Procurement Manager - Food Manufacturing

Taylor Fresh Foods, Inc. is dedicated to being North America’s favorite maker of salads and healthy fresh foods. Our “Taylor Family” is an enterprise full of team members who are passionate about making high quality, great tasting products for families across North America. As we continue to rapidly grow, we have a career opportunity available for a talented and motivated individual to join our Taylor Farms Arizona team located in Tolleson. Position Summary The Procurement Manager leads strategic sourcing, purchasing, supplier management, and materials planning to ensure continuity of supply while optimizing cost, quality, service, and working capital. The role develops category and supplier strategies for direct materials, packaging, ingredients, commodities, and indirect goods and services; partners cross-functionally to support production, customer requirements, and profitable growth; and builds a high-performing, data-driven procurement team. Key Responsibilities Develop and execute procurement and category strategies aligned with business goals, customer requirements, production needs, and profitability targets. Lead sourcing events, supplier evaluation and selection, competitive bidding, negotiations, contract administration, and renewal planning. Deliver sustainable savings and cost avoidance through market analysis, supplier consolidation, value engineering, demand management, and total-cost-of-ownership decisions. Monitor commodity, capacity, lead-time, geopolitical, and supplier risks; establish practical business-continuity and alternate-source plans. Build strategic supplier relationships and conduct regular business reviews using scorecards, corrective actions, and improvement plans covering cost, quality, delivery, service, and compliance. Partner with Operations, Planning, Warehouse, Transportation, Quality, Finance, Sales, and Product Development to maintain material availability and support launches and customer commitments. Optimize inventory policies, safety stock, order quantities, lead times, inventory turns, excess and obsolete inventory, and working capital in coordination with planning and operations. Ensure purchase orders accurately reflect approved pricing, quantities, delivery schedules, terms, specifications, and conditions; maintain disciplined approval and change-control practices. Own procurement analytics, forecasts, budgets, dashboards, and executive reporting, including purchase price variance, realized savings, supplier performance, and material availability. Standardize procurement policies, procedures, systems, master data, and transaction methods; identify automation and continuous improvement opportunities within ERP/MRP workflows. Ensure compliance with company policies and applicable quality, food safety, security, ethical sourcing, contractual, and regulatory requirements. Lead, coach, and develop the procurement team by setting priorities, clarifying accountability, balancing workload, evaluating performance, and building succession capability. Perform other related duties and strategic projects as assigned. Supervisory Responsibilities Provide day-to-day direction, coaching, training, and performance management for procurement and purchasing personnel. Establish team objectives, service expectations, standard work, development plans, and accountability for measurable results. Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, Procurement, Finance, Operations Management, or a related field. Minimum 8 years of progressive procurement, strategic sourcing, purchasing, or supply chain experience, including experience in manufacturing, food production, assembly, distribution, or consumer products environment. Minimum 3 years of people-leadership experience with demonstrated success developing teams and managing priorities. Proven experience leading supplier negotiations, sourcing initiatives, cost-reduction programs, and supplier performance management. Strong knowledge of purchasing, materials management, inventory planning, logistics, contracting fundamentals, and sales and operations interfaces. Preferred Qualifications Advanced proficiency with ERP/MRP systems and Microsoft Excel; experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power BI, SAP, Oracle, or comparable platforms is preferred. Professional certification such as CPSM, CSCP, CPIM, or equivalent; Experience in regulated food manufacturing or consumer packaged goods; Demonstrated use of analytics and visualization tools to support procurement decisions. CORE COMPETENCIES Strategic and commercial acumen Negotiation and supplier influence Financial and analytical capability Decisive problem-solving Cross-functional collaboration Clear written and verbal communication Change leadership and execution Organization, resilience, and attention to detail WORK ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS Work is performed in a professional office setting with regular interaction with production, warehouse, receiving, inventory, quality, and supplier-related areas. The role may require periodic time on the production floor, in refrigerated areas, loading docks, or storage areas where temperatures, noise levels, forklift traffic, wet floors, and food-safety controls may be present. Must follow all company safety, food safety, GMP, and visitor/vendor control requirements, including use of required personal protective equipment when entering operational areas. Requires prolonged periods of sitting, working at a computer, reviewing data and documents, participating in meetings, and communicating by phone, email, and in person. This role is not eligible for Visa sponsorship #J-18808-Ljbffr Taylor Farms