Sourcing And Supplier Lead

Champion Petfoods is expanding! We are excited to announce we are looking for a Sourcing and Supplier Lead to join our rapidly growing company.

Champion Petfoods is an award-winning pet food maker with a reputation of trust spanning 35+ years. Founded in a small town in Alberta, Canada, Champion – with its ORIJEN® and ACANA® brands – is a key player in the global premium pet food industry across three major geographic regions. Our purpose, To Earn Pet Lover Trust Every Day so Pets Thrive for a Lifetime, provides the foundation for our highest aspirations as a company.

We would love to hear from you if you are passionate about personal and professional growth and see yourself as a key player contributing to our continued success as an award-winning company.

Summary

The Sourcing and Supplier Lead is primarily responsible for sourcing new ingredients & ingredient suppliers, managing current and new suppliers, establishing relationships, and maintaining relationships of global producers and vendors. This position also oversees supplier documents, supplier non-volume related (eg NDA) Contracts and is a liaison between Quality Assurance and Ingredient Management.

This position will be based in the central Kentucky or middle Tennessee region. Significant travel is required.

Responsibilities

• Update and manage all ingredient specifications for CPF by coordinating with R&I, Regulatory, Quality Assurance, and suppliers.
• Build external and internal business relationships to gather information, identify market and industry trends, and build partnership and alliances to support and facilitate the company's objectives and plans.
• Ensure procurement activities achieve established goals and assist all other functions in the organization in achieving quality, schedule, and cost goals.
• Ensure required knowledge of the supply market, industry, and business environment trends to provide the company with advice and identify opportunities to improve the business.
• If the Senior Manager is unavailable due to supplier meetings, trade shows, or other work travel – leads team meetings, represents Ingredient Management in all corporate review meetings, and fulfills other Ingredient Management leadership responsibilities as needed.
• Vet suppliers during the initial supplier qualification and verification process
• Educate our retailers, distributors, and Champion Pet Foods teams about ingredients and production and processing of those ingredients.
• Ensure authenticity with ingredient supply and the Champion Story.
• Assist in delegating work to the Supplier Management Contracts Specialist on the Ingredient Management team
• Perform other job duties and tasks, as required.
• Lead supplier discussions independently, sharing relationship management responsibilities with the Senior Manager Ingredient Innovation and Supplier Partnerships
• Develop and maintain the ingredient database for all current ingredients used by CPF
• Manage suppliers to build new processes for enabling a more consistent ingredient supply with a more favorable specification.
• Build and maintain supplier relationships with all ingredient suppliers in accordance with the Champion Petfoods Vision, Mission, & Values.
• Effectively analyze and resolve issues related to the design, handling, and deployment of ingredients delivered into the Champion Kitchens.
• Assist the Marketing team by understanding the way our ingredients are processed and supporting their efforts to tell this story to our consumer
• Develop and sustain successful professional external working relationships with government agencies, customs brokers, logistics companies, etc., and maintain good communication practices internally, including reporting problematic issues or concerns in a timely manner.
• Manage all required on-boarding activities for New Suppliers
• Coordinate with the procurement team to create and maintain supplier contracts.
• Lead the supplier approval program for new and existing suppliers, managing the program through the Champion accreditation process and managing follow-up and corrective actions related to audits; follow-up audits to confirm compliance and re-certification audits.
• Collaborate with the Supply Sustainability Manager to determine viable replacement suppliers and materials that align with Champion’s sustainability commitments
• Develop and control corporate ingredient and supplier documents - including, but not limited to, questionnaires, specification sheets for ingredients and ingredient certification documents.
• Develop sources for new or existing ingredients
• Manage and maintain supplier information in the Champion supplier database
• Manage and build efficiency into the processes used to develop new ingredients for Champion Petfoods
• Develop and maintain a robust Supplier Scorecard system to benchmark supplier performance against KPI’s.

Requirements

• Knowledge of or willingness to learn about different production practices of the industry.
• Politically and culturally sensitive, with a well-defined sense of diplomacy.
• Excellent organizational abilities, planning, prioritizing and execution skills with ability to meet deadlines.
• Strong understanding of animal husbandry methodologies and production practices.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including an ability to communicate and work effectively with business and technical managers and diverse cross-functional groups.
• Able to work collaboratively with team members and delegate project work when appropriate
• Working knowledge of Petfood Regulatory requirements and related regulations applicable to the export of ingredients and finished goods to various global markets
• Strategic Mindset - High level of critical and logical thinking, analysis, and/or reasoning to identify underlying principles.
• Uses a collaborative approach to problem solving.
• Builds effective and inclusive relationships with stakeholders at various levels inside and outside the organization.
• Indirect Leadership - Able to influence without authority, manage internal stakeholders, and guide colleagues as a key driver of business success
• Maintain current knowledge of laws, ordinances, and regulations pertaining to corporate purchasing practices.
• Self-directed, with excellent time management and project planning skills.
• Proficient in standard MS Office applications.
• Ability to build and sustain successful internal and external working relationships.
• Degree in agriculture, agribusiness, or food science-related area.
• Able to accurately and efficiently manage resources to meet schedules and deadlines.
• 5+ years’ work experience in a related field. Petfood industry experience is preferred.
• Must be able to create and conduct presentations in front of senior leadership
• Working knowledge of HACCP, ISO, and other food safety processes & systems.
• Proactive approach to managing problems and issues, and strong resource optimization skills
• May partner and collaborate across organizational boundaries.
• Proven skills in Project Management methodologies.
• Strong decision-making skills with ability to be both assertive and collaborative
• Fluent in English, both written and spoken.

Working Conditions

• Must be able to physically inspect company property and assets.
• Travel will be required a minimum of 50% of the time.
• Working hours may include extended days and weekends, as necessary.
• This position is available remotely.

Champion is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.