Head of Supply Chain Planning

If You Don’t Know, Now You Know… This is Protein Works

Rewind to 12th December 2012. Out of a freezing cold office (because we couldn’t afford heating back then!), our founders huddled round a couple of computer screens. This was the moment. After a year of working round the clock and a lifetime of tempering the thirst to create a world-class brand, we pressed LAUNCH. That was the moment Protein Works website went live to the globe.

It’s not an overly fancy story, we know. There’re no garages worked out of, no office in the Bay Area to talk up. But fancy isn’t in our DNA, innovation is. With the idea to rock the very foundations of a sports nutrition industry that had become complacent, we set out to create an online sports nutrition brand that put pure quality & wow service before lowest possible price. With that vision and all it entails; we knew we’d be the underdogs from the very beginning. But you know what? We love that.

Fast forward almost 8 years and the journey from humble Cheshire beginnings, to over 1 million orders shipped globally may be in the bag, but our future is just beginning…

At our very core we believe in innovation in everything we touch. It’s engrained in our product range, in our people and in our proposition.

So of course, it follows naturally that we believe in an in-house approach to everything. We purposely put the talent and expertise that our business thrives on in the sole care of ourselves and our team. In short, we don’t ‘do’ agencies, and we categorically believe that if there’s a solution to be had – our team are the best ones to devise and deliver it. As such, TPW is an entrepreneurial place that values those people who want to make a dent, don’t want to be held back & don’t do politics. Our people are bored with ‘corporate’, are positively impatient & passionate self-learners. The culture is fast paced, supportive, and audacious.

The way our business is built and what we’re capable of, reflects that mindset.

At our Cheshire based HQ we handle the full business mix - a vast facility over two sites and over 75,000 square feet. On one site you’ll find everything from our Operations Department, including Finance & Customer Experience to Fulfilment and Warehousing, On the second site, you’ve got the engine room of Manufacturing, Product Development, Technology and Digital Marketing teams. Our award-winning Sales & Marketing Team handle the full Performance Marketing mix, Brand Management, Design, Customer Experience, Content Creation, SEO and CRO and Trading. Is it a squeeze? Sure. But only when it comes to knowledge base! We do this on purpose because we believe that our business is best when it collaborates and moves as one. It’s super charges personal and business growth.

Opportunities Like This Don’t Come Often…

This is your chance get on board the rocket ship! Reporting directly into the CEO, you’ll bag yourself a role that sits at the heart of the engine room of the business. This incredible opportunity is ideal for someone with exceptional organisational and planning skills. Working with all teams across the business, you will be challenging Fulfilment and Manufacturing teams to deliver against set plans. You will be managing a team of planners who will look to you to develop them, build a vision for the planning function, whilst at the same time, support them at the coal face. You will be exposed to food manufacturing processes and protocols, commercial modelling, logistics co-ordination and above all else, the very latest scheduling and performance reporting. You must be a true collaborator and highly numerate, who can make a difference by seeing ‘problems’ as challenges to overcome. You will have a relentless drive to improve efficiencies and smash targets. This is a hands-on role with the opportunity to fundamentally shape the future supply chain of a high growth business.

The Role: Head of Supply Chain Planning

This role is based within our head office in Runcorn and has the following main responsibilities: -

- Co-ordinate deliveries with suppliers and our teams on a daily basis to ensure timely arrival

- Troubleshoot any supply chain delays or issues as they arise

- Manage the administration of all purchase orders, documentation and delivery notes

-Input data to all relevant systems and create reports on a regular basis for senior management

- Support improvements in our current purchasing systems and identify areas of improvement

- Negotiate cost savings and payment term improvements with suppliers

- Actively check stock in any of our warehouses against specifications and agreed volumes

The successful candidate will enjoy the varied nature of this role in a highly entrepreneurial business.

Immediate Responsibilities and Hot Projects

Plot, Plan and Deliver on the following:

1.Take ownership of a wide range of buying and supply chain administration.

2. Create and keep up to date daily, weekly and monthly reports for use by the rest of the business.

3. Collate and update all key systems with incoming supply chain, stock and purchasing data.

4. Develop effective working relationships with the key suppliers and external partners.

5. Check inventory within our warehouses, including checking all deliveries.

6. Assess, manage and mitigate current and anticipated stock at risk.

7. Work closely with Supply Chain Planning and Production Teams to manage and respond to demands.

8. Work effectively with our New Product Development Team and Technical Team to onboard new raw materials, packaging and consumables that are required to support and grow the business.

9. Manage and coordinate the cycle count process for our Ingredients warehouse.

10.Support Purchasing Manager and Warehouse Manager with stock integrity and improving accuracy.

The Things You’ll Nail as Standard

1. Inputting data, identifying trends, creating and managing spreadsheets

2. Support the Head of Procurement as required on a daily basis

3. Actively participate and contribute to meetings and proactively take up business challenges

4. Take ownership of all deliveries and follow up with suppliers as required

5. Build relationships across the business

6. Forecast supply and demand for certain products and place orders accordingly, especially depending on lead times

7. Check inventory and adjust purchasing habits in accord with apparent trends

8. Ensuring that suppliers invoices are being processed in good time

9. Keeping a well-organised collection of contracts and purchase orders for easy reference when needed

You’re Naturally Like This…

1. Highly numerate and love hitting targets

2. You have high standards for quality of delivery from yourself and from others

3. Avid self-learner & teacher

4. Able to trade-off short & long-term targets and have a history of making the right calls

5. You are positively impatient

6. You are great at building positive, productive relationships

7. You are great at extracting information and make effective use of it

8. You have excellent interpersonal skills, and you are able to clearly communicate complex topics in simple terms, to a variety of audiences

9. You are a highly motivated self-starter with a flexible, can-do attitude

10. You are an uncommonly fast-learner

Non-Negotiables

1. Clear and proven experience in purchasing and stock management

2. Proven experience and an impressive track record handling 100s of SKUs

3. Highly organised and excellent verbal, written and numerical skills

4. Excellent negotiation skills and ability to influence at various levels

5. Strong inventory control experience

Desirables

1. An understanding of food manufacturing processes and environment

2. Experience of purchasing and stock management systems

We Think This Type of Person Would Kill the Role!

1. A highly numerate graduate with a degree that demonstrates this

2. A Supply Chain Co-ordinator looking for a more challenging role in a dynamic, high growth business

3. A supply chain professional looking to build a career in buying