PURCHASING CATEGORY MANAGER

Joining Nortera means choosing opportunities to grow together!

The North American reference for ready-to-cook vegetables, we do everything we can to contribute to the well-being of society by providing access to healthy and sustainable food.

Nortera produces major private and retail brands and markets its own brands including Arctic Gardens and Del Monte.

WHY CHOOSE NORTERA?

• Competitive salary and annual bonus, advantageous leave policy;
• Flexible work schedule in hybrid mode;
• Complete range of benefits (telemedicine) and employee assistance program;
• Possibility of contributing to an RRSP with employer contribution;
• Participation in a volunteer day at the employer’s expense;
• Reimbursement for tuition fees and physical activity;
• Environment promoting learning and professional development;
• Opportunities to work on stimulating projects within a growing company!

As a Purchasing Category Manager (Processed Fruits and Vegetables Category), you will help shape our global supply chain by ensuring the sourcing of high-quality raw materials, ingredients and consumer packaged goods, optimizing costs and advancing our sustainability and quality goals.

This role goes beyond routine purchasing and focuses on strategic initiatives, data-driven decision making and alignment with new product development, packaging and production timelines to drive growth and profitability.

You will collaborate with senior management and cross-functional teams to build a resilient and innovative supply chain.

THE ROLE:

• Develop strategic sourcing plans: assess global processed fruit and vegetable market trends, including harvest availability, to inform sourcing strategies. Conduct in-depth cost and risk analyses, leveraging data to make calculated decisions that maximize efficiency, reduce costs and improve supply chain value;

• Develop and maintain global market intelligence and cost benchmarking, to ensure Nortera has visibility into global pricing and competitive positioning;

• Manage global supplier relationships: Sourcing, evaluating and onboarding suppliers worldwide for raw materials, ingredients and finished products, leading contract negotiations, pricing agreements and performance oversight through planned decision-making to align with business objectives. Carry out supplier visits and due diligence if necessary;

• Represent Nortera at supplier meetings, trade shows and industry events to strengthen visibility and partnerships;

• Drive innovation and new product development: collaborate with R&D, sales and marketing teams to make sourcing decisions for new product launches, ensuring project deadlines, production schedules and crop availability are met;

• Optimize operations: leverage data to refine procurement processes, track savings, align procurement with production schedules, and make decisions to implement new systems while defining and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs);

• Achieve cost reductions year-over-year for key ingredients, improve supplier service levels and contribute to margin growth through sourcing and innovation.

PROFILE:

• Strategic Vision : Develop and implement global sourcing strategies (raw materials/new products) aligned with long-term business objectives;
• Effective communication: Ability to clearly convey complex information to various stakeholders in English and French;
• Analytical expertise: Proficiency in data analysis, managing requests for proposals (RFI, RFQ) for ingredients and finished products, and creating data-driven presentations to support decision-making.
• Collaborative leadership: Ability to lead projects, maintain strong relationships with internal teams and external partners, and make decisions that promote collaboration in the development of new products and packaging.
• Proactive Adaptability: Ability to thrive in a constantly changing environment, identifying and resolving challenges through decisive actions to create value while aligning with production schedules and harvest availability.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree (Master's degree, an asset) in supply chain, business administration, or related field;
• Minimum 10 years of experience in purchasing/supply chain/logistics;
• Expertise in global strategic sourcing (ingredients/raw materials/consumer packaged goods);
• Strong negotiation, analysis and decision-making skills. Required knowledge: supplier management, cost optimization, sustainability and regulatory compliance;
• Bilingualism in French and English. Fluency in Spanish or Mandarin an asset;
• Experience in the field of import logistics, customs and international trade regulations;
• Experience in the food industry, with expertise in new product development and packaging solutions;
• Knowledge of safety regulations (e.g. FDA, CFIA, USDA) and certifications (e.g. organic, fair trade);
• Experience with procurement software (e.g. SAP, Coupa);
• Mastery of AI tools (monitoring, research, tender automation): an asset;
• Knowledge of crop availability cycles and production planning in the food industry;
• This position involves up to 10% domestic and international travel.

We need people like you!

Come grow with Nortera!

Although all job applications will be considered, only successful candidates will be contacted. The masculine credits could be used without discrimination and only for the purpose of lightening the text. We guarantee equal access to employment and encourage the most diverse applications in order to be able to provide ourselves with a varied workforce representative of the communities in which we are established.