Supply Chain Manager in Hopkinsville, Kentucky at Kitchen Food Company Pty Ltd

About Kitchen Food Company

Kitchen Food Company is a leading manufacturer of high-quality food products, serving customers across the country. We pride ourselves on our commitment to excellence, innovation, and sustainable practices. Join our team and be part of our continued success.

About the role

The Supply Chain & Planning Manager is a leadership role responsible for the end-to-end supply chain function across the Kitchen Food Company - US. The role provides strategic and operational oversight of four key functions: Customer Service, Procurement, Planning, and Logistics. The incumbent drives performance through advanced data analysis, robust ERP systems governance, and commercially minded decision-making, while serving as the primary supply chain interface with major retail customers.

What you'll do

Customer Service Management Lead, coach and manage the Customer Service team to ensure accurate and timely order processing, DIFOT performance, and customer satisfaction across all accounts. Own the DIFOT reporting framework; investigate root causes of service failures and implement corrective actions in collaboration with planning and logistics teams. Serve as the senior supply chain escalation point for key retail customers; manage customer relationships at a supply chain representative level with professionalism and commercial awareness. Prepare and present customer-facing supply chain performance reports (weekly, monthly, quarterly) including service level summaries, root cause analysis, and improvement roadmaps. Draft and review all formal written communications to retail customers including price adjustment notifications, supply constraint updates, and DDP/freight change letters.

Procurement

Manage the Procurement team to ensure timely acquisition of raw materials, packaging, and indirect goods in line with production schedules and inventory targets. Drive supplier relationship management including performance reviews, onboarding, and contract negotiations to achieve best value, quality, and supply reliability. Establish and enforce purchasing policies, approval workflows, and vendor master data governance within NetSuite. Lead freight and logistics procurement including carrier tendering, rate negotiation, fuel levy management, and DDP cost modelling; maintain contracts with 3PL and transport providers. Perform cost-benefit and scenario analysis on procurement decisions, presenting recommendations to senior leadership.

Supply & Demand Planning

Own the S&OP process; chair the weekly/monthly consensus forecast cycle integrating Sales, NPD, Operations, and Finance inputs. Develop and maintain statistical demand forecasting models incorporating seasonality indices, promotional uplifts, and new product launch volumes. Issue all production work orders in NetSuite as the single point of authority; ensure alignment of work order scheduling with BOM configurations, lot traceability requirements, and production capacity. Manage inventory parameters including safety stock levels, reorder points, and lead time buffers within NetSuite to maintain service levels while minimizing working capital. Collaborate with NPD to validate BOM accuracy and routing configurations in NetSuite ahead of production trials and commercial go-live. Monitor and report on key supply chain KPIs including fill rate, days of inventory, waste as % of production, and forecast accuracy.

Logistics & Distribution

Oversee the Logistics team in the planning and execution of all finished goods distribution. Own the distribution cost budget; perform monthly freight cost analysis including base rate and fuel levy decomposition, identify savings opportunities, and report variances to the executive. Negotiate freight rates, manage carrier contracts, and continuously review logistics network design to optimize service and cost. Manage staging, dispatch scheduling, and route optimization for retail customer deliveries. Ensure compliance with all regulatory, food safety, and chain-of-responsibility requirements across the distribution network.

ERP Systems Governance (NetSuite)

Act as the functional lead for NetSuite across the supply chain function; champion adoption, data quality, and process compliance across planning, procurement, inventory, and logistics modules. Drive continuous improvement of NetSuite configuration including BOM and routing management, work order lifecycle, purchase order workflows, and costing/variance treatment. Build and maintain SuiteQL-based reporting and dashboards to support real-time supply chain visibility and executive reporting. Partner with the ERP implementation team and IT on system enhancements, new module rollouts, and data migration activities. Ensure all master data (items, vendors, customers, locations) is maintained with integrity by the relevant functional owners.

Business Analysis & Reporting

Lead quantitative analysis across supply chain cost, service performance, inventory efficiency, and logistics spend using advanced Excel modelling, Power Query, and Power BI. Develop and automate recurring operational reports and dashboards; extract and manipulate data from NetSuite via SuiteQL REST API and Excel/VBA macros. Prepare high-quality executive and Board-level presentations covering supply chain performance, project status, and strategic recommendations. Conduct commercial analysis to support pricing decisions, including freight cost pass-through modelling, fuel levy normalization, and landed cost calculations.

Process Improvement & Strategic Initiatives

Identify and lead supply chain improvement projects that deliver measurable reductions in cost, waste, or cycle time; report savings to the executive on a monthly basis. Drive Lean and continuous improvement principles across planning, warehousing, and logistics operations. Manage supply chain project workstreams end-to-end, including scoping, RACI design, stakeholder engagement, implementation, and post-go-live review. Support NPD launch planning by coordinating supply chain readiness across procurement, planning, and distribution ahead of retail launches.

People Leadership

Lead, inspire, and develop a cross-functional team spanning Customer Service, Procurement, Planning, and Logistics, with a focus on high performance and professional growth. Set clear KPIs and development plans for each team; conduct regular performance reviews and provide timely, constructive feedback. Build succession pipelines; identify high-potential team members and invest in targeted capability development. Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and cross-functional collaboration. Recruit and onboard talent in consultation with HR to ensure team capacity meets business demands.

Occupational Safety, Health and Environment

Champion a culture of safe working across all supply chain functions; ensure teams adhere to risk identification, hazard reporting, and safe work procedures.

· Ensure all company safety, wellness and environmental policies and procedures are adhered to in accordance with OHSA (Occupational Safety and Health) and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) requirements

· Ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers while they are at work

· Ensure consultation with employees on safety and health issues

Food Safety

· Ensure the supply chain operations comply with the Company's Quality Management System, HACCP programs, GMP, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and USDA (US Department of Agriculture) requirements.

· Drive food safety best practice through the supply chain including cold chain management, product traceability, and recall readiness.

· Ensure control of any food safety risks.

Qualifications

· Degree in Supply Chain, Procurement, Business, Commerce, or related field.

· Minimum 7 years in supply chain management within FMCG or food manufacturing, with at least 3 years in a leadership role spanning multiple functional areas.

· Strong working knowledge of NetSuite including manufacturing, inventory, procurement, and work order modules. Willingness to become the functional NetSuite lead for the business.

· Expert-level Excel skills essential: complex formula construction, pivot tables, Power Query (M code), data modelling, VBA/macro development, and scenario analysis. Demonstrated use of Excel as a core analytical and reporting tool.

· Proven ability to build and interpret quantitative models to support operational and commercial decisions. Experience with Power BI or equivalent visualization tools preferred.

· Commercially minded with the ability to translate supply chain data into financial insight. Experience in freight cost modelling, pricing analysis, and cost-benefit evaluation.

· Proven track record managing senior retail customer relationships (major grocery or foodservice retailers). Ability to represent the business at supply chain level with confidence and credibility.

· Exceptional written and verbal communication skills. Able to produce polished formal documents (customer communications, executive presentations, board papers) and clearly communicate complex information to non-technical stakeholders.

· Demonstrated capability leading multi-functional teams; track record of developing talent, managing performance, and building high-performing teams.

· Deep understanding of demand and supply planning principles, S&OP cycle management, statistical forecasting, and inventory optimization. Food manufacturing planning experience essential.

· Experience in supplier management, purchasing policy, and freight/logistics contract negotiation.

· Working knowledge of food manufacturing operations, HACCP, GMP, cold chain management, and retailer supply chain compliance requirements (scan-based trading, DIFOT, vendor scorecards).

· Highly organized with strong attention to detail. Able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. Proactive, solutions-focused, and comfortable operating in a high-growth, evolving business.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience (Desirable):

· Experience with SuiteQL reporting and REST API data extraction highly desirable.

· Category management experience an advantage.

Physical Requirements:

· Prolonged sitting

· Work is performed in an office environment within food manufacturing site and requires the ability to operate standard office equipment and keyboard.

· May require flexibility to support off-shift operations, weekends, or emergency situations.