Director, Procurement Strategy & Development (Solon, OH, US, 44139)

Foods you love. Brands you trust. And a career that empowers you to grow.

At Nestlé USA, we’re all working towards the same goal – to delight and deliver for our consumers. With a rich portfolio of beloved brands, including DiGiorno, Toll House, and Coffee mate, in 97% of U.S. households, we have a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to be there for every moment in our consumers’ lives.

Joining Nestlé means becoming part of an inclusive workplace that inspires innovation, encourages strategic thinking and creativity, and celebrates your achievements. No matter where you work within the organization, you are empowered to challenge the status quo, embrace risk-taking, and pioneer new ideas. Our supportive and collaborative environment encourages bold ambitions and continuous learning so that everyone can grow and thrive.

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

Position Summary:

This role serves as Chief of Staff to the NUSA Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) and leads Procurement Strategy, Functional Development, Transformation, Governance, and Capability Building for Nestle USA. The role is responsible for defining long-term direction, driving major strategic initiatives, building organizational capabilities, establishing and maintaining governance processes, and enabling execution of procurement priorities that deliver business value.

As a trusted advisor to the CPO and Procurement Leadership Team, this role creates and maintains the short- and long-term Procurement strategy across key planning horizons, translating the CPO vision and enterprise priorities into a clear roadmap, governance system, and execution agenda. This is accomplished through close collaboration with Procurement leadership, global teams, business partners, and critical stakeholders across related functions.

The Director is expected to bring strong external orientation, including marketplace awareness, consumer-packaged goods industry trends, procurement best practices, and insights from networks, councils, conferences, and benchmarking. The role prepares executive presentations, reports, recommendations, and strategic communications for the CPO and senior leaders while providing strategic direction and governance to the Procurement organization.

The role also leads the functional development strategy and team, ensuring Procurement builds the capabilities, leadership readiness, ways of working, and talent pipeline required to deliver on the function’s vision. The Director fosters a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, collaboration, accountability, and disciplined execution across the procurement function.

This role will work a hybrid schedule, in office and work from home, and is required to be located in either Solon, Ohio, greater Cleveland, or Arlington, Virginia, Greater D.C.

Job Responsibilities:

1. Chief of Staff & Procurement Leadership Team Effectiveness

• Serve as Chief of Staff and strategic advisor to the NUSA CPO and Procurement Leadership Team, supporting priority-setting, decision-making, executive communications, and leadership alignment.

• Translate complex functional and business needs into clear recommendations, tradeoffs, actions, and leadership routines that enable disciplined follow-through.

• Prepare senior-level presentations, reports, and strategic updates that connect Procurement priorities, performance, risks, and decisions needed.

2. Procurement Strategy & Future Capability Development

• Develop and maintain Procurement's multi-year strategic roadmap across short-(Y+1), medium-(3 year), and long-term (5+ year) horizons aligned to enterprise priorities and the CPO vision, ensuring clear and intentional linkage to global, NUSA and One Operations strategies and priorities.

• Serve as the function's external lens by identifying market trends, best practices, emerging technologies, competitor activity, and future capability requirements through research, benchmarking, conferences, councils, and professional networks.

• Define and design new capabilities via relationships with functional and business leaders, market research, industry conferences, etc.

• Translate external insights into strategic priorities, capability roadmaps, and opportunities that strengthen Procurement's impact and future readiness.

• Lead the functional development strategy and team, ensuring Procurement builds the skills, capabilities, leadership readiness, and ways of working required to deliver the roadmap.

3. Strategic Initiatives & Transformation

• Lead or shape major strategic initiatives that advance Procurement priorities, strengthen the operating model, and accelerate business value creation.

• Provide strategic direction, prioritization, governance, and stakeholder alignment for complex cross-functional programs and proof-of-concept efforts.

• Ensure initiatives are connected to the broader Procurement roadmap and supported through clear ownership, adoption planning, communication, and change enablement.

4. Governance, Performance & Business Planning

• Establish governance processes and operating routines that drive accountability, visibility, and execution discipline across Procurement priorities.

• Maintain strategic roadmap and risk documentation across key planning horizons, monitoring progress, dependencies, decisions needed, and leadership support required.

• Partner with the Procurement Finance Co-Pilot to coordinate annual budgets, financial forecasts, performance metrics, and business planning inputs for the function.

5. Stakeholder Leadership, Enterprise Alignment & Organizational Adoption

• Build and maintain strong relationships across Procurement, businesses, functions, global teams, and external partners to align direction and advance strategic objectives.

• Harmonize Procurement priorities with enterprise initiatives, functional strategies, and global direction to strengthen decision quality and organizational consistency.

• Lead communication, engagement, and change efforts that build understanding, reinforce accountability, and embed new capabilities, processes, and ways of working.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree required. Preferred: Master’s degree in Supply Chain, Business, Finance, Accounting, Economics, Mathematics, Marketing, Industrial Engineering, or related field.

• 10+ years of procurement, purchasing, strategic planning, chief of staff, transformation, finance, business operations, or related functional leadership experience.

• In-depth knowledge of procurement and sourcing processes, contract negotiations, contract management, supplier management, cost optimization, and value creation.

• Demonstrated success developing multi-year strategies, leading complex initiatives, building organizational capabilities, and translating strategy into measurable business results.

• Exceptional interpersonal skills and proven ability to influence senior leaders, global teams, cross-functional partners, and diverse stakeholders through strong communication, executive presence, and relationship-building skills.

• Strategic mindset with strong analytical, problem-solving, project management, change leadership, and decision-quality skills, including the ability to manage ambiguity and drive alignment.

• Strong understanding of market trends, external benchmarking, and the consumer-packaged goods industry, with the ability to translate insights into practical functional priorities.

The approximate annual pay range for this position is $161,000 to $224,000. Please note that the pay range provided is a good faith estimate for the position at the time of posting. Final compensation may vary based on factors including but not limited to knowledge, skills and abilities as well as geographic location.

Nestlé offers performance-based incentives and a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401k with company match, healthcare coverage and a broad range of other benefits. Incentives and/or benefit packages may vary depending on the position. Learn more at Nestle in the US Benefits | Nestlé Careers

It is our business imperative to remain a very inclusive workplace.

To our veterans and separated service members, you're at the forefront of our minds as we recruit top talent to join Nestlé. The skills you've gained while serving our country, such as flexibility, agility, and leadership, are much like the skills that will make you successful in this role. In addition, with our commitment to an inclusive work environment, we recognize the exceptional engagement and innovation displayed by individuals with disabilities. Nestlé seeks such skilled and qualified individuals to share our mission where you’ll join a cohort of others who have chosen to call Nestlé home.

The Nestlé Companies are equal employment opportunity employers. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Prior to the next step in the recruiting process, we welcome you to inform us confidentially if you may require any special accommodations in order to participate fully in our recruitment experience. Contact us at accommodations@nestle.com or please dial 711 and provide this number to the operator: 1-800-321-6467.

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

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Job Requisition: 415651