Purchasing Operations Leader: Co-Pack & ERP Excellence

• Location 3021 78th St,Norway, IA, 52318,United States
• Job Category Procurement - Food, Supply Chain Management, Process Improvement
• Employee Type Full Time

We are seeking an experienced Purchasing Operations Manager to lead our team of Buyers and be responsible for executing the day-to-day purchasing activity of food products, supporting the company’s broad supply chain organization. In this role, you will convert category strategies, sourcing decisions, supplier agreements, and business priorities into accurate, timely, and consistent purchasing execution. In addition to people leadership and purchasing execution, this position owns co-packing operations, purchasing process improvement, ERP enhancements, and Purchasing representation on cross-functional initiatives.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Buyer Team Leadership and Purchasing Execution
  • Lead, coach, develop, and evaluate Buyers and Senior Buyers while building capability in purchasing fundamentals, ERP utilization , supplier management, analysis, and problem-solving
  • Set team priorities and direct purchasing activities based on production requirements, inventory risk, supplier constraints, category strategies, and business needs
  • Ensure timely and accurate purchase order execution, including creation, maintenance, confirmations, expediting, price updates, supplier follow-up, and exception resolution
  • Coordinate cross-functional handoffs among Purchasing, Planning, Operations, Quality, Finance, and suppliers, escalating significant supply, pricing, capacity, quality, service, or contractual issues as needed
• Co-Packing and External Manufacturing
  • Lead operational management of co-packing and external manufacturing partners, overseeing purchase orders, production schedules, material availability, inventory, pricing, capacity, and service performance
  • Partner cross- functionally with Purchasing, Operations, Planning, Quality, R&D, Marketing, and Finance to support co-packer selection , onboarding, commercialization, and ongoing relationship management
  • Monitor and improve co-packer performance across cost, service, quality, inventory, schedule adherence, capacity, and responsiveness, while identifying opportunities for greater efficiency and business continuity
  • Lead resolution of co-packer issues and support sourcing activities, including RFPs, cost analysis, commercial negotiations, capacity evaluations, contract administration, and corrective action management
• Purchasing Processes, Systems, and Continuous Improvement
  • Serve as the business process owner for purchasing systems, ERP workflows, master data, reporting, controls, and technology enhancements, including requirements development, testing, implementation, training, and support
  • Lead efforts to simplify, standardize, automate, and strengthen purchasing processes, policies, procedures, work instructions, approval workflows, and internal controls
  • Drive continuous improvement initiatives using data analysis, process mapping, root-cause analysis, and structured problem-solving methodologies
  • Improve purchasing dashboards, reporting, and data quality while ensuring effective adoption and long-term sustainability of system and process changes across the Purchasing organization
• Cross-Functional Projects and Supply Chain Initiatives
  • Represent Purchasing on major company and supply chain initiatives, including new product launches, facility projects, acquisitions, integrations, network changes, and strategic operational programs
  • Lead Purchasing participation in the implementation and optimization of supply chain planning systems, ensuring supplier constraints, lead times, sourcing rules, pricing, and other purchasing data are accurately reflected in planning processes
  • Coordinate Purchasing…