Director of Agricultural Procurement-Day Shift

Director of Agricultural Procurement

Mt. Olive Pickle Company, Inc.

2000 Agricultural Procurement

Reports to VP, Supply Chain

Offices in Mount Olive, North Carolina

The Director of Agricultural Procurement leads the strategy, execution, and continuous improvement of the agricultural procurement function for Mt. Olive Pickle Company, Inc., a world leader in pickles, peppers, and relishes. This position is accountable for the responsible, reliable, and on-budget sourcing of cucumbers(“cukes”), peppers, carrots, okra, mushrooms, and other agricultural products required to support production plans, quality standards, customer commitments, and long-term business objectives.

The Director builds durable grower and supplier relationships, negotiates competitive agreements, manages crop and supply risk, and provides leadership across the full agricultural supply network.

• Develop and execute a comprehensive agricultural sourcing strategy for cucumbers, peppers, carrots, okra, mushrooms, and other key commodities, balancing cost, quality, availability, geography, seasonality, and risk.
• Lead annual and multi-year crop planning to align contracted acres, projected yields, harvest timing, varietal requirements, processing specifications, and delivery schedules with production forecasts and inventory needs.
• Own agricultural procurement budgets, commodity cost forecasts, and purchase commitments; monitor performance against plan and implement timely corrective actions when market, crop, freight, labor, or yield conditions change.
• Negotiate crop contracts, pricing structures, volume commitments, incentives, quality provisions, freight terms, and other commercial terms with growers, packers, processors, and agricultural suppliers.
• Build and maintain trusted, long-term relationships with growers and suppliers through consistent communication, fair dealing, field engagement, timely issue resolution, and a clear understanding of mutual business needs.
• Maintain a strong working knowledge of H-2A agricultural labor requirements, wage rates, housing, transportation, recruitment, timing, and compliance obligations, and evaluate how labor availability and changing H-2A costs affect grower economics, crop pricing, harvest capacity, and sourcing decisions.
• Analyze total delivered cost, including crop price, labor, yield, grading loss, freight, handling, storage, processing, and quality performance, to support fact-based negotiations and sourcing recommendations.
• Develop contingency plans and diversified supply options to mitigate weather, disease, pest, labor, transportation, geopolitical, regulatory, and supplier concentration risks.
• Partner with Operations, Quality, Food Safety, Planning, Finance, Research and Development, Legal, and Sales to ensure agricultural supply decisions support product specifications, plant requirements, food safety expectations, and customer demand.
• Establish and monitor supplier performance measures for cost, quality, service, delivery, food safety, sustainability, and contract compliance; lead business reviews and improvement plans as needed.
• Ensure growers and agricultural suppliers meet applicable company standards and legal requirements related to food safety, traceability, responsible labor practices, environmental stewardship, and ethical business conduct.
• Track crop conditions, planting progress, harvest forecasts, market trends, commodity benchmarks, labor developments, and regulatory changes; communicate risks, opportunities, and recommended actions to senior leadership.
• Lead, coach, and develop the agricultural procurement team; establish clear accountabilities, effective processes, succession plans, and a culture of integrity, collaboration, urgency, and continuous improvement.
• Represent Mt. Olive Pickle Company with growers, commodity associations, agricultural partners, government agencies, and industry groups as appropriate.
• Perform other duties and lead special projects as assigned.

The Director serves as the senior leader for agricultural procurement and is expected to make timely, commercially sound decisions in a dynamic supply environment. The role provides recommendations to executive leadership on sourcing strategy, grower commitments, commodity exposure, capital or infrastructure needs, contract risk, and significant budget variances. The Director exercises sound judgment while protecting Mt. Olive Pickle Company’s…