Buyer, Ingredients CE

Position Title:Buyer, Ingredients CE

Position Type: Regular – Full-Time 

Requisition ID: 32494 

We are passionate about potatoes…and we’re even more passionate about our People!

McCain knows the importance that food plays in people’s lives – the power it has in bringing people, families and communities together. That is why our purpose is to celebrate real connections through delicious, planet-friendly food. We do this by succeeding together with our teams, businesses, and community partners around the world because we know when we work and grow together, we succeed together. Be a part of our family… We are McCain!

Job purpose:

Within the McCain Continental Europe Procurement Team, the INGREDIENTS buyer will lead the overall supplier relationship, sourcing strategy and procurement approach for their respective spending area. Ensuring proper commercial engagements and relationships with existing and new suppliers. By reinforcing McCain’s policy, Values & Principles, Ethics, our strategic approach with external suppliers, and with internal company functions.

The main responsibility for this role is to source our secondary ingredients (Auxiliaries, Fats …) needs for our McCain French Fries & Appetizers & specialties businesses. This requires a strong focus on security of supply for the mid and long term, while always delivering sustainable cost advantage for McCain through supplier management, competitive bidding and volume leverage where available.

This role will report to the Senior Category Manager, Contract Manufacturing CE&GB and Oils and Auxiliaries for CE. It is part of the Direct Materials Procurement Group.

Where you’ll work:

Flexible – can be based In France at the McCain Headquarter in Villeneuve d’Ascq or in one of our Netherland facilities.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy development and implementation

• Work with the Category Manager and the broader team to develop an auxiliary ingredients sourcing strategy that supports the current business and accounts for future growth. With a strong focus around anticipating future customers’ needs and related industrial substitutes solutions (customer focus)
• Own and report on their procurement category functional performance metrics (KPIs)

Relationship Management

• Develop strong personal relationships with internal stakeholders and senior leadership across the business
• Deliver outstanding partner service to key stakeholders. With a view to becoming an invaluable business partner of key functions including Manufacturing, Finance, Quality, R&D and the wider business

Category management

• Ensure category plans support operational business owners’ goals and future growth
• Ensuring category plans are effectively executed, provide strong commercial leadership on all areas of expenditure
• Supply risks managed proactively and contingency plans in place with critical suppliers

HSSE, D&I & CSR

• Embed McCain’s Health, Safety, Security policy, D&I and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies & policies, and ensure application and compliance in all sourcing activities
• Drive the contribution of key suppliers to achieve McCain’s goals

Supplier relationship management

• Develop a standard approach to SRM across their spend area, ensuring strategic and key suppliers are managed appropriately dependent on criticality and risk.

Cost-Saving Opportunities

• Proactively identify and deliver cost-saving opportunities within the category portfolio through cost competitiveness and new formulas development with our Value Engineering team
• Optimize spending (SCA, cash and cost avoidance) across the spend area, while maintaining high-quality products, delivered on time

Market knowledge 

• Develop strong market knowledge, helping to improve our accuracy in our monthly price forecast (6 to 12 months rolling) and further challenge our suppliers during negotiations. In parallel, based on the risk & opportunities identified, the buyer will provide recommendation and look for market risk management solutions (physical and financial hedging, inventory management)
• Provide in-depth financial analysis with impact evaluation 

New product development

• Be in close contact with our Value Engineering / Product Improvement team and R&D to support technical/product optimization while improving top line performance, based on innovation screening and implementation.

About You:

• Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in procurement, Food, Agri Business or Engineering.
• Minimum 2/3 years procurement experience preferably in the food & beverage, FMCG / CPG industry. Ingredient market knowledge is a strong plus
• Business thinking: Able to connect business needs with external capabilities and with a commercial insight.
• Negotiating. You need to be a strong personality who does not hesitate to negotiate firmly and fairly.
• Curious: a curious person who loves to learn new things and always seeks knowledge
• Collaboration: Regarded as a constructive team player and have a strong sense of partnership behavior
• Analytical thinking: Disciplined and data oriented to gain competitive advantage (“should cost” modeling & TCO approach). 
• Communication: Ability to communicate within a complex organization environment
• Capacity to plan, organize and manage multiple priorities
• Creative & Flexible: able to evaluate opportunities and adapt priorities according to internal & external context
• Diversity mind-set: Ability to manage relationships within a matrix organization and across regions and cultures
• Fluent in English (oral/written), French and Dutch language could be a plus
• IT skills: Competence in business tools like the Microsoft Office suite of applications, SAP/ERP experience, Coupa/Ariba experience can be a plus

What we offer:

• A challenging and very rewarding role within an effective and international team (flat hierarchies).
• Global career growth and learning opportunities.
• Competitive salary and attractive benefits
• Hybrid mode of work
• Support of the direct manager and broader team to grow and thrive in a professional environment
• Opportunity to work independently in a challenging and international environment
• Friendly atmosphere

Join McCain Family! Apply now.

McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. We see value in ensuring we have a diverse, antiracist, inclusive, merit-based, and equitable workplace. As a global family-owned company we are proud to reflect the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that diversity drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. 

McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.

Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with the Global Employee Privacy Policy 

Job Family: Procurement

Location(s): FR – France : Nord : Villeneuve-d’Ascq jobsnear.orgjobsnear.org NL – Netherlands : Limburg : Maastricht jobsnear.orgjobsnear.org NL – Netherlands : Zeeland : Kruiningen jobsnear.orgjobsnear.org NL – Netherlands : Zeeland : Rilland 

Company: McCain Alimentaire SAS 

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