Supplier Management Lead

Location: Zug, Switzerland

Summary: Hershey is looking for a Supplier Sustainable Relationship Management Lead to join the cocoa sustainability team in Hershey Trading GmbH; this role will report to the Sustainable Sourcing Manager SSRM and Human Rights. The purpose of this role is to support the management of suppliers to ensure the quality and consistency of interventions, data and to support their continuous improvement. The Supplier Sustainable Relationship Management Lead will be part of Cocoa global team.

Major Duties/Responsibilities:

• Support the implementation of the Supplier Sustainability Relationship Management (SSRM) process, to qualify, segment, monitor and manage suppliers implementing Cocoa sustainability, in all different cocoa origins.
• Lead the development of sustainable sourcing proposals, including negotiation and contracting, in close collaboration with the procurement team.
• Support the development and the implementation of Cocoa strategy in the different cocoa origins, translating the SSPM into clear workplans for the teams in origins.
• Supplier Sustainability requirements. Closely collaborate with Sourcing and ESG teams to understand and set priorities and translate them into requirements for suppliers for the implementation of sustainability programs. This will include aligning the Hershey key requirements for cocoa to the business requirement, including the development of program requirements / specifications and templates used.
• Ensure timely supplier reporting performance metrics, surveys, and scorecards aligned with organization priorities with Data, Learning and Assurance manager.
• Financial management and transparency. Contract administration, support budget planning, and oversee payment of invoices in line with cocoa agreements. In collaboration with auditing and finance team, support the development and management of financial supplier auditing program.
• Support the management of new third-party (e.g. NGOs, academia) strategic partnerships and projects from development, contracting and execution to monitoring and reporting, including financial management and auditing.
• Collaborate with Hershey legal team for the contracting of third-parties, service providers, within Hershey internal system of Cycle Life Management; this will include keeping track of contracts in place.
• Human rights due diligence. Develop action plans, taking into account origin assessments’ results, suppliers’ implementation plans and latest business requirements.
• Collaborates with leadership to make decisions on programs and services to support human rights objectives, while handling escalated social issues, and promoting efficient implementation of initiatives.
• Recommends process improvements for area of responsibility.
• Supports line manager for organizing and delivering of training programs in collaboration with expert key partners.

Minimum knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform major duties/responsibilities: 

• Strong project management skills and ability to influence at a senior management level internally and externally.
• Fluent spoken and written French and English, Spanish and Portuguese are a plus.
• Experience working in multi-cultural environments across time zones.
• Proven ability to work independently, a self-starter attitude, active learner.
• Awareness of challenges of sustainability data monitoring, verification, and reporting of sustainability in large programs and challenging contexts is a plus.
• Negotiation skills and ability to lead discussions with suppliers and service providers. Solid experience with cost benchmarking, financial planning, and budgeting for contract development
• Strong people management and communication skills, ability to work collaboratively to make decisions while managing program execution with the field team and suppliers. Experience working with groups across several nationalities and cultures. Demonstrated ability to collaborate with key stakeholders.
• Sense of ownership, entrepreneurial mindset, and independent working behavior
• Readiness to travel to cocoa origins globally (up to 30% of the time).
• Experience (having lived and worked) in West Africa or Latin America is a strong plus.
• Knowledge of human rights is considered a strong plus.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements:

• Master’s degree in agronomy, international relations, Business or project management preferred
• 6+ years’ experience in program operations management, ideally with a corporate background. Experiences in working with NGOs and Academia is a strong plus
• Experience in food & agriculture or consumer goods and supplier management preferred
• Experience in NGOs and human rights is considered a strong plus