Senior Leader - Supply Chain Continuous Improvement and Strategic Initiatives

Work Location Type: Hybrid 

As a leading industrial distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom, We Keep The World Working® by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with products delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships. With 2023 sales of $16.5 billion, we’re dedicated to providing value for customers, fostering an engaging culture for team members and driving strong financial results.

Our welcoming workplace enables you to learn, grow and make a difference by keeping businesses running and their people safe. As a 2024 Glassdoor Best Place to Work and a Great Place to Work-Certified™ company, we’re looking for passionate people to join our team as we continue leading the industry over our next 100 years.

The Senior Leader of Supply Chain Continuous Improvement and Strategic Initiatives will formulate and execute significant operational objectives that bolster short-term and long-term objectives for our Supply Chain, Operations, and Customer Experience teams. You will provide strategic insights and strong execution on pivotal initiatives to the CEO and executive leaders, ensuring these initiatives help the organization meet customer demands, optimize operations, and reduce costs. Additionally, you will engage with a diverse array of stakeholders, both within and outside the company, including functional leaders, business units, vendors and business partners, to foster organizational alignment and cooperative efforts. You will report to the Supply Chain Group Vice President and be based at our Lake Forest, IL headquarters.

Principle Duties / Responsibilities:

• Lead a team that manages broad, cross-functional projects that help deliver key business results within the supply chain function and the broader company.
• Analyze supply chain and operations processes end-to-end, to develop strong understanding of the drivers of service, efficiency and cost. 
• Prioritize key processes across supply chain and operations functions and design and execute cross-functional, multi-year approaches to improve their overall service, quality and cost performance. Set-up required governance structures. Identify and build business case for enabling capabilities as appropriate.
• Manage a portfolio of initiatives that drive significant productivity savings (approximately $20M annually), working with Network, Transportation, Inventory, Operations, Process Design, Customer Experience, and Finance teams.
• Influence and align major operational objectives with Operations Engineering and Inventory Optimization teams to drive digital optimization and automation roadmap as needed. 
• Periodically assess the market to identify trends or opportunities to better address customer needs and propose initiatives. Support short- and long-term goals that create a competitive advantage in the market.
• Ensure that decisions align with our strategic plans.  Work cross-functionally with Sales, Operations, Technology, and Customer Experience to execute strategy.
• Structure and empower the team to set-up ongoing and one-time continuous improvement projects. Serve as an enterprise-wide expert on continuous improvement processes and practices.
• Consult with the CEO, Group VP of Supply Chain, and other senior leaders on identified strategies and objectives for the supply chain function. Present recommendations to executive leadership to make final decisions on strategic direction for short- and long-term initiatives. Present results of key initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with our guiding principles while applying advanced technical knowledge to solve complex problems.
• Apply analytical and interpretive skills to drive continuous improvement projects and develop strategic initiatives that will ensure market share gains and competitive advantage.

You Have:

• 10+ years leading large teams in areas such as continuous improvement, strategic or supply chain consulting, distribution, merchandising, strategy development, forecasting, marketing, transportation, or inventory management. 
• Masters degree or equivalent experience. 
• In-depth knowledge in CI Methodologies, Strategy, Decision Science/Simulation/Modeling, Inventory Management, Transportation, Operations, and Systems.  Hands-on experience in developing and implementing CI programs and creative solutions within a complex supply chain environment.
• Extensive experience in warehouse operations. Experience in B2B, distribution or industrial goods, is preferred. Experience in a strategy function or as a strategy consultant is a plus.
• Ability to synthesize information into a coherent and powerful strategy.  Able to analyze the impact of decisions on service, quality and cost.
• Ability to present effectively to executive leaders, including our Board of Directors and the Grainger Leadership Team.
• Leadership and team development capability.  Ability to lead through others in both a direct reporting relationship and in a cross-functional matrix managed team.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, along with synthesis and insight development.
• Able to build effective relationships and drive sustainable change across different teams and cultures.
• Thorough understanding of the entire order-to-cash and procure-to-pay processes.
• Develops and maintains strategic relationships across multiple layers of contacts both internally and externally.
• Capable of negotiating complex agreements both internally and externally.
• Ability to travel up to 30%.

Rewards and Benefits:

With benefits starting day one, our programs provide choice and flexibility to meet team members' individual needs. Check out the highlights below and review all our benefits at GraingerTotalRewards.com.

• Medical, dental, vision, life, and pet insurance plans and 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing
• Paid time off (PTO) and 6 company holidays per year
• 6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no match required
• Employee discounts, tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and free access to financial counseling, education and tools
• Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible environment that includes both providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the application and hiring process as well as throughout the course of one’s employment.  With this in mind, should you need a reasonable accommodation during the application and selection process, please advise us so that we can provide appropriate assistance.