Head of Global Procurement

About the Opportunity

The Head of Global Procurement will lead a step-change in how procurement creates value for Driscoll’s. This role is accountable for building and scaling a high performing procurement capability across Driscoll’s non-fruit spend, delivering measurable business value while positioning procurement as a strategic enabler of growth. The focus will be on establishing strong foundations across Driscoll’s operations, embedding discipline, transparency, and efficiency in sourcing and supplier management.

This role will establish and lead the Global Procurement function defining standards, governance, and capabilities that enable regions to execute effectively while benefiting from global scale and consistency, helping advance Driscoll's long-term growth ambition through innovation, resilience, and margin
expansion. The intent is to build one integrated enterprise procurement capability, and strategic sourcing that will focus on category strategy, supplier partnerships, and value creation, while transactional procurement is enabled through clear processes, controls, and digital tools.

Success in this role requires a strong combination of transformation leadership, digital and AI enabled thinking, the ability to build trusted relationships internally and externally, and a clear focus on embedding sustainability into procurement and supplier strategies. The role combines hands-on delivery with long-term capability building, driving immediate impact while shaping a procurement function that is efficient, data-driven, and positioned as a trusted partner to the
business. Over time, this role may expand toward broader enterprise procurement, including grower-facing procurement and external ecosystem alignment, requiring a leader with the ability to influence beyond their direct organization and build value with internal and external stakeholders. A core priority will be automating transactional activities such as procure to pay,
supplier onboarding, and compliance workflows so procurement talent can focus on negotiations, supplier partnerships, category strategy, and innovation.

Responsibilities

• Shape and lead a multi-year procurement strategy aligned with business priorities, focused on scale, consistency, and long-term value creation

• Frame strategic sourcing as a growth lever for Driscoll's long-term ambition to double the business over the next decade, creating value through innovation, supply resilience, and margin expansion

• Drive procurement transformation across the organization, elevating procurement from a transactional function to a strategic partner. Lead mindset and behavioral change, ensuring procurement is engaged early in decision-making and seen as a value creator

• Deliver measurable business impact through prioritized focus on high impact spend areas, total cost of ownership optimization across cost, service, quality, sustainability, risk and strong ownership of sourcing outcomes and value realization, in close partnership with Finance and business leaders

• Ensure Procurement leaders optimize spend in their areas, maximizing value and return for the business

• Personally lead critical sourcing initiatives and negotiations where enterprise leverage is required

• Increase speed-to-value by simplifying and accelerating sourcing, contracting, and supplier onboarding processes

• Bring advanced negotiation capability to critical supplier engagements, ensuring partnerships deliver both Driscoll’s performance expectations and sustainable economic outcomes for suppliers

• Establish and lead the Global Procurement function as the central engine for standards, governance, and capability building. Operate as the clear enterprise leader of procurement, independent of reporting lines, with accountability to the Chief Operating Officer and CEO for enterprise procurement performance

• Define and evolve procurement policies, standards, and operating principles, sourcing methodologies, tools, and playbooks, governance structures and decision rights

• Establish governance, including solid or dotted-line reporting where appropriate, to protect separation of duties and leverage enterprise scale across policies, skills, talent development, digital investments, tools, and strategic supplier relationships

• Build strong alignment with regions through a structured liaison model, ensuring global standards are practical, adopted, and continuously improved based on business feedback

• Balance global consistency with local flexibility, ensuring procurement enables—not slows—execution

• Own the procurement governance framework, ensuring robust policies, controls, and ethical standards across sourcing activities

• Ensure alignment with legal, finance, and internal control requirements, while promoting transparency and integrity in supplier engagement

• Embed sustainability into procurement practices by Integrating environmental and ethical standards into sourcing and supplier selection, embedding sustainability criteria in contracts and supplier performance management and partnering with suppliers to support Driscoll’s long-term sustainability ambitions, with sustainability embedded as a core pillar in category strategies, supplier selection, contracting, and strategic supplier management

• Lead enterprise-wide sourcing and contracting across in-scope categories

• Develop category strategies aligned with long-term business priorities and supported by consistent, structured sourcing approaches

• Establish and lead a differentiated Strategic Supplier Management framework

• Drive joint value creation with strategic suppliers focusing on innovation, sustainability, service improvement, and long-term partnership

• Position Driscoll’s as a preferred customer in the market

• Strengthen supplier relationship management through steady, ongoing engagement at the strategic level, ensuring relationships are actively managed and aligned to business priorities

• Use strong negotiation skills to guide supplier relationships over time, enabling expected performance levels while supporting sustainable supplier economics

• Partner with suppliers to identify innovation opportunities, including the ability to “see the unseen” and translate supplier capability into practical solutions for Driscoll’s

• Lead end-to-end optimization of Procure-to-Pay processes to improve efficiency, reduce cost, and simplify operations

• Partner closely with Finance and Accounts Payable to improve transaction efficiency, reduce processing cost, and accelerate cycle times

• Define and execute a digital procurement strategy that leverages data, analytics, and AI to improve decision-making and scalability

• Drive adoption of advanced spend analytics and demand visibility, supplier performance and risk monitoring, market intelligence and pricing insights and automated contract management and compliance tools

• Build and lead a high-performing procurement organization

• Establish the procurement organization structure, roles, capabilities, skills, and location strategy, in close alignment with the Chief Operating Officer and regional leaders

• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement

• Develop leadership talent and ensure strong succession across the organization

Candidate Profile

Required

• 15+ experience in procurement and/ or strategic sourcing leadership

• Proven ability to deliver measurable business value through procurement

• Demonstrated experience leading procurement transformation and organizational change

• Strong experience in building and scaling global operating models

• Proven ability to lead effectively in a matrixed or dual-reporting environment while maintaining clear enterprise procurement accountability

• Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills

• Ability to build trusted, long-term relationships with internal stakeholders and strategic suppliers

• Demonstrated strategic supplier relationship management experience, including bilateral relationship building and sustained engagement at executive levels

• Advanced negotiation skills with a track record of delivering value while enabling sustainable supplier outcomes

• Ability to influence beyond the organization, including external partners, growers, suppliers, or stakeholders

• Availability to travel internationally up to 35% of the time

Preferred

• Experience working with Center of Expertise models

• Strong track record in digital and AI-enabled procurement

• Track record in Procure-to-Pay optimization, including automation, demand consolidation, and reduction of transactional complexity

• Experience automating transactional procurement workflows, including procure to pay, supplier onboarding, compliance, and contract management

• Experience embedding sustainability into procurement and supplier strategies

• Deep expertise in strategic supplier relationship management

• Experience leading procurement across internal and external networks

• Track record of supplier-enabled innovation, including identifying non-obvious opportunities and translating them into business value

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain, Finance, or related field required

• MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred, but not required

Languages

• Fluent English required

• Mandarin and/or Spanish are a plus, but not required

Compensation and Benefits

The following information is provided in good faith as a general description of the salary range and benefits for the position posted. The actual compensation offered to the successful candidate is dependent upon experience, skills, education, work location, internal pay equity, and other objective job-related factors.

For California-based hires, the expected salary range for this role is $305,000 - $380,000 USD. Compensation for hires outside California will be determined based on the market, level, and compensation practices applicable to the country where the successful candidate is hired.

Driscoll’s is committed to a culture of care and offers an attractive benefits package that includes comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, life insurance, and disability coverage for positions working more than 30 hours per week. Other benefits include: 401(k) with employer match, profit-sharing participation, paid sick time, paid vacation, paid personal and family care leave, and a free Employee Assistance Program (EAP). More detailed information regarding the benefits package, will be shared during the application process.