Planner/Buyer - Direct Procurement, Paper Packaging

Ruiz Foods is looking for a driven, detail-oriented Planner/Buyer to join our Direct Procurement team and support our Paper Packaging category. This is a high-impact opportunity to help keep our manufacturing operations moving by ensuring corrugated boxes, folding cartons, and related paper packaging components are available when needed, at the right cost, and with the right level of inventory control.

Company Information

Ruiz Foods has been family-owned since 1964 and is one of the largest Hispanic-owned companies in the country. We are the proud maker of two #1 brands: El Monterey frozen Mexican food and Tornados roller grill taquitos, found in grocery stores and convenience stores across the U.S. and Canada.

If you are looking for career development opportunities in an exciting company that cares about its team members and consumers alike, we invite you to join our team and help us continue our industry-leading track record of growth, quality, and delicious food.

About the Role

In this role, you will support material planning, purchase order execution, supplier follow-up, inventory management, and packaging change implementation while balancing production service, working capital, warehouse space, and obsolete material risk. You will report to the Packaging Procurement Category Leader and partner closely with suppliers and teams across Commercial, Scheduling, Regulatory, Transportation, Warehousing, Quality, R&D, Operations, and Procurement.

• Manage a highly visible paper packaging portfolio supporting well-known food brands and large-scale manufacturing operations.
• Help influence production service, supplier performance, working capital, warehouse utilization, and obsolete material reduction.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners to support new item launches, product transitions, and packaging changes.
• Join a company committed to innovation, quality, safety, integrity, respect, and teamwork.

What You’ll Do

• Plan and buy more than $20 million in paper-based packaging materials across a portfolio of more than 200 SKUs supporting four U.S. manufacturing plants.
• Translate production demand and MRP signals into timely purchase orders, supplier confirmations, and delivery plans that support manufacturing schedules.
• Manage on-hand, supplier-held, and off-site inventories while balancing service levels, cash flow, warehouse space, and obsolete material exposure.
• Partner with suppliers to monitor on-time delivery, order confirmations, responsiveness, lead time adherence, and recurring service issues.
• Support packaging transitions, new item launches, commercialization activities, and controlled runout of existing inventory in partnership with Commercial, Regulatory, Operations, Quality, R&D, and Procurement stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to improve order quantities, lead times, safety stock, inventory flow, supplier performance, and material availability.
• Work closely with Warehousing, Transportation, and Planning to optimize warehouse utilization and off-site storage needs.
• Help deliver business goals related to schedule adherence, production service, purchase price variance, on-time and in-full deliveries, cash flow, and obsolete material reduction.
• Provide backup support for other Planner/Buyers across flexible film, labels, ingredients, commodities, and other packaging or raw material categories as needed.
• Live the company’s mission, vision, and values while performing all responsibilities safely, ethically, and collaboratively.
• Remain available outside regular business hours when time-sensitive supply, schedule, or delivery issues require attention.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

What You’ll Bring

• At least three years of experience in a consumer goods environment; food or beverage manufacturing experience is strongly preferred.
• Associate’s degree in Supply Chain, Finance, Engineering, Business, or a related field; five years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Experience with material planning, buying, inventory management, purchase order execution, and supplier follow-up.
• Strong analytical ability, financial acumen, and comfort using data to make sound planning and purchasing decisions.
• Excellent attention to detail, follow-through, and ability to manage competing priorities in a dynamic environment.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills with the ability to build effective relationships with suppliers and cross-functional partners.
• A proactive, continuous-improvement mindset with the confidence to challenge the status quo and recommend better ways of working.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and common ERP/MRP systems; experience with Infor M3 is highly preferred.
• Professional certifications in supply chain, procurement, planning, or continuous improvement are a plus.
• Ability to travel up to 15%, primarily domestic.

Why Apply?

This is a hands-on opportunity to make a measurable impact across our manufacturing network while supporting the materials that help bring our products to consumers. If you are analytical, collaborative, detail-oriented, and passionate about improving supply chain performance, we would like to hear from you.