GRAZE
Head of Supply Chain
Leadership Team Role — Procurement & Planning
Please note that this is a 12-month fixed-term contract to provide maternity cover.
Function
Supply Chain
Reports to
Operations Director
Direct reports
Supply Planning Manager, Senior Procurement Manager, Supply Chain Operations Manager, SC Exec
Location
Graze HQ, Hayes
Committee
Member of the Leadership Team (LT)
ROLE PURPOSE
The Head of Supply Chain owns end-to-end supply chain strategy for Graze, bringing together Procurement and Planning as a single, integrated function. This role is accountable for the flow of materials from supplier through to product on shelf: sourcing & contracting according to business needs, and planning capacity, production, inventory and logistics to deliver them cost-effectively, reliably and sustainably.
As a member of the Leadership Team, the role sets the supply chain strategy that underpins Graze's growth, cost, cash and service ambitions, and represents supply chain in cross-functional decision-making at the highest level of the business.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES
Strategy & Leadership
- Set and own the overarching supply chain strategy, integrating procurement and planning into a single, coherent roadmap aligned to commercial and operational goals.
- Represent supply chain on the Leadership Team, shaping and influencing company-wide strategy, investment decisions and trade-offs.
- Build, lead and develop a high-performing supply chain team, including succession planning and capability building across procurement and planning disciplines.
- Own the supply chain P&L levers — cost of goods, working capital, service level and waste — and report performance to the Leadership Team and Board as required.
- Lead supply chain input into business planning cycles: budgeting, long-range planning and new product development gates.
Procurement (End-to-End Cycle)
- Own the end-to-end procurement cycle: category strategy, supplier sourcing and selection, negotiation, contracting, onboarding, performance management and exit.
- Develop and maintain supplier segmentation and risk frameworks to prioritise commercial focus and mitigate supply risk.
- Own cost-saving pipelines and portfolio programmes across Raw material and pack spend.
- Ensure robust supplier relationship management, including performance tracking, business reviews and escalation routes for underperformance.
- Lead ethical, sustainable and resilient sourcing practices, including dual/alternate sourcing for critical materials.
Planning
- Own development of the planning system(s) and ways of working, ensuring the right tools, data and processes are in place to support accurate, scalable planning.
- Oversee inbound materials and packaging planning to ensure the right materials are available at the right time to support the production plan.
- Own capacity planning across manufacturing, balancing demand, service and cost.
- Oversee production scheduling to optimise throughput, changeovers and adherence to plan.
- Own inventory management strategy across raw materials, packaging and finished goods, balancing service level, cost and obsolescence risk.
- Oversee warehouse utilisation and network planning
- Own outbound logistics and stock transfer planning between warehouses.
- Lead phase-in/phase-out planning for new and discontinued products, minimising write-offs and stock-outs.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Act as the senior supply chain partner to Sales, Marketing, Finance, Manufacturing, Product Development and Tech, aligning supply chain plans with commercial, NPD and technology roadmaps.
- Partner with Finance on cost, cash and inventory targets, and on scenario planning for risks and opportunities.
- Partner with Manufacturing on production performance, capacity investment and continuous improvement.
- Partner with Product Development and Marketing on NPD supply readiness, packaging and format changes, and go-to-market timing.
- Partner with Tech on systems roadmaps supporting planning, procurement and inventory processes.
EXPERIENCE & SKILLS
- Significant senior leadership experience across both procurement and supply/demand planning, ideally within FMCG, food or a comparable fast-moving, multi-SKU environment.
- Proven track record of setting and delivering supply chain strategy at a leadership team level.
- Understanding of end-to-end procurement, from category strategy through to contract and supplier performance management.
- Strong grounding in planning disciplines: capacity, production scheduling, inventory and logistics, ideally including planning system implementation or development.
- Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with experience operating at Leadership Team level.
- Strong analytical and commercial acumen, comfortable working with complex data to drive decisions.
- Experience leading and developing teams through organizational change or growth.
