Manager, Procurement - Innovation (HDM)

Kraft Heinz • Chicago, IL

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Procurement - Innovation (HDM) will partner with brand, business, and cross-functional teams to understand innovation strategy, pipeline priorities, and future capability requirements. This role involves identifying and developing supplier partners that can enable the innovation strategy, conducting continuous landscape assessments for the category, elevating commercialization, and unlocking new growth opportunities through proactively shaping supplier partnerships to meet business needs. The Manager will bring forward innovation concepts, supplier capabilities, and emerging technologies by building strong external partnerships and staying connected to market developments. They will serve as a key connector between business unit innovation and core procurement teams, including Ingredients, Packaging, and External Manufacturing, to align preferred suppliers, supplier readiness, contracting, and launch support for internally manufactured innovation. This role supports internal innovation commercialization by ensuring procurement readiness and strong coordination across the relevant procurement categories and stakeholders. The Manager will lead external manufacturing sourcing and commercialization activities for applicable innovation projects, including supplier identification, strategic sourcing, commercial negotiation, IP and CAPEX considerations, contracting, onboarding, and supplier ways-of-working setup. They will act as the primary point of contact for external manufacturing innovation partners through development, commercialization, launch, and early lifecycle support. Driving supplier relationship management for innovation partners, including performance management, collaboration routines, issue resolution, and launch readiness, is key. The Manager will lead problem-solving during commercialization and launch to ensure speed, continuity, and strong cross-functional execution. Launched products, supplier relationships, and contract ownership will be transitioned to the appropriate business procurement team after stabilization. The role involves conducting supplier and market landscape analysis to identify new partners, innovation opportunities, and competitive advantages. Driving continuous improvement, process efficiency, and best practices across innovation sourcing, supplier collaboration, and commercialization processes is expected. Facilitating cross-functional forums (working with finance, operations, marketing, sales, legal, quality, R&D) and leading working sessions that strengthen alignment, simplify complexity, and improve procurement’s impact on innovation delivery are also key responsibilities. The Manager will execute supplier segmentation and supplier relationship management routines in line with Kraft Heinz principles, including business reviews and continuous improvement across quality, service, sustainability, cost, and performance. Executing supplier-led innovation through supplier relationships and internal stakeholder management, aligning capabilities and technology with the needs of the business, and fostering collaboration between Kraft Heinz and external partners to unlock growth and value, along with managing additional responsibilities as assigned, are also part of the role.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, operations, finance, business, engineering, or a related field
• Experience in Procurement, including areas such as Ingredients, Packaging, CAPEX, External Manufacturing, or related categories; Finance or process engineering experience is also valued
• Knowledge of food or beverage manufacturing processes and commercialization environments
• Strong negotiation and influence skills, with the ability to shape decisions and build alignment across internal and external stakeholders
• Strong collaboration skills and the ability to work effectively across matrixed teams, functions, and supplier networks
• Adaptability and resilience through change, with the ability to stay effective in fast-moving and evolving environments
• Digital savviness and basic knowledge of business intelligence tools such as Tableau and Power BI
• Literacy in and curiosity about AI solutions, with interest in how they can improve insight generation, decision making, and ways of working
• Strong strategic thinking and business acumen, with the ability to connect procurement decisions to brand, category, and business strategy
• Passion for developing new products and partnering with suppliers on new technologies and innovation opportunities
• Ability to prioritize effectively, balance competing priorities, assess trade-offs, and focus time and resources on the highest-value work to deliver innovation with speed and rigor
• Intellectual curiosity and a growth mindset, with a willingness to challenge assumptions and embrace the art of the possible
• Advanced storytelling and communication skills, with the ability to turn complex ideas into clear, compelling messages for different audiences
• Strong written, verbal, and analytical skills, as well as interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Change leadership capability, including the ability to influence adoption, align stakeholders, and move work from concept to execution
• Risk sensing and scenario planning capability, with the ability to anticipate issues, evaluate alternatives, and build practical paths forward
• Strong process orientation and continuous improvement mindset, with the ability to drive efficiencies, simplify complexity, and establish scalable best practices
• Strong analytical, planning, and execution skills, with attention to detail across multiple priorities and projects
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) and have an understanding for source-to-pay tools (SAP, Ariba, etc.).
• Ability to quickly develop a level of organizational agility, i.e., know how to get things done both through formal and informal channels.

Nice To Haves

• MBA and/or advanced procurement qualifications preferred

Responsibilities

• Partner with brand, business, and cross-functional teams to understand innovation strategy, pipeline priorities, and future capability requirements
• Identify and develop supplier partners that can enable innovation strategy, conduct continuous landscape assessments for the category, elevate commercialization, and unlock new growth opportunities through proactively shaping supplier partnerships to meet business needs
• Bring forward innovation concepts, supplier capabilities, and emerging technologies by building strong external partnerships and staying connected to market developments
• Serve as a key connector between business unit innovation and core procurement teams, including Ingredients, Packaging, and External Manufacturing, to align preferred suppliers, supplier readiness, contracting, and launch support for internally manufactured innovation
• Support internal innovation commercialization by ensuring procurement readiness and strong coordination across the relevant procurement categories and stakeholders
• Lead external manufacturing sourcing and commercialization activities for applicable innovation projects, including supplier identification, strategic sourcing, commercial negotiation, IP and CAPEX considerations, contracting, onboarding, and supplier ways-of-working setup
• Act as the primary point of contact for external manufacturing innovation partners through development, commercialization, launch, and early lifecycle support
• Drive supplier relationship management for innovation partners, including performance management, collaboration routines, issue resolution, and launch readiness
• Lead problem solving during commercialization and launch to ensure speed, continuity, and strong cross-functional execution
• Transition launched products, supplier relationships, and contract ownership to the appropriate business procurement team after stabilization
• Conduct supplier and market landscape analysis to identify new partners, innovation opportunities, and competitive advantages
• Drive continuous improvement, process efficiency, and best practices across innovation sourcing, supplier collaboration, and commercialization processes
• Facilitate cross-functional forums (working with finance, operations, marketing, sales, legal, quality, R&D) and lead working sessions that strengthen alignment, simplify complexity, and improve procurement’s impact on innovation delivery
• Execute supplier segmentation and supplier relationship management routines in line with Kraft Heinz principles, including business reviews and continuous improvement across quality, service, sustainability, cost, and performance
• Execute supplier led innovation through Supplier relationships and internal stakeholder management aligning capabilities and technology with the needs of the business.
• Foster collaboration between Kraft Heinz and external partners to unlock growth and value and manage additional responsibilities as assigned.

Benefits

• Coverage for employees (and their eligible dependents) through affordable access to healthcare, protection, and saving for the future, we offer plans tailored to meet you and your family’s needs.
• Wellbeing: We offer events, resources, and learning opportunities that inspire a physical, social, emotional, and financial well-being lifestyle for our employees and their families.
• Physical - Medical, Prescription Drug, Dental, Vision, Screenings/Assessments
• Social - Paid Time Off, Company Holidays, Leave of Absence, Flexible Work Arrangements, Recognition, Training
• Emotional – Employee Assistance Program , Wellbeing Programs, Family Support Programs
• Financial – 401k, Life, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Disability

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager