Associate Director, Strategic Sourcing

Description

Lactalis USA is currently seeking candidates to join our Procurement team. This role is hybrid-onsite and will need to be stationed at a Lactalis US HQ office: Bedford, NH, Buffalo, NY, or Chicago, IL.

Lactalis, the world leader in dairy, is a family-owned business with more than 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals worldwide, committed to nurturing the future by providing healthy and delicious dairy products that bring people together every day. We offer an enviable range of dairy brands including Galbani®, Président®, Kraft® Natural Cheese, Cracker Barrel®, Black Diamond®, Parmalat®, Siggi’s®, and Stonyfield Organic® in addition to several brands imported from our affiliates in Europe.

At Lactalis, our core values of AMBITION, ENGAGEMENT, and SIMPLICITY are at the heart of everything we do. We are dedicated to building a safe, diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace and we know that our candidates come from many different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job posting, we still encourage you to apply and share with us your STORY, your PASSION, and your EXPERTISE! You may be just the perfect candidate for this or other roles within our company.

From your PASSION to ours

The Associate Director of Strategic Sourcing is a key member of the North American Strategic Procurement team and is responsible for developing and implementing short-, medium-, and long-term purchasing strategies that deliver best-in-class results in the areas of people, processes, costs, and supply, as well as ensuring the implementation and ongoing integrity of purchasing policies, practices, and systems. He/she works in strong collaboration and must develop relationships and networks with the global procurement team. This position advises direct reports on short-, medium-, and long-term sourcing strategies and ensures progress against project timelines and deliverables.

The ideal candidate will have experience working in a global and matrix organization. Additionally, they will ensure that the overall focus of their team is consistent with the organization’s goals and that the services provided are responsive to the needs of the company in the USA and Canada.

He/she operates under the leadership of the Senior Category Director and will manage a team of more than two people, including a manager, who may be located at different sites in the USA and Canada, distinct from the location of the Senior Director.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

· Owner of the full budget with input on the budget assumptions from the Senior Director of Procurement and the Global Strategic Procurement team.

· Manage and support all strategic procurement activities for all zone plants (30) and for the seven different divisions.

· Develop, lead, and animate the zone strategy for all category responsibilities; present and support strategies to the Executive team.

· Establish strategic partnerships with key suppliers at the senior management level.

· Identify and execute cost-saving negotiation initiatives at the senior supplier management level.

· Provide cross-functional support on global strategy and negotiation initiatives led by the global procurement team by supplying information such as pricing specifications, vendor listings, and market intelligence, while negotiating at the local level for finalization.

· Work and collaborate cross-functionally with the Operations team to ensure that purchased materials, suppliers, and services comply with the company’s requirements.

· Support and manage company acquisition and work cross functional with the global procurement team and others company functions.

· Manage the price matrix and supply risks for key material supplies by maintaining up-to-date knowledge of market changes. Recommend qualifying alternate vendors or materials.

· Leverage in-depth knowledge and analysis of key cost drivers to create local sourcing strategies, qualify vendors, conduct tenders, negotiate terms, and implement and manage all contracts for the category at the zone level across all divisions.

· Partner with and provide purchasing leadership and insight to other functions within all Lactalis North American divisions as required.

· Develop and lead a high-performing team of purchasing professionals by hiring the right talent, providing training and development, delivering performance feedback, and establishing ambitious objectives.

· Engage in special projects as assigned by the Senior