Procurement Director 1053 views0 applications

Job Description

As the Procurement Director, you will lead a decentralized mission driven procurement team, coach your team through rapid growth, and do this in the face of headwinds in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment. Your leadership chops should include the ability to be an expert negotiator, a superb project and process manager, able to assess needs, prioritize appropriately, present creative solutions, develop action plans, execute and measure results. Experience owning a vast network of supply partners and customized foodservice solutions is a huge plus.

Responsibilities 

The Procurement Director has five key performance objectives: 

  1. Champion the “Five Rights” of Supply Chain
  2. Uphold and improve our Food & Grower Ethos to support our “Win, Win, Win” Core Value
  3. Negotiate and enhance our national supplier contracts as we continue to scale
  4. Upstream quality monitoring and improvements while ensuring the proper food safety standards
  5. Manage company procurement to achieve the budgeted COGS

How to Build our Supply Network

Champion the “Five Rights” of Supply Chain Optimization

  • Product: ensure that the items needed meet all culinary requirements as well as progress any Food Ethos objectives that are established
  • Quality: confirm that the product meets the specifications provided by the Food and Operation teams. Support any food safety risk assessments, vendor standards, or recalls
  • On-Time Delivery: monitor inbound logistics to the first receiver to optimize inventory and supply
  • Quantity: assist minimizing shortages and disruptions
  • Price: establish and  manage all pricing contracts in a systematic manner

Uphold and improve our Food & Grower Ethos to support our “Win, Win, Win” Core Value

  • Establish a strategy to improve the metrics of our Food Ethos pillars while maintaining supply during a rapid growth phase
  • Assess new producers using our internal Food Ethos rating system’s pillars: healthy, sustainable, and transparent
  • Support the migration of our current producer base to implement better sustainability practices
  • Align sweetgreen with the appropriate sustainability practices and third-party verified certifications, including our publicly-stated animal welfare standards
  • Expand the reach and capacity of our internal vendor assessment tools
  • Manage our product innovation pipeline from ideation to the initial rollout stages

Negotiate and enhance our national supplier contracts

  • Launch a system to house, monitor, and update our regional and national contracts
  • Build supplier resiliency for all critical regional and national items
  • Work closely with the Value Chain team to enhance our local and sustainable offerings
  • Fight for national and regional producers that you believe in!

Upstream quality monitoring and improvements while ensuring the proper food safety standards

  • Create a real-time system that highlights quality issues occurring within the supply chain and mitigate them before they occur at our stores
  • Compare proposals from multiple vendors offering the same product to improve quality
  • Innovate with our current vendor base to improve quality and labor efficiencies in a systematic way

Manage company procurement to achieve the budgeted COGS

  • Carefully balance the improvement of our ingredient quality and Food Ethos with achieving our budgeted COGS
  • Unbundle the components of the contracted landed costs to improve previously undiscovered inefficiencies
  • Leverage our growth and buying power where appropriate
  • Integrate inbound logistics solutions where needed to create faster, more efficient and cost effective freight options for sweetgreen nationally

Skills & Experience

Desired Traits

  • Uphold a commitment to building a more sustainable food system
  • Champion a team first attitude ahead of individual accolades 
  • Value feedback of all types in an effort to evolve
  • Demonstrate resilience by leaning into crises while applying the appropriate pressure in the right places in order to get the necessary outcome
  • Hold proficient time management, task management, and project prioritization skills
  • Lead by example with a continuous passion for learning
  • Known for honesty, integrity, self-awareness, and a solid work ethic
  • Comfortable compiling, interpreting, and presenting the financial components of strategic sourcing 

Desired Experience

  • Have 5 to 7 years experience in Procurement, Food Systems, Supply Chain Management and/or Sustainability
  • Familiarity and experience working with a broad array of producers and distributors within the foodservice arena
  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with technical background in Business, Environmental Health, Food Science, Agriculture, or Supply Chain related course of study
  • Familiarity with food-related certifications and the requirements for a grower, producer, or distributor to achieve various certifications

In order to be successful in this role, you will need to have experiences where you led a decentralized procurement/Supply Chain team (8+ members), coached the team through the rapid growth, and did all of this in the face of headwinds in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment. Your leadership chops should include the ability to as a negotiator, a superb project and process manager, able to assess needs, prioritize appropriately, present creative solutions, develop action plans, execute and measure results. Owning a vast network of distribution and supply partners is a huge help.

NOTE: Candidates must be willing to relocate to the Greater Los Angeles area. Restaurant experience or similar industry, supporting a dynamic food supply chain is desired. 

Why You Should Work With Us

About sweetgreen:

sweetgreen is on a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food. We passionately believe that real food should be convenient and accessible to everyone. Every day in each sweetgreen restaurant, our 4,000+ team members make food from scratch, using fresh ingredients and produce delivered that morning. And in our local communities, we’re committed to leaving people better than we found them. We’re in the business of feeding people, and we’re out to change what that means. Our people are our most valuable ingredient – the heart of our company, the face of our brand, and what truly makes the sweetgreen experience special and unique.  

What you’ll get:

  • Competitive pay + bonus plan granted based on performance 
  • Health, dental + vision insurance
  • Flexible PTO, because we respect the need for work/life harmony
  • An opportunity to make a real impact on the people around you, both by growing them and by connecting them to real food
  • To live the sweetlife and celebrate your passion + purpose
  • A collaborative family of people who live our core values and have your back
  • A clear career path with opportunities for development, both personally and professionally
  • Free sweetgreen swag
  • Complimentary sweetgreen

Come join the sweetlife!

sweetgreen provides equal opportunities for everyone that works for us and everyone that applies to join our team, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, any service, past, present, or future, in the uniformed services of the United States (military or veteran status), or any other consideration protected by federal, state, or local law.

 

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sweetgreen is on a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food. We passionately believe that real food should be convenient and accessible to everyone. Every day in each sweetgreen, our 3,500 team members make food from scratch, using fresh ingredients and produce delivered that morning. And in our local communities, we’re committed to leaving people better than we found them. We’re in the business of feeding people, and we’re out to change what that means.
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