Buyer - Sourcing

Loblaw Companies Limited•Brampton, ON

About The Position

Loblaw Companies Limited is one of Canada's largest employers, with 190,000 colleagues and over 3,000 stores across the country, focused on helping Canadians Live Life Well®. The company values authenticity, trust, and connections, and offers a range of opportunities for career growth. This specific role is for a Buyer within Loblaw’s Sourcing Team, focusing on the Cold Beverages category, which is the largest within Grocery, representing approximately $3B in annual COGS. The Buyer will be accountable for both national brand and private label products. Reporting to the Sourcing Director for Cold Beverages, the Buyer will be involved in all aspects of category sourcing, including domestic and offshore sourcing, vendor relationship and performance management, RFPs, cost management (negotiations and adhoc reviews), supply risk management, quality management, and supporting vendor onboarding and transitions. The role also involves partnering with retail divisions to execute category strategies and providing insights on cost inflation, forecasting, commodity trends, competitive landscape analytics, and new product innovation.

Requirements

Post-secondary education in fields of: business, supply chain, engineering or other technical field
A mindset of accountability, problem solving, curiosity, and results-oriented
Strong communicator: ability to effectively express thoughts, influence & collaborate with cross-functional teams
Business financial acumen and demonstrated ability to understand a P&L statement
Strong technical skills & highly capable with MS Excel to analyze data with attention to detail
The ability to accurately interpret data to make decisions

Nice To Haves

Relevant experience in a dedicated sourcing and/or merchandising/category management role, within a fast-moving consumer goods or grocery industry

Responsibilities

Execute buying strategies that align to category playbooks and deliver our financial obligations
Build trusted relationships, internally within Loblaw and externally with the vendor community
Lead cost negotiations up to a certain impact threshold, and support the Sourcing Director on complex cost negotiations as necessary
Own supplier management and performance overviews including financial results, cost reviews, service levels, and quality assurance
Clarify and resolve supplier inquiries, and support business development opportunities as needed
Lead our private label sourcing including but not limited to identifying alternate suppliers, assessing and further developing supplier capabilities, executing RFP’s, vendor transitions, new supplier onboarding, facilitating completion of vendor compliance requirements
Support Enterprise initiatives led by sourcing including but not limited to the planning of enterprise programs/promotions, direct to source, Loyalty contract renewals, payment terms standardization
Evaluate new product innovation and partner with our Loblaw Brands team and retail divisions on product innovation and program sourcing for our private labels
Monitor supplier service levels and collaborate with suppliers & internal teams as needed to resolve service or quality challenges
Monitor the competitive landscape of the category and understand industry benchmarking standards on costing, commodities, global sourcing strategies, and product quality specifications
Source and execute weekly and seasonal product buys for baseline and promotional volume on behalf of our retail divisions