Director of Supply Chain

Cérélia North America, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is a leading food manufacturer specializing in cookies, rolled dough, and pancakes/waffles for retail, food service, and branded products. With approximately 900 associates across six North American locations and part of a global group operating 12 production plants, Cérélia combines quality, innovation, and cost efficiency. The company is investing over CA$100M in new factories and production lines in North America, emphasizing corporate responsibility in environmental sustainability, responsible sourcing, product nutrition, and associate development.

About the role

Cérélia’s newly established Frozen Breakfast Business Unit is driving ambitious growth, supported by two manufacturing facilities in Liberty, SC, and Hazelwood, MO. The Director of Supply Chain will serve as the single point of accountability for forecasting, planning, inventory, logistics, and overall supply chain execution at the state-of-the-art Hazelwood facility. This role ensures alignment between customer demand, production capabilities, inventory strategy, and business objectives.

Responsibilities

• Develop long-term supply and capacity plans, identifying future constraints, capital requirements, and warehouse storage needs.
• Develop and manage the annual supply chain budget, including inventory carrying costs, freight expenses, warehousing costs, procurement savings, and working capital objectives.
• Own the weekly/monthly demand planning and forecasting process, partnering with Sales, Operations, and Finance to maintain an accurate forecast.
• Lead planning processes within Plex, ensuring master data accuracy, inventory visibility, and system utilization.
• Oversee strategic sourcing activities, supplier negotiations, contract management, and cost reduction initiatives to ensure security of supply and competitive pricing.
• Manage customer order fulfillment processes, ensuring service level targets, OTIF performance, and customer communication regarding supply constraints or risks.
• Lead supply planning activities to ensure material availability, production capacity alignment, and inventory optimization.
• Collaborate with production planning and scheduling to balance customer service, inventory, labor, and operational constraints.
• Develop and maintain inventory policies, safety stock strategies, and replenishment parameters to support customer service and inventory targets.
• Identify, communicate, and mitigate supply chain risks related to materials, capacity, suppliers, transportation, inventory, and customer demand.
• Manage supplier performance through key metrics including fill rate, on-time delivery, quality, responsiveness, and service.
• Work with warehouse operations and third-party logistics providers to ensure seamless execution across the network.
• Establish and report key supply chain KPIs, including forecast accuracy, service level, OTIF, inventory turns, inventory accuracy, supplier performance, logistics costs, and working capital performance.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across planning, inventory management, logistics, customer service, and supply chain processes to improve service, reduce costs, and increase operational efficiency.

Core Competencies

• Initiative: Proactively initiates actions to improve performance and resolve issues; challenges the status quo and drives change.
• Information Seeking: Investigates and researches information thoroughly to resolve discrepancies and make well-informed decisions.
• Listening, Understanding & Responding: Interacts effectively with teams, customers, and external contacts; builds rapport, trust, and strong working relationships.
• Flexibility: Adapts to a variety of situations and individuals, adjusting approach as needed.
• Self-confidence: Embraces new challenges with enthusiasm and emphasizes positive aspects of difficult situations.
• Results Orientation: Meets project deadlines, sets high standards for quality, and seeks cost-effective solutions; highly organized with strong prioritization and multitasking skills.
• Teamwork: Promotes collaboration and team participation to generate ideas, consensus, and engagement while delivering results.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business or Supply Chain (or related discipline).
• Minimum 5-10 years of supply chain experience.
• Proven expertise in transport optimization.
• Ability to lead and engage cross-functional teams.
• ERP implementation experience is preferred but not required.
• Experience within the food industry is preferred but not required.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with other departments and build strong working relationships.
• Enthusiastic learner and proactive individual with strong time management and organizational skills.
• Results-oriented with excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to multitask and deliver high-quality results within specified time frames.
• Attention to detail, ability to prioritize, and a sense of urgency.
• Comfortable working in an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, and changing environment with a desire to make a strong impact on the business.
• Excellent initiative, self-starter with keen attention to detail.

Direct Reports

• Manager, Supply Chain
• Manager, Warehouse

This is a full-time exempt position requiring 40 hours per week, with additional hours as needed. Minimal travel may be required.