General Summary: The Associate Customer Supply Chain Manager will be a part of the Customer Supply Chain leadership team and actively provide robust and comprehensive high quality customer service, while transforming customer relationships through the creation and elevation of analytic capabilities. A key focus will be analyzing large amounts of data to identify trends, recommend improvements, and mitigate/manage expense. This role will collaborate cross-functionally to improve execution through key focus areas; customer experience, process development and improvement, customer compliance and reverse logistics.

The ideal candidate will have a passion for thoroughly researching to find the story behind an issue and communicating optimal solutions, while identifying and creating elevated processes to support future team success. Seeking a self-starter with the ability to manage multiple tasks concurrently, identify and resolve systemic supply chain issues relating to customers, and communicate cross-functionally to all levels of the organization.

Supervisory Responsibilities: This position supervises a minimum of one direct employee, a Customer Supply Chain Coordinator, Specialist, or Analyst. The manager will provide overall direction, objectives, prioritization, coaching and evaluation of performance for their direct report(s). The manager carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the company’s policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring and training employees; planning, assigning and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Order Management

• Develop strong understanding of assigned customer accounts, including ordering trends, to identify efficiencies and enhance relationships 
• Demonstrate superior and robust Customer Relationship Management skills through frequent interaction with Sales Team, Brokers, and direct Retailers 
• Collaborate cross-functionally to effectively resolve problems and strive to achieve complete customer satisfaction and optimal internal execution 

Expense Mitigation 

• Gain a detailed understanding of customer fines and penalties and focus on developing improvements 
• Establish a consistent method for managing customer returns and refusals to optimize reverse logistics 
• Identify root cause of refusals/returns and collaborate within Supply Chain and Finance to generate improvement 
• Understand Supply Chain components of vendor agreements and contracts and communicate cross-functionally gaps that will impact the business 
• Identify and execute other process improvements that deliver enhanced service and optimize costs 

Relationship Development

• Create and publish Customer Scorecards/KPI's
• Conduct routine key updates and business reviews with both internal and external stakeholders 
• Develop strong cross-functional relationships to understand customer strategy and priorities
• Analyze customer data to provide insights and recommendations on how to drive performance improvement
• Maintain strong partnerships with external third parties, specifically 3PL warehouses and transportation partners

Business Process

• Obtain the subject matter expert level knowledge for all SAP transactions and movement types related to order management with specific focus on all aspects of order to invoice
• Recommend, develop, and implement plans for improving the use of SAP functionality within the Customer Supply Chain Team 
• Develop and implement month end close process, including post audit and performance summary 
• Escalate ongoing/significant issues impacting order fulfillment, customer service levels, increase in expense/loss of revenue with appropriate urgency 

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

• Fulfill Storck Company Values; Belonging, Passion, and Growth
• Other duties as assigned

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:· 

• Experience successfully managing and coaching direct and/or indirect report(s)
• Demonstrated ability to develop both external and internal relationships 
• Exceptional interpersonal communication skills; clear and concise, both written and verbal
• Strong analytical skills; able to organize and drive meaningful decisions from large amounts of data
• Broad understanding of all functions related to the supply chain, customer order management, and logistics
• Organized, detail oriented, and ability to balance competing priorities
• Team player who works well in a collaborative environment, shares information freely, and is approachable by all levels of the organization
• Business acumen and the ability to quickly learn technical systems
• Creative approach to problem solving
• Willingness to take risks and drive decisions
• Elevated curiosity, resiliency and business maturity

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in business curriculum or equivalent years of professional experience 
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive customer facing Supply Chain, Operations, and/or Fulfillment experience; preferably with a CPG company
• 3+ years of change/project management experience, including leading direct and indirect teams through change processes
• Microsoft Office proficiency (Outlook, Excel, PPT, and Word) and ERP System experience required

Working Conditions: Normal working conditions for an office environment located downtown Chicago. 

Travel: Up to 10%, domestically and internationally (German manufacturing and corporate offices) 

Additional Information: 

Storck USA is not currently hiring individuals for this position who now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status.

What We Offer: 

The salary range for this position is USD $80,000-$95,000 annually at the time of this posting.  Pay is based on several factors, including but not limited to position offered, education, skills, work experience, and other factors permitted by law.  We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range.  This position is also eligible for bonus pay.  

In addition to your salary, Storck offers a comprehensive total rewards package, including a 6% employer 401(k) plan contribution, Health benefits on day 1 including a 100% employer paid option for medical and dental, Hybrid flexible work schedule including reduced Friday hours all year round, Paid maternity/paternity leave, Monthly wellness stipend, and more. This position is also eligible for PTO ranging from 35-45 days based on our Company PTO Policies and paid Sabbaticals ranging from 5-20 days based on tenure. Plus, we can’t forget to mention the supply of delicious candy!! 

Additional information regarding the benefits for this position can be found in the Benefits Summary that is available from our Human Resources Department.