Sr. Specialist, Procurement Category Mgt (Co-Man)

 

Foods people love. Brands people trust. And a career that nourishes your future like no other.

 

If you're driven by the passion to do something meaningful that changes lives, Nestlé is the place for you. Nestlé USA is one of seven operating companies that make up Nestlé’s presence in the United States. We're in 97% of American homes, and as the leading food and beverage company, our goals are to continue to deliver quality food and beverage products, strengthen our local communities, and reduce our environmental and climate impact.

 

We’re determined to challenge the status quo and be better tomorrow than we are today. As individuals and teams, we embrace our entrepreneurial culture and have created a workplace where collaboration is essential, courage is rewarded, speed is expected, and agility is the norm to delight our consumers every single day. Here, you will find limitless opportunities to learn and advance your career and feel empowered to succeed in the workplace and beyond. Because our focus is not only on nourishing our customers, but also about enriching you.

 

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

 

 

This role is the face of the category and serves as the key interface with business/functional leadership across Nestle. You are an expert of the category, setting the procurement strategy for spend areas in your scope. This role identifies value-creation opportunities and leads cross-functional projects for the category, as well as supplier strategy, collaboration, and local relationship management with a focus on risk mitigation, innovation, sustainability, and DEI. You will provide oversight for category-critical tasks like business continuity planning, supplier performance management, ensure supply, pricing reviews, etc., while working with the business to understand division strategy, requirements, and challenges and to report updates.

Job Duties/Deliverables:

• End-to-end management of assigned category/categories
• Execute Nestlé’s 7-Step Strategic Sourcing Process in the North American market, enabling value generation through sustainability, innovation, and cost improvements for Nestlé business units
  • Identify value creation opportunities by developing a deep understanding of each relevant business unit’s requirements, challenges, and opportunities, and leveraging these insights to create and implement savings initiatives.
  • Leverage opportunities to lower total cost of ownership or increase value to the business while ensuring supply.
  • Develop deep understanding of supply industry in order to guide business teams through best competitive strategy considering industry trends, constraints, competitive dynamics, etc.
  • Assign initiative owners for category aligned spend initiatives; provide category expertise and help guide initiative savings execution and pull through. 
  • Use knowledge of suppliers and processes to bring opportunities to the forefront.
  • Benchmark against competitors and promote supplier-led innovation to unlock value.
  • Use insights and trends to liaise strategically with the business, factories, and suppliers.
• Define risk management strategies for the business and promote mitigation activities to reduce the chance of disruption
  • Proactively manage supplier relationships resulting in a reduction of contractual risks.
  • Clearly communicate risks and issues to key stakeholders, knowing when and to whom to escalate significant issue(s).
• Suggest improved ways of working, introducing new processes or re-engineering existing ones in support of key priorities
  • Recognize strategic drivers and activities that support key priorities, both within your category and across the organization
  • Leverage intelligence tools and participate in professional associations to learn best practices and industry trends; apply the learnings to the category strategies to drive continuous improvement
  • Comply with all Procurement and company policies, procedures, and practices, and promote adherence across the organization
  • Apply project management principles to drive cross-functional teams in effective and efficient delivery of business objectives for both day to day activities and key projects

Critical Experiences/Education: 

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in applicable fields required
• 3+ years of experience with global procurement and sourcing processes, legal contract negotiations, and contract management systems.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including but not limited to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
• SAP, Ariba, experience preferred 

Qualifications/Certifications: 

• Interpersonal skills to effectively build relation