Director, Procurement - Sustainability

Job Description

Job Purpose

As the Procurement Director for Sustainability, you will be responsible for collaboratively build a set of initiatives and roadmap, using the identified abatement levers, to allow Kraft Heinz to achieve our sustainability ambitions to achieve net zero by 2050.  You will partner with several key partner groups, including Global Agriculture & Sustainability, R&D, Procurement category leads, Finance, and our key suppliers.  We will recruit, engage, develop, and retain a small team of managers to assist you in driving the jobs to be done for North America. In this role, you will interact and collaborate with senior leaders within the business units and other zones, particularly the VP of Agriculture & Sustainability, the CPO of the Zone and Global, NA CFOs in all business units, and other zone NA LT!

Essential Functions & Responsibilities

• Work collaboratively with the our Global Agriculture & Sustainability department to refine our sustainability goals and move from ambition to a clear action plan to deliver our net-zero targets.

• Map out specific initiatives with our top 80 suppliers in North America that are the largest contributors to our Kraft Heinz carbon footprint and coordinate the initiatives by the supplier, action timing, achievable results, cost, impact, etc.

• Own the North America region carbon data, working with the Global Sustainability team to clean up and improve our data foundations related to carbon, including working with our suppliers on tools for self-reporting carbon data.

• Build out tools and processes to supervise and track the initiatives as part of the zone sustainability roadmap, giving transparency to key achievements and decision requirements and holding suppliers accountable for delivering plans.

• Serve as a subject matter authority in meetings with suppliers, bringing in experience from other organizations or suppliers to appropriately challenge and build carbon reduction plans; support Procurement function in sustainability-related conversations with suppliers.

• Build relevant cases to secure investment for sustainability initiatives, including CAPEX, COGS, or external support needed to deliver our carbon reduction ambition.

• Play a key role on the NA Zone Procurement leadership team, taking ownership of the broader Procurement function and strategy; develop and mentor team members and identify sustainability champions from all parts of the Procurement organization.

Key Outputs:

• Responsible for crafting effective project management and governance surrounding key initiatives with suppliers related to sustainability / net zero ambition.

• Structure and implement forums with our main suppliers to optimally share expectations and sustainability ambitions; facilitate idea generation, benchmarking, and preferred investment opportunities.

• Maintain strong working relationships with NAZ, Global Procurement, and commercial leaders to leverage knowledge and standard methodologies, supporting conversations with key suppliers as subject matter authorities

People Management Responsibilities

• Team (salaried): 2 directs.

Expected Experience & Required Skills

• Minimum bachelor’s degree required; MBA and/or advanced degree preferred.

• Possess at least 10 to 15 years of demonstrated experience in Procurement, Sustainability, supply chain, or project management, with a minimum of 5 years of Procurement or Sustainability experience.

• Strong eye for business and communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to understand and explain sophisticated sustainability topics to suppliers and senior business leaders.

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

• Effective customer management skills, especially with senior leadership; consistent record of building effective business relationships. 

• Strong strategic problem solver who considers various perspectives and impacts of issues and can project them into the future, anticipating challenges and proactively finding ways to mitigate or tackle them.

• Organizational Agility – knows how to get things done through formal and informal channels and is an effective delegator.

• Priority Setting – Spends his/ her time and the time of others on what’s most important.  Eliminates roadblocks for the team and creates focus.

Location(s)

Chicago/Aon Center

Kraft Heinz is an Equal Opportunity Employer that prohibits discrimination or harassment of any type. All qualifi