Associate Director, Ingredients – Cheese and Dairy

As the Associate Director of Cheese and Dairy Procurement, you will set broader strategic direction for the Cheese and Dairy procurement portfolio across the Kraft Heinz North American Zone, leading through leaders to deliver enterprise value, strengthen organizational capability, and ensure robust 1-2 year execution roadmaps and credible 3-5-year category strategy plans are in place across assigned categories. This role shapes category strategy, operating model, talent priorities, supplier relationship strategy, and leadership standards across dairy powders, cream, milk, cheese, cheese powder, and Canadian dairy. You will align resources, talent, and ways of working to business priorities; build executive alignment with Business Units, Operations, Finance, Quality, R&D, and strategic suppliers; and resolve complex, high-impact issues that affect cost, service, risk, innovation, and long-term business performance. Success requires enterprise judgment, strategic influence, business storytelling, and the ability to deliver scaled impact through others while developing a strong leadership bench for future Procurement needs.

Job Description

Essential Functions & Responsibilities:

· Set enterprise-level strategic direction for the Cheese and Dairy procurement portfolio, ensuring strong annual execution and credible three-year plans are established, owned, and delivered across the category landscape.

· Lead through category leaders by aligning talent, resources, priorities, and operating routines to deliver sustained enterprise value across cost, service, risk, productivity, innovation, and supply continuity.

· Shape the long-term category strategy, supplier relationship strategy, and operating model for dairy, cream, milk, cheese, cheese powder, cultures, trim, whey, and milk fat across the Kraft Heinz North American Zone.

· Build executive alignment with internal stakeholders and strategic suppliers through clear business storytelling, enterprise judgment, and decisive recommendations on complex trade-offs.

· Serve as the senior escalation and decision-shaping leader for high-impact supplier, market, operational, quality, financial, and risk matters that require cross-functional resolution.

· Develop leadership capability across the team by coaching leaders, setting standards, creating transparency on priorities, and strengthening succession readiness for critical procurement roles.

· Own enterprise outcomes for assigned categories, including productivity, cash, inflation mitigation, supply assurance, supplier performance, innovation enablement, and total cost of ownership.

· Establish scalable routines, governance, and performance management processes that improve decision quality, stakeholder confidence, and functional effectiveness across Procurement and partner functions.

· Lead strategic sourcing, supplier selection, and negotiation strategy for complex, business-critical categories while ensuring leaders apply robust sourcing discipline and commercial governance.

· Advance the category roadmap by translating market dynamics, supplier capabilities, risk signals, and business priorities into clear strategic choices and executable plans.

· Influence senior stakeholders across Business Units, Operations, Finance, Quality, R&D, Global Procurement, and suppliers to align on priorities, decisions, and trade-offs that support enterprise outcomes.

· Drive continuous improvement in internal and external ways of working, including supplier governance, cross-functional decision forums, category planning, risk management, and value reporting.

· Ensure performance goals, productivity pipelines, risk mitigation plans, and financial commitments are clearly owned and visible across the portfolio.

· Create durable functional improvement by strengthening standards, tools, routines, and leadership behaviors that enable consistent execution beyond annual results.

· Represent Cheese and Dairy Procurement in enterprise forums, providing strategic recommendations and clear communication to senior leadership on category outlook, risks, opportunities, and required decisions.

People Management Responsibilities

· Leads a team of category leaders and procurement professionals; accountable for coaching, performance standards, succession readiness, and delivery of business outcomes through others.

Expected Experience & Required Skills

· Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, finance, business, or equivalent. MBA and advanced Procurement qualifications preferred (CPM, CPIM, etc.). Candidates with equivalent experience will be considered.

· 10+ years of progressive procurement, supply chain, finance, or commercial experience, including significant experience leading complex ingredient, dairy, cheese, commodity, or food manufacturing categories.

· Demonstrated ability to lead through leaders, build organizational capability, coach talent, set leadership standards, and strengthen succession pipelines.

· Strong enterprise and business judgment with the ability to connect category strategy, supplier dynamics, operational risk, financial performance, and long-term business priorities.

· Proven ability to shape and deliver one-year execution plans and credible three-year strategies across multiple categories, spaces, or strategic priorities.

· Executive communication and business storytelling skills; able to simplify complex issues, influence senior stakeholders, and build alignment around trade-offs and decisions.

· Advanced negotiation and supplier relationship leadership experience with demonstrated success in complex supplier, commercial, and cross-functional decision environments.

· Ability to resolve ambiguous and high-impact business challenges by aligning stakeholders, resources, talent, and operating routines to strategy.

· Experience establishing scalable processes, governance, and performance management routines that improve decision quality, accountability, and functional effectiveness.

· Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and source-to-pay tools; ability to leverage data, analytics, and market intelligence to inform enterprise-level recommendations.

Work Environment & Schedu le

This position is considered a normal office environment with moderate travel to supplier locations, manufacturing facilities, etc.; offices are open workspaces. To create a more agile and modern workplace, we allow Chicago/Aon Center-based employees to work virtually for up to two days each week and expect them to work in person during the defined core days at their assigned work location at least three days per workweek.

Our Total Rewards philosophy is to provide a meaningful and flexible spectrum of programs that equitably support our diverse workforce and their families and complement Kraft Heinz’ strategy and values.

New Hire Base Salary Range:
$164,200.00 - $205,200.00

Bonus: This position is eligible for a performance-based bonus as provided by the plan terms and governing documents.

The compensation offered will take into account internal equity and may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors

Benefits: Coverage for employees (and their eligible dependents) through affordable access to healthcare, protection, and saving for the future, we offer plans tailored to meet you and your family’s needs. Coverage for benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents.

Wellbeing: We offer events, resources, and learning opportunities that inspire a physical, social, emotional, and financial well-being lifestyle for our employees and their families.

You’ll be able to participate in a variety of benefits and wellbeing programs that may vary by role, country, region, union status, and other employment status factors, for example:

- Physical - Medical, Prescription Drug, Dental, Vision, Screenings/Assessments
- Social - Paid Time Off, Company Holidays, Leave of Absence, Flexible Work Arrangements, Recognition, Training
- Emotional – Employee Assistance Program , Wellbeing Programs, Family Support Programs
- Financial – 401k, Life, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Disability

Location(s)
Chicago/Aon Center

Kraft Heinz is an Equal Opportunity Employer – Underrepresented Ethnic Minority Groups/Women/Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity and other protected classes.  In order to ensure reasonable accommodation for protected individuals, applicants that require accommodation in the job application process may contact [email protected] for assistance.