Sr. Specialist, Procurement Category Mgt (Co-Manufacturing)

Foods you love. Brands you trust. And a career that empowers you to grow.

At Nestle USA, we're all working towards the same goal - to delight and deliver for our consumers. With a rich portfolio of beloved brands, including DiGiorno, Toll House, and Coffee mate, in 97% of U.S. households, we have a unique opportunity - and responsibility - to be there for every moment in our consumers' lives.

Joining Nestle means becoming part of an inclusive workplace that inspires innovation, encourages strategic thinking and creativity, and celebrates your achievements. No matter where you work within the organization, you are empowered to challenge the status quo, embrace risk-taking, and pioneer new ideas. Our supportive and collaborative environment encourages bold ambitions and continuous learning so that everyone can grow and thrive.

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

This role is the face of their assigned category and serves as the key interface with business/functional leadership across Nestle USA for respective category. You are an expert of the category, setting the procurement strategy for spend areas in your scope. This role identifies value-creation opportunities and leads cross-functional projects for the category, as well as supplier strategy, collaboration, and local relationship management with a focus on risk mitigation, innovation, and sustainability. You will provide oversight for category-critical tasks like business continuity planning, supplier performance management, ensure supply, pricing reviews, etc., while working with the business to understand division strategy, requirements, and challenges and to report updates.

Job Duties/Deliverables:

• End-to-end management of assigned category/categories
• Execute Nestle's 7-Step Strategic Sourcing Process in the North American market, enabling value generation through sustainability, innovation, and cost improvements for Nestle business units
• Identify and drive value creation opportunities by developing a deep understanding of each relevant business unit's requirements, challenges, and opportunities, and leveraging these insights to create and implement savings initiatives
• Leverage opportunities to lower total cost of ownership or increase value to the business while ensuring supply
• Develop deep understanding of supply industry to guide business teams through best competitive strategy considering industry trends, constraints, competitive dynamics, etc.
• Driving cost reduction initiatives with suppliers and year over year efficiency improvements. Use knowledge of suppliers and processes to bring opportunities to the forefront
• Benchmark against competitors and promote supplier-led innovation to unlock value
• Use insights and trends to liaise strategically with the business, factories, and suppliers
• Lead the negotiation of legal agreements with contract manufacturers, including thorough preparation and strategic planning to identify value levers and potential concessions that optimize outcomes for Nestle and its affiliated businesses. Facilitate strategic alignment by conducting leadership reviews, engaging key stakeholders, anticipating risks, and developing robust contingency plans.
• Define risk management strategies for the business and promote mitigation activities to reduce the chance of disruption

• Proactively manage supplier relationships resulting in a reduction of contractual risks
• Clearly communicate risks and issues to key stakeholders, knowing when and to whom to escalate significant issue

• Suggest improved ways of working, introducing new processes or re-engineering existing ones in support of key priorities

• Recognize strategic drivers and activities that support key priorities, both within your category and across the organization
• Leverage intelligence tools and participate in professional associations to learn best practices and industry trends; apply the learnings to the category strategies to drive continuous improvement
• Comply with all Procurement and company policies, procedures, and practices, and promote adherence across the organization
• Apply project management principles to drive cross-functional teams in effective and efficient delivery of business objectives for both day-to-day activities and key projects
• Perform other duties as assigned

Critical Experiences/Education:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in applicable fields required
• Minimum 5years of knowledge and experience with global procurement and sourcing processes, legal contract negotiations, and contract management systems preferred
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including but not limited to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, CoPilot
• SAP, Ariba, experience preferred

Qualifications/Certifications:

• Interpersonal skills to effectively build relationships with and influence a dynamic and diverse set of stakeholders, including the ability to listen and understand differing perspectives
• Strategic mindset with quantitative, problem-solving, project management, and negotiation skills and a strong desire for progress and continuous improvement
• Proven ability to analyze and present findings in a clear and cohesive manner
• Adept at managing change and working through ambiguity to identify and drive to a solution, both independently and collaboratively with cross-functional teams
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to liaise across boundaries and boarders and influence with integrity

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It is our business imperative to remain a very inclusive workplace.

To our veterans and separated service members, you're at the forefront of our minds as we recruit top talent to join Nestle. The skills you've gained while serving our country, such as flexibility, agility, and leadership, are much like the skills that will make you successful in this role. In addition, with our commitment to an inclusive work environment, we recognize the exceptional engagement and innovation displayed by individuals with disabilities. Nestle seeks such skilled and qualified individuals to share our mission where you'll join a cohort of others who have chosen to call Nestle home.

The Nestle Companies are equal employment opportunity employers. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Prior to the next step in the recruiting process, we welcome you to inform us confidentially if you may require any special accommodations in order to participate fully in our recruitment experience. Contact us at accommodations@nestle.com or please dial 711 and provide this number to the operator: 1-800-321-6467.

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

Review our applicant privacy notice before applying at https://www.nestlejobs.com/privacy.

Job Requisition:365049