SUMMARY: The Director of Supply Chain is a critical leadership role responsible for overseeing procurement, logistics, inventory control, and trucking operations across our organic fertilizer production facilities in California, Arizona, and Oregon. Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer (COO), this position plays a vital role in ensuring supply chain alignment with company-wide growth goals, operational budgets, and production needs. This leader will be responsible for driving supply chain strategies, maintaining optimal inventory levels, ensuring strong supplier performance, and tightly managing supply chain and logistics budgets. The Director must demonstrate strong commercial acumen in buying, negotiating pricing, and maintaining quality material flow to sustain high-throughput, cost-efficient fertilizer production operations.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The following reflects management’s definition of essential functions for this job but does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned. Management may assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time due to reasonable accommodation or other reasons:
Procurement & Supplier Management
- Lead procurement of raw materials, packaging, and inputs required for fertilizer production across all facilities.
- Develop and implement strategic sourcing initiatives to secure supply reliability and cost savings.
- Build, negotiate, and manage contracts with key suppliers; ensure compliance with company standards, delivery timelines, and performance expectations.
- Ensure ethical and sustainable procurement practices in alignment with organic certification requirements.
- Operate as a strategic business partner, not just a functional lead—translating business goals into proactive supply chain action plans.
- Ensure supply chain decisions are data-driven and cost-conscious, directly contributing to company profitability and production success.
- Maintain control over the supply chain and logistics budget, driving savings while ensuring resilience and reliability in sourcing and delivery.
- Deliver results through cross-functional collaboration with Plant Directors, Finance, and R&D—ensuring supply chain performance aligns with production efficiency and product quality goals.
Inventory Control & Facility Coordination
- Monitor, forecast, and manage inventory levels to ensure production continuity without excess or waste.
- Coordinate inventory practices across all three facilities—establishing minimum/maximum levels, reorder points, and cycle counts.
- Lead efforts to streamline material flow and minimize working capital tied up in inventory.
Contract Negotiation Skills & Experience
- Extensive experience in supplier contract negotiation, including raw materials, logistics services, and capital project procurement.
- Ability to reduce total cost of ownership while ensuring quality, reliability, and long-term vendor alignment.
- Proven success in negotiating pricing, terms, and service levels across a diverse supplier base, including national and regional vendors.
- Skilled in balancing cost reduction with risk management, supply continuity, and compliance with company and regulatory standards.
- Experience drafting, reviewing, and managing contracts in partnerships with legal or finance stakeholders.
- Strong commercial acumen, with a firm understanding of market drivers, cost structures, and leverage points in vendor negotiations.
- Ability to influence internal stakeholders to align sourcing strategy, trade-offs, and supplier selections.
Financial Oversight & Budget Management
- Own the full supply chain and logistics budget—including freight, materials, and vendor contracts.
- Partner with Finance and COO to develop forecasting models, evaluate cost-saving opportunities, and track performance to financial targets.
- Identify and implement continuous improvement strategies to reduce costs without sacrificing quality or reliability.
Team Leadership & Collaboration
- Lead and develop a cross-functional supply chain team spanning procurement, logistics, inventory, and trucking.
- Foster a culture of high accountability, proactive communication, and operational excellence.
- Collaborate regularly with Plant Directors, Quality Assurance, R&D, and Sales to align supply chain execution with production forecasts, new product development, and customer needs.
- Support the organization’s mission, vision, and values always by holding self-accountable for applying our G.R.E.A.T. (Growth, Relentless, Excellence, Adaptability and Teamwork) principles daily and personally living them when working with customers, employees, colleagues, suppliers, and others.
- Performs other duties as assigned by manager.
