Senior Packaging Buyer

**A bit about the role.**

You will report into our Procurement & Supply Chain Manager 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 Packaging category. Travel will be required on an ad hoc basis to our suppliers, trade shows and our 'box office' in London. The role is based at our production site in Blyth, with a requirement to be in the office at least 3 days per week.

**A bit about you.**

Butternut Box is looking for a Senior Packaging Category Buyer to join our Procurement & Supply Chain Team. In this role, you will be responsible for an International & varied supply base, purchasing across a range of materials including plastics and corrugated board.

You'll play a pivotal role in building our long term packaging strategy, reducing costs, driving our sustainability agenda and bringing new products to launch. 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.

You are dynamic, entrepreneurial and a self-starter who works proactively, and is excited about the opportunity to work in a rapidly scaling business We are looking for someone to come in and hit the ground running with strong experience working with plastics in a manufacturing setting, bringing fresh ideas and enthusiasm to the current Procurement and Supply Chain team.

**Skills and experience we are looking for**
- 5+ years experience working with packaging
- Extensive experience working with PA/PE, PE products. Other material sourcing e.g. corrugated board a bonus
- Experience working with packaging in a manufacturing setting
- Someone with a deep, end-to-end understanding of the packaging & printing process, from idea conception to launching a new product to market.
- Packaging technical & regulatory knowledge with a passion for sustainability
- Exceptional stakeholder management & alignment abilities
- Organised with a very keen eye for detail
- Flexible with a strong ability to adapt to changing priorities and needs of the business
- Strong communication skills & enjoy problem solving
- E-commerce (direct to consumer) packaging experience would be beneficial but not essential
- Passion for e-commerce and dogs

**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.

As a B-Corp certified company; you can be sure you are joining a sustainable company who care about our people, product and our impact on the environment.

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 motivation to come and work with us.

Key responsibilities:
Strategy & Supplier Management
- Directly build the Packaging strategy to deliver value & quality & minimise risk
- Identifying and delivering continuous cost improvement opportunities
- Challenge and Manage suppliers to deliver the required standards and measure their performance against agreed objectives, putting in place corrective actions where necessary.
- Manage our continuously growing supplier base, ensuring we have chosen preferred suppliers that we can rely on to enable speed, flexibility, quality & supports us with innovation.
- Working holistically to ensure our packaging costs and sustainability aspirations are in line with our budget and brand goals.
- Working with the Operations team to ensure packaging helps drive productivity

**NPD & Sustainability**
- Work closely with our suppliers and our Technical teams to maintain an up-to-date knowledge of packaging innovation & sustainability developments.
- Work cross-functionally with Marketing, Proposition, SC, Creative, and Operations to land product launches OTIF. Your interaction across stakeholders will be key to ensure we build packaging that fits the brand and travels well through the supply chain.
- Keep a close eye on future market trends and appetites, attending key trade-shows domestically and internationally.
- Deliver on our sustainability and environmental agenda.
- Work with suppliers to translate concepts into robust, viable commercial packaging solutions
- Using reporting tools and communicate regularly on the progress of projects

**A bit about what we offer.**
- Competitive salary & new laptop
- 25 days holiday per year (pro-rated) plus bank holidays and an additional day for every year of service
- £500 annual learning & development budget
- Flexible working arrangements (guideline is 3 days offic