Job Description

Job title: Manager, External Manufacturing

Company: Simple Mills

Job description: Manager, External Manufacturing

Company Description

Simple Mills is a rapidly-growing company on the forefront of the clean food movement, transforming center store grocery aisles with products made from nutritious, purposeful ingredients. Simple Mills is a female-founded business, started by Katlin Smith in 2012 out of her own Kitchen. In the company’s short history, Simple Mills has disrupted the market to become the #1 bestselling natural baking mix, the #1 bestselling natural cracker, and the #1 bestselling natural cookie.

The company’s mission is to advance the holistic health of the planet and its people by positively impacting the way food is made. Simple Mills is distributed in 25,000+ stores nationally including Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Kroger, Costco and more, and available online at retailers like Amazon and Thrive Market. The brand’s newest products include: Organic Seed Flour Crackers, Seed & Nut Flour Sweet Thins, and Soft-Baked Almond Flour Bars. Simple Mills has earned broad recognition from top tier media and industry associations- including a segment on our Founder & CEO Katlin Smith on . Our products have been featured in a wide array of top publications including Vogue, Women’s Health, Forbes, Business Insider, mindbodygreen, NOSH and many more. Simple Mills was also a 2020 Health Magazine Snack Award Winner!

Role Description

and responsibilities will include:

• Manage Relationships with existing Contract Manufacturers
• Work towards sourcing new CoMans to expand capacity and innovation platforms in concert with Simple Mills Senior Leaders
• Work with Sr. Director to support set up of KPI’s program at all Simple Mills CoMans
• Work on capability searches and development of RFPs as it relates to innovation or changes in manufacturing locations
• Map capabilities of current CoMans to facilitate onboarding new partners based on current and future product needs
• Performs other Manufacturing projects as assigned
• Responsible for monthly KPIs and quarterly business reviews impacted by the Sweet CoMan network

• Create annual spend budgets with Finance, including tolling and monitoring KPIs to plan throughout the year
• Gather inflation information from CoMans to support accurate budget allocations
• Write PO’s for trials, equipment, services, and supplies as well as approve invoices for payment
• Drive and facilitate projects, as well as continuous improvement practices and implementations, with their identified CoMans through strategic partnership and education

• Support and/or lead Project Management Meetings as determined by project type
• Act as primary liaison for their Contract Manufacturing sites for creating innovation paths to success with the R&D team
• Work closely with Quality Assurance to provide oversight and direction related to product safety incidents and negotiate disposition and related payment/penalties
• Lead discussions on their CoMans in the weekly Ops meetings

• Performs other projects as assigned

Position Requirements

• Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in Contract Manufacturing, Manufacturing and/or Supply Chain in a Food and Beverage CPG company
• BA Degree required.
• Ability to effectively work and build strong relationships internally across functions and externally with CoMan partners.
• Strong leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills. Ability to have supportive but candid conversations with leaders of all levels and tenure and the ability to communicate and build alignment across a fast-growing organization.
• Self-directed and results focused. Bias towards action, able to synthesize multiple pieces of information and act decisively. Strong sense of urgency and ownership of resolution. A strong multi-tasker with a proven ability to prioritize and manage deadlines.
• A passion for the natural food industry as well as a desire to change the way we think about ingredient labels.

Travel: This position will require frequent travel. We anticipate roughly 50% at the onset with a more consistent requirement of 30% travel on a regular basis. The frequency of this can vary based on business needs and coordination with other employees.

Benefits of Working at Simple Mills

• You will make a huge impact as a key member of an emerging brand that’s changing the way we eat and facing explosive growth
• Working with a vibrant community of passionate team members that are driven by healthy food that tastes good and fuels your body
• We strive to foster and embed a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our organization. We know it is not only critical to the success of diversity initiatives – but instrumental in creating an equitable and inclusive workplace! It also creates a positive employee experience. DEI will remain at the center of our people strategy as grow and scale our organization.
• Our culture is aligned with doing good in the world and we are committed to the environment, fairness to employees and to our customers
• Integrating into a company that is passionate about its people and their development, with consistent training and multiple forums/platforms to participate in, contribute to and learn from
• Employee benefits include robust Health Benefits packages, 401(k) plan, Unlimited PTO offering, one-time stipend for getting your home workspace setup, monthly cell phone/internet stipend, health & wellness stipends, product stipends and many other perks!

Compensation will be competitive for the ideal candidate. Simple Mills operates with a hybrid-model: a balance of in-person and virtual work. Hybrid employees will work from our Chicago, IL office at least once per week. When working remotely, employees must work from a designated location in the United States (the new hire’s permanent residence, as documented in our HR System, Rippling) with sufficient internet access to support video conferencing. Safety protocols in accordance with CDC recommendations are followed.

At Simple Mills, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect and inclusion. Equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, past or present military service, physical or mental disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of business need, job requirements, and individual qualifications. #LI-DNI.

Simple Mills is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Simple Mills will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [email protected].

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Location: Chicago, IL