal Stakeholder Collaboration:

• Develop and maintain strong cross-functional relationships with R&D, QA, Operations, and Finance.

Qualifications:

• 5-7 years of supply chain experience in procurement, planning, logistics, and manufacturing with financial responsibility, preferably in perishable food products
• 1-3 years of experience developing cross-functional category sourcing strategies, ideally in raw meat.
• Experience in the buying/managing of agricultural, perishable commodities with strong knowledge of domestic and international agricultural supply systems of perishable commodities.
• Category expert who can translate identified opportunities into specific, actionable plans that can be executed by the appropriate teams.
• Demonstrated experience building business models, with multiple data sources, to analyze potential decisions and measuring business performance daily, weekly, and monthly.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and think big picture, connect pieces of information and data to formulate strategies.
• The ideal candidate has prior purchasing experience in meat purchasing and is highly organized.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Analytic capacity and problem-solving skills
• Knowledge of commodities, agricultural products, markets, 1-3 years of relevant industry experience
• Previous physical commodity trading experience highly desired
• Skilled negotiator and influencer, striving for mutually beneficial solutions.
• Skilled communicator, verbal and written, ability to break down and communicate complex situations to less familiar audiences.
• Exceptional people skills; proven ability to collaborate across both internal and external stakeholders and be known as a trusted advisor.
• Strong organizational skills: ability compartmentalize, prioritize, and manage multiple activities.
• Strong in Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook
• Self-starter, driven individual focused on continuous improvement
• Excellent oral and written communication skills

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree preferred in Agricultural Business, Animal Science, Business Administration, Economics, or related field

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

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