Commercial Director, Intact Grains & Pulses

Ardent Mills•Plymouth, MN

About The Position

The Director, Emerging Nutrition Intact Grains & Pulses, is responsible for growing Emerging Nutrition’s intact pulses and grain (Chickpea, Lentils, Sorghum, Flax) P&L while ensuring consistent, reliable, and cost competitive raw material supply for the Emerging Nutrition Ingredients business that uses many of the intact grains and pulse business products as raw materials. Reporting to the VP of Emerging Nutrition, this role is responsible for managing flat price risk and focusing cross-functional stakeholders on profitability as you drive end-to-end daily trading and business execution to meet near-term and medium-term PL targets. This includes decision making and workflow coordination. This role partners with the VP, EN and the broader Ardent Mills organization to identify and build/buy/partner to add capabilities needed to strengthen the intact grain P&L and position it for growth.

Requirements

10+ years of leadership / managerial experience
Specialty grain merchandising experience
P&L Management experience
Experience working with, and leading cross-functional teams
Experience using data to make decisions
Excellent communication (both written and verbal), presentation and negotiation skills
Very strong interpersonal skills including relationship-building and collaboration with people from different disciplines
Excellent analytical skills and the ability to work in a dynamic, fast paced environment

Nice To Haves

Plant operations knowledge
Familiarity with QA environment in the space
Experience managing in a matrixed organization
Financial acumen
Financial modeling skills
Understanding of pulse industry trade rules

Responsibilities

Lead Emerging Nutrition’s Intact Grains and Pulses business with P&L Accountability
Deliver annual intact grains and pulses business Plans and supporting strategies; Includes forecasting relevant raw material costs for EN ingredients businesses (Intercompany customer)
Establish seed sales, origination and merchandising strategies while ensuring sound risk management practices are exercised and in-line with Ardent Mills’ broader risk management program, with a dotted line to Ardent Mills’ head of Risk Management
Provide monthly earnings forecasts vs. the Plan; Quantify risk and opportunities with subsequent action plans
Establish business management reports, processes and operational KPI’s to provide visibility and ensure cross-functional profitability focus, enabling efficient use of resources and improved decision-making agility
Heavy partnership with operations group to establish, track and improve against processing metrics that matter
Lead cross-functional teams to deliver against plan and forecast commitments
Directly lead and develop team responsible for seed sales, intact grain origination and trading; Requires daily coaching and decision-making
Influence and lead cross-functional teams to ensure strategic alignment, performance, accountability, and optimal P&L outcomes
Partner with VP, EN to establish and execute against longer-term EN growth strategies
Establish internal and external thought leadership and knowledge with regards to relevant markets, supply chains and competitors (industry outlook, risks and opportunities, competitive market dynamics, crop outlook, supply and demand, export trends, customer dynamics)
Establish long-term strategic vision for Intact grain business Includes heavy partnership with research teams on seed genetics strategies to implement to support achievement of broader intact grains and pulses strategy
Identify and justify investments (People, technology, assets, partnerships etc.) needed to achieve vision