Group Lead, Procurement - Innovation EMI - AFH​

The Kraft Heinz Company · United States

Job Description Essential Functions & Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of Innovation Managers responsible for sourcing and commercialization support across the business unit innovation portfolio mid and long term
• Translate business unit and brand innovation priorities into clear team focus, resource alignment, and execution direction
• Champion supplier-enabled innovation across the business unit and brands by helping the team identify, elevate, and connect supplier capabilities to the 3year innovation needs
• Build the operating rhythm for innovation procurement across the portfolio, including prioritization, governance, issue escalation, and progress visibility
• Coach Innovation Managers through complex sourcing, commercialization, and supplier challenges to strengthen decision making, problem solving, and execution quality
• Remove barriers that slow innovation delivery by driving alignment across procurement, R&D, operations, finance, quality, legal, and business teams
• Instill sourcing excellence across the team through strong standards in supplier selection, negotiation, contracting, commercialization readiness, and launch support
• Drive consistency in how the team manages innovation sourcing activities, supplier engagement, transitions, and cross-functional coordination
• Lead continuous improvement in innovation procurement ways of working to simplify processes, reduce rework, and improve speed, visibility, and execution effectiveness
• Support portfolio-level prioritization and tradeoff discussions by surfacing risks, dependencies, capacity constraints, and execution challenges
• Strengthen team capability in structured problem solving, risk sensing, scenario planning, and proactive stakeholder management
• Partner with the Associate Director and core category procurement leaders to ensure alignment between innovation activity and broader business, supplier, and category strategies
• Identify key areas for efficiencies post launch and set the base procurement teams up for success for the future
• Ensure effective transition of launched innovation at external manufacturers from innovation procurement support into base business ownership after stabilization
• Monitor portfolio health through key indicators related to sourcing progress, commercialization readiness, supplier readiness, timing, and execution risk
• Foster a team culture of accountability, collaboration, learning, and continuous improvement

• ​​​Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, business, finance, operations, engineering, or a related field; MBA and/or advanced procurement qualifications preferred
• ​Significant procurement experience, ideally including innovation sourcing, external manufacturing, commercialization, ingredients, packaging, CAPEX, or related categories
• ​Demonstrated people leadership experience, including coaching and developing high-performing teams
• ​Strong experience supporting innovation, commercialization, supplier capability development, and launch execution in a fast-moving environment
• ​Strong systems thinking, with the ability to connect innovation strategy, supplier capability, commercialization requirements, and cross-functional dependencies across the portfolio
• ​Strong sourcing and supplier management foundation, with credibility to coach others on negotiation, contracting, commercialization readiness, and supplier execution
• ​Curiosity about AI and digital tools, with interest in how they can improve visibility, decision making, efficiency, and team effectiveness
• ​Strong solution-oriented mindset, with the ability to remove barriers, simplify complexity, and help teams move from issue identification to practical action
• ​Strong communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills across matrixed teams and functions
• ​Strong problem-solving, prioritization, and execution capabilities across multiple concurrent initiatives
• ​Ability to lead through ambiguity, support team decision making, and escalate issues with sound judgment
• ​Continuous improvement mindset with the ability to strengthen innovation routines, governance, and ways of working over time
• ​Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and familiarity with source-to-pay tools such as SAP, Ariba, Workday, and related systems

• Physical - Medical, Prescription Drug, Dental, Vision, Screenings/Assessments
• Social - Paid Time Off, Company Holidays, Leave of Absence, Flexible Work Arrangements, Recognition, Training
• Emotional – Employee Assistance Program , Wellbeing Programs, Family Support Programs
• Financial – 401k, Life, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Disability