Supply Chain Specialist (Zabrze)

📣  A bit about the role.  

Butternut Box is looking for a Supply Chain Specialist to join the high-performing Supply Chain team. In this role, you will be responsible for one or more of our portfolio categories.

You’ll play a pivotal role in supplier management, enabling our key operations to run smoothly by having the right stock and resolving any supply chain issues that arise. As we are a growing business, this will be a dynamic role which will also flex across our operations, giving the unique opportunity to have a full view of our total supply chain. From October this year we will become a multi production facility business and with that come a number of challenges and opportunities that we can’t wait to get you stuck into. 

You are dynamic, entrepreneurial and a self-starter who works proactively, is inquisitive and is excited about the opportunity to work in a rapidly scaling startup! We’re looking for someone to come in and hit the ground running, bringing fresh ideas and enthusiasm to the team.

You will join an enthusiastic existing team within Supply Chain and will work cross-functionally across the whole operation. You will be working alongside an energetic team where your focus is to take full ownership of the supply chain of your categories. 

 

A bit more detail

Key responsibilities:

Stock Management

• Taking direct responsibility for stock availability & waste within your categories
• Planning when to call off stock, when to take deliveries based on production plans, fulfilment plans, forecast demand and capacity & agreed stock holding strategy for each category and market
• Manage out of stocks/back in stocks communications
• Providing purchase recommendation to our Procurement team based on balancing cover with cash tied up in stock
• Share learnings from within your category with others in the team ensuring we are consistently striving for better as a team, and continuously improving how we operate

Analysis & Reporting

• Perform weekly analysis of available inventory vs forecasted demand
• Consistently reviewing the supply chain for improvement & implementing identified improvement activities aligned with key stakeholders
• Supplier Performance monitoring, KPI management & reporting

Supplier & Category Management

• Working with suppliers & Category Buyers to ensure suppliers comply with Butternut Box’s delivery standards
• Organise stock returns with suppliers and perform the necessary SAP adjustments
• Placing orders with suppliers in line with contractual terms laid out
• Working with NEPD to support innovation
• Ordering supplier samples & responsible for their status
• Lead new launches from a SC point of view
• Chasing suppliers to determine delivery status
• Identifying and resolving supply issues to avoid any impact on operations, customers & margin
• Managing the import of goods from abroad if relevant
• Working with the Procurement team to establish a category stock holding strategy & reporting on this
• Working with the Category Buyers to understand the opportunities & risks in your category & working together on establishing mitigation strategies
• Establishing efficient ways of working with suppliers & proposing any improvement processes to the Category Buyers
• Working collaboratively with the Procurement & technical team to ensure one aligned approach to the suppliers

👋  A bit about you. 

• Previous experience in Supply Chain is essential
• Experience working in the food manufacturing industry is essential
• Experience with working with ERP systems like SAP
• Resilient and work well under pressure
• Organised with a keen eye for detail
• Inquisitive, you seek answers where these might not be obvious
• Flexible with a strong ability to adapt to changing priorities and needs of the business
• Strong communication skills & enjoy problem solving
• A team player
• Creative with an open-minded approach, a hunger to learn and a desire for self-improvement
• Passion for startups, e-commerce and dogs!
• Ideally a good Level of English (B2, C1 or C2)
• You love dogs and cats, naturally. (You like people too…)

🐶 A bit about us. 

At Butternut, we put the food back into dog food. We believe dogs deserve to eat the healthiest, most natural and tastiest food with none of the nasties. That’s why we make freshly prepared dog food. Cooked like you would at home. Delivered in perfect portions.

Our goal is to help dogs live healthier, happier and longer lives whilst leaving humans smiling after every interaction. We’ve come a long way since our co-founders (Kev & Dave) hand-delivered the first Butternut Box, we now feed a lot of dogs across the UK - but we want to feed dogs everywhere. And to do this, we need a team of brilliant people who share that ambition to come and work with us. 

 🙌 A bit about what we offer.

• Additional days off
• Attractive discount on freshly prepared food for your dog or a dog in your immediate family
• Cafeteria system (including Medicover and Multisport)
• Training budget 
• Free parking

 

🐶 Background

Butternut Box was founded in 2016 and has seen outstanding growth and significant investment during its rapid evolution. A certified B-Corp, Butternut Box is committed to doing better for the planet, people and dogs. In 2023, the business secured £280m of investment from General Atlantic and L Catterton. This significant investment has allowed the business to rapidly develop its international expansion plans. These plans centre around European expansion with Czech Republic next market to launch. Beyond that, there are a number of markets that would be attractive considerations including: Austria, Nordics, Italy and France.

Butternut Box fully acquired PsiBufet, a Polish Direct to Consumer dog food brand in 2023. This business provides a foothold from which to establish a new manufacturing plant to serve these markets. As it stands, the business currently serves c.295,000 dogs with 200,000 in the UK, 30,000 in Poland, 20,000 in Benelux and 15,000 in Ireland. To achieve the growth demands will require the UK factory, ‘Rudie’s Kitchen’, to deliver increased output whilst a new Polish operation is commissioned and brought online.

The new site is in Zabrze. This new site will be 37,000 M2 (compared to the original UK site at 18,000 M2) and will eventually have 8 lines with the capacity to produce 1,200T per week.

Work is required to ready the building for food manufacturing, and this is underway. Once this is completed, equipment will be installed to allow a fulfilment operation to be moved from an established site. It isn’t anticipated that many of the existing team will move so a new team will need to be recruited and trained to allow first orders to be processed by Summer 2025. Further equipment is being installed and commissioned in readiness for the first production to commence by the beginning of July 2025. Again, a production team will need to be recruited and trained to make this possible. It is envisaged that much of this training will utilise the knowledge and experience gained at Rudie’s.

 

Our Values & ways of working

A business with people at the very core.  The company has great employee retention and prides itself on giving everyone the chance to stretch themselves in a supportive and inclusive environment.

The business’ values are: Dedicated and Determined; Open and Honest; Genuine Care; Strive for Better and For the Love of Dogs.

 

Recruitment process 

• Screen/interview 
• Video interview 
• Face to face interview