Director of Global Procurement

You may know us as a company with great food. You may also know us from Fortune's '100 Best Companies to Work For' list. What you may not know is how our Supply Chain team skillfully manages the procurement of 2000+ SKUs for over 300 domestic and international restaurants across our 13 iconic brands and our Bakery.

Reporting to the Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, you will provide the necessary vision and leadership to develop and implement an end-to-end Procurement Strategy and Center of Excellence. This strategy incorporates direct responsibility for sourcing and requires collaboration/partnerships with other related groups (Bakery Manufacturing, Brand Leadership, Kitchen & Culinary operations, Quality, Brand, Supply Planning, Systems, and Distribution). The scope includes ensuring supply, quality, and profitability, leading from ingredient development to supplier contracting, and utilizing competitive advantages to maximize our brands and category potential for shareholder value.

You'll review proposals for price, vendor selection and management, evaluate price trends, new products, and usage rates. In addition to managing and coaching the procurement team, you will be directly responsible for supporting various product commercialization platforms (further finished and custom product launches and value-add activities). This is an excellent opportunity that will give you a seat at the table with Supply Chain and Culinary leadership. You'll regularly make impactful decisions that shape the future of our Supply Chain, positioning us as a true market leader.

You'll thrive in this position if you are:

• A natural people leader: you are an executive leader adept at providing others with a clear direction, helping them see though the weeds and getting results through others. You naturally inspire, motivate, develop and empower individuals and teams while setting the gold standard yourself.
• Metrics and analysis driven: You understand that cost analysis & management and quality are paramount to any procurement organization. You have an eye for the data and can spot efficiencies in real time.
• A relationship builder: you are a master at building genuine relationships with people at all levels inside and outside of an organization. Whether they're a type A, B or Z personality, you easily establish a warm relationship, building an effective network around you.
• Adaptable: You're at ease in a fast-paced environment and able to stay nimble and change direction when priorities shift.

• Attracts, equips, develops, and leads a team of commodity procurement professionals.
• Develops and manages key supplier relationships to reduce overall total costs, enhance product performance, and improve supplier performance.
• Collaborates across Brand leadership and operations teams to achieve cost, performance, and quality targets.
• Maintains a systematic, analytical, and results-based method for monitoring supplier performance.
• Identifies, selects, and proactively develops suppliers who provide superior value in quality products that offer the best value to Wabash and our customers.
• Leads negotiation efforts and documentation of commercial arrangements with key suppliers via long-term supply agreements and price agreements.
• Drives a competitive advantage for The Cheesecake Factory by aggregating and leveraging spend across all brands.
• Conducts complex market and internal data analysis to identify new opportunities and increase spending under supply agreements.
• Supports new product development efforts by finding and developing technology, suppliers, and processes that provide an advantage to the business.
• Sets vision and implements value-adding long-term commodity strategies.
• Understands current and future market trends that drive material cost changes and communicates across the organization for appropriate actions to mitigate risks.
• Develops commodity hedging plans and implements other risk management strategies.
• Manages the Contract Management system, including being accountable for pricing, contracting, and usage across all categories of spending.

• Bachelor's degree.
• 7+ years of experience in Procurement.
• 5+ years of experience in Procurement team management and development.
• 3+ years of working experience in the food service, hospitality, restaurant or retail grocery industry.
• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Excellent analytical and mathematics skills.
• Solid communication skills at all levels of the organization and outside the company.
• Adept negotiation skills.
• Broad understanding of Supply Chain Management.
• Familiar with foodservice operations with a working knowledge of the commercialization/value-add process to help reduce restaurant labor and/or improve efficiencies.
• Demonstrated ability in building relationships and strategic alliances while motivating and collaborating with both internal teams and suppliers to meet strategic objectives.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively multitask in a fast-paced environment.
• Proven experience working with cross functional teams to ensure cost control and process improvements.
• Strong business acumen to direct well-defined processes that can be standardized and improve visibility.
• Demonstrates a sense of urgency and strong personal ownership to supply chain performance and effectively works through barriers to implementation.

What we prefer:

• MBA
• Any continuous improvement training (ex: Six Sigma).

Recognized as a Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For since 2014, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is a global $3.3 billion public company with 47,500 staff members across more than 300 casual dining restaurants, including The Cheesecake Factory, North Italia, Grand Lux Cafe, Social Monk, and Fox Restaurant Concepts. Internationally, 30 The Cheesecake Factory restaurants operate under licensing agreements. Our Bakery division creates over 35,000 delicious cheesecakes per day
and other baked products for our restaurants, international licensees, and third-party bakery customers.

We offer a people-centered culture and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for all. We welcome applicants from a wide variety of identities, ideas, perspectives, and experiences, and encourage individuals from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

#SoCheesecake #LifeAtCheesecake

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is an Equal Opportunity Employer and offers reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities.