Deputy Head of Sourcing - Barry Callebaut

Barry Callebaut is the heart and engine of the cocoa and chocolate industry. Our broad range of products and services span all aspects from cocoa sourcing to fine chocolate products, which are loved by people of all ages worldwide. We are passionate about our business and work hard every day to ensure that there is enough chocolate in the world. Nothing is more important to our success than the combined expertise of more than 11000 Barry Callebaut employees around the world. Our international focus in the fascinating world of cocoa and chocolate are the colorful backdrop for our many functions across a wide range of disciplines. In addition to sharing a passion for chocolate, Barry Callebaut employees strives to live our corporate values every day - customer focus, entrepreneurship, Passion, integrity and team spirit. We are committed to making sure that employees have the right skills, know-how and deep understanding of our customers and their needs. Engaging and developing our employees is the key to our success. Because our business focus is so broad, the scope of career opportunities within Barry Callebaut can cover many functional areas.

We are seeking to recruit a Deputy Head of Sourcing to assist the Head of Sourcing to develop and implement new ideas and strategy geared towards efficiency and profitability. The selected candidate must identify with, support and be passionate about Barry Callebaut’s Forever Chocolate commitments in targeted cocoa farming communities in Ghana.

“Forever Chocolate” is our ambition to make sustainable chocolate the norm by 2025. We have committed to four bold targets that address the biggest sustainability challenges in the chocolate supply chain by 2025:

• We will eradicate child labor from our supply chain
• We will lift more than 500,000 cocoa farmers out of poverty
• We will become carbon and forest positive
• We will have 100% sustainable ingredients in all of our products

The position we are recruiting is embedded in Barry Callebaut’s subsidiary company in Ghana, Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Ltd. based in Kumasi, with direct reporting line to the Head of Sourcing, Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Limited.

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Job Purpose:

The scope of work and responsibility of the Head of Sourcing has increased over the past three years. As a result, the need for a Deputy Head to manage and supervise the day to day job requirements and follow up on targets set to free the Head for better planning, focus and strategy is the main purpose for the role.

  Key Responsibilities:

 Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

• Works with the Head of Operations to drive the company’s strategy, business priorities and targets to the sourcing teams on the field;
• Ensure a daily reconciliation of figures between the field team and the IT department.
•  Devise strategies to set up and develop and nurture all new districts to a profitable business within two years of establishment;
• Uses open feedback mechanisms from the sourcing team with other departments to ensure the integration of the field strategy with that of the support functions;
• Provide an update of the market trends in the field to enable the head of sourcing take decisions on matters relating to the day to day sourcing operations;
• Conduct an asset needs assessment of each sector within their defined work area including the strategic planning of resources e.g. tarpaulins, scales, primary trucks etc.;
• Ensures that Nyonkopa districts achieve zero or very minimal field balance at the end of every funding season for cocoa business;
• Spends time in districts with  District teams including Purchasing clerks as well as farmers to understand and identify business critical issues in order to ensure the alignment of tactics and strategies;
• Lead efforts in ensuring effective collaboration between the sourcing team and the sustainability team to ensure that the right synergy is created to achieve the needed results at both ends of the business;
• Proactively manage and review the performance and progress of Sector Managers and their districts to meet set objectives;
• Ensure strict compliance with our SOP at the field;

• Ensure that port rejections are minimized and if they occur are reconditioned faster and recover all losses from the district concerned.

Competencies for the Role:

Experienced in managing relationships at a senior level and managing a diverse (in terms of skill base and experience) team of people.

• Must be able to demonstrate the ability to contribute and successfully deliver against a business strategy;
• Must possess a track record of increasing and sustaining sales growth and profitability even in challenging market conditions such as the current economic climate;
• Excellent communication skills – verbal, written to include report writing and group presentations;
•  Influencing and negotiation skills;
• Well-developed interpersonal skills;
• Commercially sound with a good understanding of profit and loss accounting, cost drivers in the business model and the influence of operating factors e.g. Funding and volumes of beans to be procured etc;
• Excellent organization skills, able to priorities;
• A collaborative team player – concerned with the team success as well as individual performance;
•  Visible Leadership skills – can motivate others to achieve;
• Self-starter – high energy levels, Positive and Enthusiastic and Resourceful;
• High integrity and credibility;
• Admissible to constructive criticisms and proffers solutions to teething challenges;
•  Must be able to rise up to the Mobility needs of the role – the job entails frequent and extensive travel;
• Proficiency in MS Office applications – Word, Power Point and Excel to a competent standard.

Qualifications and Experience:

• A minimum of first degree in related field but a master’s degree will be an advantage;
• A minimum of six (6) years’ experience in the cocoa bean sourcing industry of Ghana. The experience should be largely at the middle to senior level.