Company Overview

Grainger is a broad line, business-to-business distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies and other related products and services. More than 3.2 million businesses and institutions worldwide rely on Grainger for products such as safety gloves, ladders, motors and janitorial supplies, along with services like inventory management and technical support. These customers represent a broad collection of industries including commercial, government, healthcare and manufacturing. They place orders online, on mobile devices, through sales representatives, over the phone and at local branches. Approximately 5,000 suppliers provide Grainger with more than 1.6 million products stocked in Grainger's distribution centers and branches worldwide.

Position Description

This role is a member of the Global Operations & Indirect Procurement Team playing a significant role across Merchandising & Supplier Management. The role is responsible for directing, facilitating and improving the content management operations and process for US, Canada & Mexico operations. This position manages the work efforts of 80 team members in the US, Mexico, Canada and Panama. The role will define/refine the strategy in centrally managing New Product Introduction (NPI), QA and maintenance activities required, as well as have a COE set to execute against the strategy. The COE is managed in Panama. The role is responsible for governing the information required to keep it compliant and accurate. This director manages over 1.5M items within the COE in the US, Mexico and Canada through standard work and to achieve the goals of the business units by applying CE and lean management methodology to drive both process and productivity improvements across the business.

This role is also accountable for acting as a Center of Excellence (COE) by defining and supporting the lean management methodology, driving and facilitating standard work process and visual management across the Merchandising and Supplier Management in the US, as well as the Product Management organizations in Mexico and Canada.

This role will report directly to the Sr. Director, Procurement Enablement & Global Operations.

New Product Introduction (COE):

• Lead, develop and execute a rolling 12 month plan in collaboration with Merchandising & Supplier Mgmt and various supply chain partners to add new products into the portfolio across countries
• Provide visibility to supply chain partners for annual item additions exceeding 200K per year. Develop and continually monitor measurements and reporting for the overall NPI process including CT (45 days), FPY, Forecast/Plans, Plan Execution, etc.
• Report out progress to the Merchandising & Supplier Mgmt teams as well as various business partners that contribute to the NPI process. Develop plans to govern the information to protect it and ensure it is both compliant and accurate.
• Direct and collaborate on audits of product information to ensure data accuracy, quality and improvement. Direct efforts of the operations managers to make adjustments, as well communicate progress or concerns.
• Lead team of CA's to continuously improve the product hierarchy and attribute structure so the business collects the most relevant information to support the customer experience in alignment with the Product Information Team
• Lead change across Merchandising & Supplier Management to ensure changes to structure or information best supports the business and customer. Develop policies to keep and protect the structure
• Oversee the team's feedback mechanism in managing and responding to customer and field feedback for questions of information accuracy. Direct efforts to improve business process as a result of patterns of feedback.

Supplier Relationships:

• Responsible for supplier management effectiveness of the team with outside vendors of content and product vendors in collaboration with product management.
• Coaches the Operations Managers on the team and assists with escalated issues to ensure the effective execution of the processes used to support NPI and QA/Maintenance.

Position Requirements:

• BA/BS degree required (MBA preferred), 7-10 years of experience in a global and complex environment. Leadership experience in Merchandising & Supplier Management ideal
• Experience applying CI and lean methodology and proven soft skills resulting in implementation/adoption with internal, cross functional and external partners
• Demonstrates a thorough understanding of Merchandising and Supplier Mgmt. and key drivers of Product Information, Purchasing and Category management.
• Demonstrates the ability to lead through others directly and cross functionally to communicate direction-inspiring action to accomplish difficult changes
• Develops and maintains strategic relationships across borders as well as multiple layers of contacts both internally and externally
• Problem solving that includes incremental and innovative process
• Ability to analyze the impact of decisions on: service, profitability, demand/sales, and partner performance in support of the problem solving process.

EEOC Statement

Grainger is an Equal Opportunity Workplace and an Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.