Vice President, Packaging

Kinder's•Walnut Creek, CA

43d•$275,000 - $300,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Vice President, Packaging Sourcing & Procurement will lead Kinder’s enterprise sourcing and procurement strategy across all packaging categories, building the supplier network, commercial capabilities, and supply continuity plans required to support continued profitable growth. As Kinder’s expands its portfolio, channels, innovation pipeline, and manufacturing network, this leader will create a scalable packaging procurement function that can support the speed of an entrepreneurial business and the complexity of a rapidly growing CPG company. The Vice President will have broad responsibility for category strategy, supplier selection and development, negotiations and contracting, cost and productivity, supplier performance, risk management, and packaging supply continuity. Working across Packaging Engineering, R&D, Innovation, Operations, Planning, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and external manufacturing partners, this leader will ensure Kinder’s has the right packaging suppliers, materials, capacity, commercial agreements, and contingency plans to support both current operations and future growth. The ideal candidate combines deep packaging-category knowledge with strong commercial judgment and enterprise leadership. They understand the supplier markets, manufacturing processes, cost drivers, and supply risks behind major packaging categories and can translate that knowledge into sourcing strategies that improve cost, service, quality, innovation, and resilience.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Procurement, Business, Packaging Science, Engineering, or a related field required; advanced degree or MBA preferred.
12+ years of progressive strategic sourcing, procurement, or category-management experience within food, beverage, CPG, or another high-volume consumer manufacturing environment, including significant leadership responsibility.
Proven experience leading packaging sourcing or procurement across multiple categories such as flexible films, corrugate, labels, cartons, rigid plastics, bottles, jars, and closures.
Deep knowledge of packaging supplier markets, converters, manufacturing processes, cost structures, commercial levers, lead times, capacity considerations, and supply risks.
Demonstrated success building and executing enterprise category strategies that improve cost, service, quality, capacity, and supply resilience.
Strong experience leading complex negotiations, competitive bids, supplier selection, contracting, supplier development, and performance management.
Proven ability to develop dual-source, contingency, and supplier-risk strategies for critical packaging materials and components.
Demonstrated track record of delivering meaningful productivity, cost reduction, cost avoidance, and working-capital improvement using total cost of ownership rather than unit price alone.
Strong commercial and financial acumen, including experience with packaging cost models, commodity exposure, conversion costs, freight, tooling, payment terms, and supplier economics.
Sufficient technical packaging knowledge to evaluate supplier capabilities and partner effectively with Packaging Engineering, R&D, Quality, Operations, and manufacturing teams; this role does not directly own packaging engineering or technical design.
Experience supporting innovation and commercialization by securing supplier capability, capacity, pricing, contracts, and continuity plans ahead of launch.
Demonstrated ability to build and develop high-performing sourcing and procurement teams and establish scalable processes, governance, metrics, and capabilities within a growing organization.
Executive-level communication and cross-functional leadership skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders and effectively partner across Packaging Engineering, R&D, Innovation, Marketing, Operations, Planning, Supply Chain, Quality, and Finance.
Thrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, high-growth environment, balancing strategic leadership with a willingness to stay close to the work and drive execution.
Model a Maker’s Mentality—combining curiosity, ownership, urgency, and a willingness to solve difficult problems.
Bring Craft + Pride to the technical quality and consumer experience of our packaging; build Capability + Scale by creating the systems, talent, supplier network, and technologies required for continued growth; and demonstrate Collaboration + Inclusion by bringing together diverse perspectives across functions to make better decisions for the business.
Success in this role requires a leader who can set the strategy, build the capability, and still roll up their sleeves when the business needs it.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or MBA preferred.
Embraces ambiguity and tries to make good decisions fast rather than great decisions slow.
Takes smart risks, not to eliminate risk.
Believes in growing skills and becoming a better company with more managerial expertise, but is an entrepreneurial company at heart.
Willing to work hard to achieve exceptional things.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead Kinder’s enterprise sourcing and procurement strategy across all packaging materials and components.
Translate business plans, demand growth, innovation pipelines, and manufacturing requirements into long-term packaging category, supplier, capacity, and continuity strategies.
Establish multi-year sourcing roadmaps that balance cost, quality, service, innovation, sustainability, speed to market, and supply resilience.
Serve as the senior packaging sourcing subject-matter expert, advising executive and functional leaders on packaging markets, supplier capabilities, capacity constraints, commodity exposure, commercial risks, and opportunities.
Build scalable sourcing processes, procurement governance, category-management standards, contracting practices, and decision frameworks that create greater consistency and discipline as Kinder’s grows.
Maintain a strong external perspective on packaging markets, materials, converters, supplier capabilities, cost drivers, capacity trends, and industry developments.
Develop and execute comprehensive category strategies across corrugate, flexible films, rigid plastics, bottles, jars, closures, labels, cartons, and other packaging components.
Lead supplier identification, competitive bidding, negotiation, selection, contracting, onboarding, performance management, and development.
Establish a resilient and scalable supplier ecosystem capable of supporting Kinder’s growth, innovation pipeline, geographic footprint, service requirements, and quality expectations.
Evaluate suppliers based on capacity, capabilities, technology, geographic coverage, cost structure, financial health, lead times, service, quality, and continuity risk.
Determine the appropriate supplier strategy for each category, balancing consolidation, competitive tension, specialization, geographic coverage, and risk diversification.
Negotiate commercial agreements covering pricing, capacity commitments, service levels, lead times, payment terms, tooling, inventory arrangements, and other critical business requirements.
Build strategic relationships with key packaging manufacturers and converters to improve Kinder’s access to capacity, market intelligence, innovation, and emerging capabilities.
Establish supplier scorecards and business-review processes that create accountability for cost, quality, service, responsiveness, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Own packaging supply continuity strategy across Kinder’s supplier and manufacturing network.
Identify critical materials, sole-source exposure, capacity constraints, long lead times, geographic concentration, tooling dependencies, and other vulnerabilities that could disrupt production or customer service.
Develop dual-source, alternate-supplier, contingency, and inventory strategies for critical packaging components where appropriate.
Partner with Planning, Operations, Packaging Engineering, and suppliers to ensure packaging capacity and material availability support demand growth, new-product launches, promotional activity, and changes across Kinder’s internal manufacturing and co-manufacturing network.
Establish forward-looking supplier-capacity reviews and risk-monitoring processes that provide early visibility into potential constraints and disruptions.
Lead supplier escalation and recovery efforts when packaging availability, capacity, quality, or service issues threaten business continuity.
Ensure contracts and supplier agreements include appropriate protections, capacity commitments, continuity provisions, and performance expectations.
Build executive-level visibility into packaging supply risks, mitigation plans, and major supplier dependencies.
Own the packaging sourcing productivity agenda, identifying opportunities to reduce total cost while protecting quality, performance, service, supply continuity, and brand equity.
Build and deliver a multi-year productivity pipeline tied to measurable savings, margin improvement, supplier optimization, and working-capital opportunities.
Develop transparent packaging cost models that provide visibility into raw materials, conversion, freight, tooling, inventory, and other key cost drivers.
Monitor packaging commodity markets and supplier cost inputs, proactively identifying inflationary and deflationary trends and developing appropriate negotiation and risk-management strategies.
Lead competitive bids, supplier negotiations, contract renewals, and commercial reviews using market intelligence, clean-sheet thinking, and total cost of ownership.
Partner with Packaging Engineering and cross-functional teams to evaluate specification, material, format, and pack-configuration changes that may create cost or supply advantages.
Lead supplier, material, and sourcing evaluations using total cost of ownership and long-term strategic value rather than unit price alone.
Establish disciplined processes for validating, tracking, and reporting realized savings, cost avoidance, working-capital improvements, and other procurement value.
Engage early in the innovation and commercialization process to identify capable suppliers, confirm capacity, establish commercial terms, and surface cost or supply risks before launch decisions are finalized.
Partner with Packaging Engineering, R&D, Quality, Operations, and Marketing to ensure sourcing decisions meet established technical, performance, food-safety, manufacturing, and consumer requirements.
Bring supplier capabilities, material alternatives, market intelligence, and cost implications into packaging and product-development decisions.
Ensure new packaging suppliers and materials complete the appropriate technical qualification, quality approval, documentation, contracting, and onboarding processes before commercial use.
Coordinate with suppliers and internal stakeholders to support successful commercialization and a reliable transition into ongoing supply.
Create clear commercial and supply-management ownership while relying on Packaging Engineering and Quality for technical specifications, testing, validation, and approval.
Partner with Food Safety and Quality Assurance, Regulatory, Packaging Engineering, and Operations to ensure packaging suppliers and materials meet Kinder’s established requirements.
Establish supplier performance expectations and corrective-action processes covering quality, service, capacity, responsiveness, and commercial performance.
Lead the commercial and supplier-management response to significant quality, service, or continuity issues.
Ensure packaging specifications and approved changes are accurately reflected in supplier agreements, procurement systems, and commercial terms.
Incorporate relevant sustainability and responsible-sourcing requirements into category strategies, supplier selection, contracts, and performance reviews.
Partner with Packaging Engineering and other stakeholders to identify suppliers and material options that support material reduction, recyclability, recycled content, packaging efficiency, and waste reduction.
Monitor evolving packaging regulations, retailer expectations, and industry standards that may affect supplier availability, material economics, or continuity of supply.
Build, lead, and develop a high-performing packaging sourcing and procurement organization capable of supporting Kinder’s current business and future scale.
Define the organizational structure, capabilities, roles, category ownership, and expertise required as the portfolio and manufacturing network expand.
Attract, develop, coach, and retain exceptional sourcing and procurement talent while creating clear accountability and opportunities for growth.
Establish a culture of commercial rigor, curiosity, speed, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Strengthen cross-functional understanding of packaging markets, supplier capabilities, cost drivers, commercial risks, and supply-continuity requirements.
Create strong operating rhythms, metrics, and performance expectations that provide visibility into category strategies, sourcing initiatives, supplier performance, savings, risk, and continuity priorities.