Director, Supply Chain & Planning

About the position

The Director of Supply Chain & Planning leads end-to-end supply chain operations across Appleton Group, including Supplier Performance, Supplier Quality, and Strategic Procurement. This role ensures continuity of supply, optimizes cost, quality, and delivery, and drives supply chain excellence while supporting the company’s strategic objectives. This role also leads the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process in close collaboration with sales and all the sites to share as early as possible the most accurate forecasts with sites and suppliers. The scope will include direct material, indirect and logistics spend totaling ~\$150M annually. The spend is spread across 8 manufacturing plants, 1 global distribution center and 4 mod centers. The position will have 5 direct reports.

Responsibilities

  • Create and implement a world-class supply chain strategy, focusing on cost optimization, timely delivery, and risk mitigation
  • Key KPIs include Supplier On-Time Delivery, Supplier Quality PPM, Year-on-Year Supply Chain and Logistics Costs Savings, Material Cost Productivity, and Working Capital Optimization
  • Lead the supply chain planning process, developing annual and long-term plans that include cost reduction, lead time improvements, and risk mitigation for potential disruptions
  • Coordinate global supply base guiding site leaders in strategy development, contract negotiations and plan execution to ensure strong, cost-competitive supplier relationships
  • Drive initiatives to enhance quality, lead time, service levels, and cost efficiency through process optimization, technology, and talent development
  • Identify and implement cost-saving opportunities across supply chain using global spending, exploring alternative sourcing, and negotiating favorable contracts
  • Lead the Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process to get as much input as possible from sales to define forecasts for the sites & suppliers and organize the Executive S&OP process.
  • Define and follow every month inventory targets and update the forecasts every quarter.
  • Define the best strategy to reduce & avoid supplier quality costs with preventive quality tools to reach the supplier PPM targets
  • Lead and coordinate supplier escalations across all sites, driving resolution of quality and delivery issues.
  • Develop and execute disaster recovery and business continuity plans to respond effectively to supply chain disruptions.
  • Evaluate opportunities to regionalize supply closer to customer markets, enhancing responsiveness and reducing risk exposure.
  • Provide strong leadership to a multi-site, multi-country team; set performance targets, drive talent development, and foster a high-performance, customer-focused culture.
  • Champion workforce planning, development, and succession planning to ensure long-term supply chain capability.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, or related field.
  • 10+ years of progressive supply chain management leadership experience in a manufacturing environment with accomplishments in cost reduction, supplier partnerships, multi-plant leverage, contract negotiations, logistics, and supplier certifications.
  • Strong analytical and decision-making skills with the ability to act quickly in high-pressure environments.
  • Skilled in supplier negotiations, escalations, and conflict resolution.
  • Certifications in Six Sigma, Lean, or related areas are advantageous.
  • Proven success in matrix environments and managing remote teams.
  • Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence across multiple organizational levels.
  • Customer-focused mindset with strong organizational and prioritization skills.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel pivot tables & PowerPoint) and ERP systems (e.g.; Oracle).
  • Ability to travel up to 30% - 40% of the time, including some international travel.
  • Familiarity with risk management, business continuity planning, and supply chain resilience practices.
  • Legal authorization to work in the United States - Sponsorship will not be provided for this position.

Nice-to-haves

  • Engineering degree with a master’s in supply chain or business.
  • Bilingual in English and Spanish: Proficient in both written and spoken English and Spanish.
  • Experience leading supply chain transformation or large-scale change initiatives.
  • Knowledge of ISO 9001 standards for supplier management and customer audits.
  • Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent program leadership experience.
  • Proficiency in business intelligence tools (Tableau, Power BI, Oracle BI, etc.) with strong presentation and reporting skills

Benefits

  • We prioritize providing flexible, competitive benefits plans to meet you and your family’s physical, mental, financial, and social needs.
  • We provide a variety of medical insurance plans, with dental and vision coverage, Employee Assistance Program, 401(k), tuition reimbursement, employee resource groups, recognition, and much more.
  • Our culture offers flexible time off plans, including paid parental leave (maternal and paternal), vacation and holiday leave.
Back to blog
Ads

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...