Transport Specialist

Location:  Zabrze, Poland - fully on site

Role: Transport Specialist

📣A bit about the role

Butternut Box is looking for a Transport Specialist to join our new Greenfield site in Zabrze, Poland. As a part of the wider high-performing Supply Chain team, you will be responsible for the movement of goods from our UK site into Zabrze and the movements from Zabrze across mainland Europe.

You’ll play a pivotal role in ensuring our finished product gets from the manufacturing site to our 3rd party fulfilment partner in Amsterdam (Leen Menken, based in Zoetermeer) and in time more countries across Europe, we are launching in Czech republic as we speak, with Italy coming on board later in the year as well. 

You will be joining the founding team on this new site, 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 the end of this year we will become a multi-production facility business and with that comes 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 Operations. 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:

Export/Import Coordination

• Taking direct responsibility for stock availability & waste within your region
• Planning when to send stock based on production plans, fulfilment plans, forecast demand and capacity & agreed stock holding strategy for each category
• Manage out of stock/back in stock communications in your region
• Work closely with the Supply Chain Specialists to ensure stock availability isn’t an issue for your operation
• Coordinate with warehouse team and 3rd party hauliers to ensure a minimum OTIF of 98.5%
• Ensure accuracy of issued paperwork and when relevant, working with the Vet who issues the health certificates that accompany our loads to the regions
• Conduct the relevant SAP transactions to ensure an accurate systematic picture of 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 Supply Chain Specialists & Category buyers to ensure their suppliers comply with Butternut Box’s delivery standards in your regions
• Organise stock returns and perform the necessary SAP adjustments
• Liaise with our hauliers to determine delivery status of trailers
• Identifying and resolving supply issues to avoid any impact on operations, customers & margin
• Working with the Procurement team and  Supply Chain Specialists to establish a category stock holding strategy & reporting on this
• Work with Regional Operations Managers to close the loop on Exports and maximise availability

A bit about you:

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’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.

• Experience in an Operational role (Warehouse, Fulfilment, Supply Chain or Production)
• Experience with working with SAP or equivalent ERP system
• A working knowledge of computer-based systems including eMail and Spreadsheets (we work with a lot of them!)
• Interest in learning and contributing to the improvement of our export/import operations
• Resilient and work well under pressure
• Organised with a keen eye for detail
• Inquisitive, you seek answers where these might not be obvious
• Flexible in approach to duties and growth in this exciting stage of our journey, 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, with a big picture perspective to the role and site.
• Speaking Polish (B2) and English (B2)

🐶 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 the 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 over 300,000 dogs across the UK, Poland, Benelux and 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 Autumn 2025. Further equipment is being installed and commissioned in readiness for the first production to commence by the beginning of December 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 

• 1st stage screening call (Google Meets) 
• Technical / Competency interview (Google Meets) 
• Values and Culture interview (On site in Zabzre)