Job Description

Senior Procurement Manager

At Russell Stover, not only do we love chocolate, but we love our jobs! Every day we go to work exhibiting our values of excellence, innovation, entrepreneurship, responsibility, and collaboration. Working at Russell Stover you’ll be part of the leading manufacturer of boxed, seasonal, and sugar-free chocolates. For over 100 years, Russell Stover Chocolates, Whitman’s, and Pangburn’s have been crafted with the finest ingredients to bring happiness to generations. Today, we produce over 55 million pounds of chocolate annually, and our legacy brands can be found in 13 company-owned stores and over 9,000 wholesale accounts. Join our team and let’s continue making chocolate lovers happy!

A day in the life…

As a Sr. Procurement Manager, Raw Materials and Packaging, you will be responsible for designing and implementing strategic sourcing strategies focused across a diversified portfolio of raw materials (Chocolate, Dairy, Sugar, etc…) and packaging (Flexibles, Corrugate, Displays, etc…). As a leader, you will operate as a player coach, balancing hands-on execution with team development. You will serve as a Key partner to BU leadership, including Operations, FSQA, Finance, R&D, and Marketing.

You will be responsible for developing organizational capabilities, working with collaboratively with the Vice President of Procurement and key stakeholders which include other members of the senior executive team. The primary responsibilities will be setting and attainment of saving targets, while maintaining quality, timeliness, safety and customer satisfaction while driving increased financial performance and growth goals. You will direct projects with significant financial and strategic impact as well as manage critical, highly sensitive external relationships with key suppliers.

What you will be doing…

• Enhance visibility into spend, market dynamics and risk exposure.
• Navigate commodity volatility, including hedge strategy across key raw material markets (Chocolate, Sugar, Dairy, and other raw materials) . Partnering closely with the VP of Procurement and CFO. 
• Lead the development and implementation of strategic sourcing practices. Achieve optimal savings, quality standards, and service levels, as well as commercialization of new products.
• Gain advantage on spend consolidation, specification standardization, and other procurement strategies as appropriate.
• Develop and maintain external high-level business relationships, including key supplier relationships, participation in relevant and regular meetings, conferences with key suppliers, customers, and other relevant activities to ensure constructive supplier and customer relationships and the maintenance of the Company’s continued good standing with existing and prospective suppliers and customers.
• Develop comprehensive engagement and communication strategy to foster enthusiastic participation from functions across the company in broad-based sourcing initiatives and centralized category management of identified spend categories.
• Provide high-level procurement support to regional operations when requested by Vice President of Procurement.
• Active contributor to the overall strategic direction of the procurement organization to support the projected growth, profitability and customer service goals for the nearer- and longer-term market challenges and opportunities.
• Disseminate information and forecasts regarding pricing trends and assured supply issues to sales, operations management and, where appropriate, customer’s purchasing teams with timely and accurate information for effective decision-making.
• Attract, develop, and retain top procurement talent with a keen eye on succession planning within the team.
• Guide trading strategy, pricing, and supply continuity in a fast-moving market.

If visiting our manufacturing plants, you will be expected to:

• Adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to ensure product quality and maintain compliance with food safety standards.
• Complete and follow FSQA training and programs to comply with regulatory requirements, ensure consumer safety, and support the plant’s food safety and quality objectives.
• Promptly report and take appropriate action on any observed or potential food safety hazards, process deviations, or non-conformities by notifying the designated plant supervisor, in accordance with your role and responsibilities.
• Actively contributes to the continuous improvement of the company’s Food Safety Culture through engagement and actions aligned with your role.

This job posting is not all inclusive and other duties may be assigned.

Do you have what it takes?

(Basic Qualifications)

•  Minimum 10+ years of progressively responsible management experience in a complex food-manufacturing (preferred) environment.
• Developing and executing multi-site strategic sourcing initiatives with demonstrated success managing direct spending.
• Previous people management experience a must
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to speak, read, and write English fluently, with or without an accommodation.
• Purchasing concepts and techniques.
• Food processing concepts, principles and practices.
• Strategic sourcing and category management concepts and best practices.
• Contracting and commercial legal practices, laws, regulations, etc.
• Strategic planning and forecasting concepts and approaches.
• Project management concepts and techniques.
• Budgetary concepts and procedures.
• Drive collaboration within the company.
• Develop and implement successful sourcing strategies.
• Sophisticated, multi-year contract negotiations.
• Contract management systems.
• Achieve targeted cost savings, safety, quality results.
• Prepare and deliver presentations to the highest-level management, customers, and other representatives of external organizations.
• Use of various PC-based word-processing, spreadsheet, analytical programs.
• Work effectively in a general business environment, with a focus on high levels of quality and customer service.

Do you stand above the rest?

(Preferred Qualifications)

• Bachelor of Science degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Finance or a related area.

At Russell Stover Chocolates, we don’t just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products, and our community. Russell Stover Chocolates is proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace.

We provide equal employment opportunities to all people without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, protected medical condition, genetic information, military service, veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by law.

Employment by Russell Stover Chocolates is contingent upon I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification, passing the urinalysis drug screen, education verification, and satisfactory reference and background checks.

Make Happy. Work Happy.