Senior Regional Buyer, Produce

About the role

As a Sr. Regional Buyer, you will be responsible for planning and replenishing items based on sales history and forecasts to satisfy customer demand in the region. You will source the favorite produce for our customers. You will have the opportunity to flex your negotiation and strategic planning skills to drive the growth and success of our produce category. Your job is to bring the "art" to the "science" – using your intuition and expertise fueled by data, analytics, and, above all, a passion for helping our customers get high-quality produce and live better.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate closely with the Regional Merchandising Manager to develop and execute sourcing strategies that drive category growth
• Identify customer preferences and forecast customer trends across target ethnicities, introducing produce offerings that resonate with local customers
• Lead the produce assortment strategy in collaboration with the Ethnic team, sourcing culturally relevant "must-have" items tailored to Latino customer preference within the Los Angeles region
• Lead produce quality and customers experience initiatives by reviewing refund trends, resolving item-specific quality issues, and improving overall freshness and consistency for produce in the cold storage environment
• Foster trust and relationships with strategic vendors to achieve better pricing and quality of services; managing vendor performances
• Partner with Central produce team to drive sales plan for fruits, in both promo price & base price
• Analyze and balance inventory levels and logistics progress to optimize the availability and safety stock levels while minimizing risk of stock out
• Conduct market research on assortment and pricing
• Assist in preparing necessary reports and documentations

Key Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in grocery category management
• Proven experience as a Procurement Planner, Purchasing Specialist, Supply Chain Specialist, or similar role
• Working knowledge of MS Office, Tableau
• Must be able to act independently since the position is the main point of contact for order fulfillment with vendors
• Passion for produce and eagerness to learn more about the industry, and different cultures
• Comfortable working in cold storage environment and conducting in-warehouse product inspection and quality checks
• Comfortable addressing urgent business situations as they arise, including on weekends
• Deep understanding of the Latino customer behavior and product needs
• Bilingual: English & Spanish

Nice to have:

• BS/BA in Business Analytics, Accounting, Supply Chain, or a related field preferred
• Ecommerce experience
• Working knowledge of relational databases, and ERP systems