Customer Supply Chain Associate Manager

Area of Employment

Chicago, USA

Area of employment

Logistics

General Summary: The Associate Customer Supply Chain Manager will be a part of the Customer Supply Chain leadership team and actively provide robust and comprehensive high quality customer service, while transforming customer relationships through the creation and elevation of analytic capabilities. A key focus will be analyzing large amounts of data to identify trends, recommend improvements, and mitigate/manage expense. This role will collaborate cross-functionally to improve execution through key focus areas; customer experience, process development and improvement, customer compliance and reverse logistics.

The ideal candidate will have a passion for thoroughly researching to find the story behind an issue and communicating optimal solutions, while identifying and creating elevated processes to support future team success. Seeking a self-starter with the ability to manage multiple tasks concurrently, identify and resolve systemic supply chain issues relating to customers, and communicate cross-functionally to all levels of the organization.

Supervisory Responsibilities: This position supervises a minimum of one direct employee, a Customer Supply Chain Coordinator, Specialist, or Analyst. The manager will provide overall direction, objectives, prioritization, coaching and evaluation of performance for their direct report(s). The manager carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the company’s policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring and training employees; planning, assigning and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Order Management

• Develop strong understanding of assigned customer accounts, including ordering trends, to identify efficiencies and enhance relationships
• Demonstrate superior and robust Customer Relationship Management skills through frequent interaction with Sales Team, Brokers, and direct Retailers
• Collaborate cross-functionally to effectively resolve problems and strive to achieve complete customer satisfaction and optimal internal execution
• Develop and implement month-end close processes, including post-audit review and performance summaries, with focus on continuous improvement

Business Process

• Quickly learn and gain expert knowledge of SAP transactions and movement types related to order management, with a focus on the end-to-end order-to-invoice process
• Evaluate current processes to identify gaps, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement across order management and related workflows
• Recommend, develop, and implement practical, sustainable process improvements that enhance time management, communication, and follow-through within the Customer Supply Chain Team
• Strengthen CSC Team use of SAP functionality and other tools to improve efficiency, accuracy, and operational excellence
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure process improvements are aligned, adopted, and effectively integrated

Expense Mitigation

• Gain a detailed understanding of customer fines and penalties and focus on developing improvements
• Establish a consistent method for managing customer returns and refusals to optimize reverse logistics
• Identify root cause of refusals/returns and collaborate within Supply Chain and Finance to generate improvement
• Understand Supply Chain components of vendor agreements and contracts and communicate cross-functional gaps that will impact the business
• Identify and execute other process improvements that deliver enhanced service and optimize costs
• Escalate ongoing/significant issues impacting order fulfillment, customer service levels, increase in expense/loss of revenue with appropriate urgency

Relationship Development

• Create and publish Customer Scorecards/KPI's
• Conduct routine key updates and business reviews with both internal and external stakeholders
• Develop strong cross-functional relationships to understand customer strategy and priorities
• Analyze customer data to provide insights and recommendations on how to drive performance improvement
• Maintain strong partnerships with external third parties, specifically 3PL warehouses and transportation partners

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

• Fulfill Storck Company Values; Belonging, Passion, and Growth
• Other duties as assigned

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experience successfully managing and coaching direct and/or indirect report(s)
• Demonstrated ability to develop both external and internal relationships
• Exceptional interpersonal communication skills; clear and concise, both written and verbal
• Strong analytical skills; able to organize and drive meaningful decisions from large amounts of data
• Broad understanding of all functions related to the supply chain, customer order management, and logistics
• Organized, meticulous, and ability to balance competing priorities
• Team player who works well in a collaborative environment, shares information freely, and is approachable by all levels of the organization
• Business acumen and the ability to quickly learn technical systems
• Creative approach to problem solving
• Willingness to take risks and drive decisions
• Elevated curiosity, resiliency, and business maturity

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in business curriculum or equivalent years of professional experience
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive customer facing Supply Chain, Operations, and/or Fulfillment experience; preferably with a CPG company
• 3+ years of change/project management experience, including leading direct and indirect teams through change processes
• Microsoft Office proficiency (Outlook, Excel, PPT, and Word) and ERP System experience required

Working Conditions: Hybrid Work Model, including Monday and Friday Work from Home, and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in normal working conditions for an office environment downtown Chicago, IL.

Other Qualification, Safety Procedures: Must be willing to follow and comply with communicated Company, Travel, and Retailer safety procedures, which may include COVID-19 testing or following other safety procedures in order to attend meetings, travel domestically or internationally, comply with Retail Partner safety procedures, and/or follow other workplace health and safety requirements to fulfil job duties.

Travel: Approximately, 10%, which could include international travel.

Additional Information: Storck USA is not currently hiring individuals for this position who now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status.

The salary range for this position is USD $80,000-$95,000 annually at the time of this posting. Pay is based on several factors, including but not limited to position offered, education, skills, work experience, and other factors permitted by law. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This position is also eligible for bonus pay.

In addition to your salary, Storck offers a comprehensive total rewards package, including a 6% employer 401(k) plan contribution, Health benefits on day 1 including a 100% employer paid option for medical and dental, Hybrid flexible work schedule including reduced Friday hours all year round, Paid maternity/paternity leave, Monthly wellness stipend, and more. This position is also eligible for PTO ranging from 35-45 days based on our Company PTO Policies and paid Sabbaticals ranging from 5-20 days based on tenure. Plus, we can’t forget to mention the supply of delicious candy!!

Additional information regarding the benefits for this position can be found in the Benefits Summary that is available from our Human Resources Department.