Lactalis USA is currently seeking candidates to join our North American Procurement Team. This position can be located at any US Corporate 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 produce award-winning 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 Senior Supplier Development Manager, as a key member of the North American Strategic Procurement team is responsible for developing and implementing short, medium and long term technical and operational strategies with suppliers (primary focus being co-manufacturers) in close collaboration with the strategic buyers of the category team in order to help and support the procurement strategies to improve overall supplier performance and external manufacturing network optimization. He/she works in strong collaboration and has to develop relationships/network within the procurement team business stakeholders and suppliers. This position has direct impacts to support procurement and business goals for vendor performance. This person used to work in operations, engineering, in a plant and with matrixial organization, preferably in the food industry. 

He/she operates under the leadership of the Director Procurement, Comanufacturing North America, and he/she will be working with other team members from the procurement team North America (USA and Canada) and across categories.

This person will be required to spend time visiting suppliers’ plants and travel up to 40-50%. 

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Main key technical contact with vendor’s operational and plant teams. Manage and support all operational discussions with suppliers when needed for all zone and across divisions.
• Responsible for technical and capacity assessment of vendors before and after qualification. Map and maintain capabilities and capacity changes at the supplier locations and highlight risks and opportunities to the business.
• Full ownership of managing operational discussions with suppliers regarding challenges they are facing in their plants to optimize total output, quality and costs of the products. 

1. Work closely with Supply chain team to improve OE, optimize raw materials and FGs scheduling and reach production attainment targets.
2. Work closely with Quality team to support; the control of the total cost of quality and reach CPM targets.
3. Work closely with all functions and coman cross functional teams to identify and drive productivity projects linked to process improvement, reducing waste, raw materials management and increasing efficiency.

• Identify and execute value analysis and vendor transfer savings opportunities as a cross-functional effort to deliver cost reduction targets and optimize other performance measures such as on-time delivery & lead time on purchased goods and services, without jeopardizing quality, flexibility and supply continuity.
• Formulate actions plan, set KPI targets 

1. Monitor validated action plans at supplier’s sites. 
2. Participate as an active cross-functional team member by providing insight to the Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, Quality, R&D, Sales and Marketing and other key functional areas of the business for effective project execution such as new launches, line extensions, process optimization.
3. Develop supplier relationships to optimize supplier quality and performance, including continuous improvement, innovation, reduction in total cost of ownership, and to add value. 
4. Manage with quality department supplier quality/Food safety and supplier non-conformance 
5. Perform administrative duties such as combining suppliers’ score cards, vendor technical visits, capabilities and capacity mapping, productivity assessments and productivity projects tracking. 

• Drive continuous improvement based on Lactalis and suppliers’ cross-functional needs and constraints.
• Could be assigned to special projects by the Director Procurement comanufacturing North America.
• The scope includes managing and prioritizing process improvements ideas provided by the suppliers

WORK CONDITIONS

• Travel will be required, up to 40-50%.
• Extended hours may be necessary depending on the project needs.
• To fulfill these responsibilities, tools such as a computer, phone or, and / or allowance(s) may be provided.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential duties and responsibilities.
• This position requires physical presence in the office, in accordance with the guidelines of the Hybrid Work Policy.
• Demonstrate commitment to a safe working environment that promotes the health and well-being of all employees and that will further contribute to the Company’s overall performance and success. 

From your STORY to ours

Qualified applicants will contribute the following:

Education & Experience 

• University degree – Engineering background required preferences for Food and Dairy Engineering.
• Minimum 7-10 years’ experience in engineering and/or manufacturing in related field category, preferably at a food and dairy company with a strong sense of business development.
• Strong experience in continuous improvement projects and product losses.
• Preferred experience in Functional management.
• Proficient with standard office computer technology such as Microsoft Office products, SAP or similar business systems experience.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of manufacturing unit operations is required.
• In-depth knowledge and analysis of key cost drivers.
• Knowledge in lean manufacturing basis and raw material management.
• High level of initiative with strong interpersonal and influential skills.
• Good leadership and ability to interact with wide variety of management level and business situation.
• Good organizational skills (handling workload and complexity) and attention to details.
• Foundational knowledge of financial statements i.e. the impact of the role on the business
• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving skills.
• Strong communication skills, as well as ability to work in autonomy.
• Ability to prioritize and manage projects, strong planning, project management, and execution skills.
• Proficient with standard office computer technology such as Lotus Notes, Microsoft Office products and the Internet. Intermediate and above skill level with spreadsheets.

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities.