THE ROLE: The Senior Officer – Packaging Material Sourcing is responsible for supporting the strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier development, commercialization, and continuous supply of packaging materials across Herbalife's product portfolio. This role works closely with Packaging Development, R&D, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs, Packaging Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Planning, Marketing, and Finance teams to ensure packaging materials meet quality, regulatory, sustainability, cost, and operational requirements.
The incumbent plays a critical role in supplier qualification, packaging innovation, cost optimization, risk mitigation, and supply assurance while supporting new product launches, artwork changes, packaging redesigns, capacity enhancement and ongoing business needs. The position contributes to value creation through strategic supplier partnerships, packaging innovation, sustainability initiatives, and continuous improvement projects.
.
HOW YOU WOULD CONTRIBUTE:
- Strategic Sourcing & Category Management
- Support development and execution of sourcing strategies for assigned packaging categories including flexible packaging, labels, cartons, corrugated boxes, inserts, shrink films, laminates, pouches, bottles, jars, caps, closures, and promotional packaging.
- Conduct market intelligence, supplier benchmarking, and industry analysis to identify new sourcing opportunities.
- Evaluate supplier capabilities, technologies, capacities, and competitiveness.
- Support category strategy reviews and supplier rationalization initiatives.
- Identify opportunities to standardize specifications and optimize packaging portfolios.
- Monitor packaging market trends, resin indices, paperboard markets, sustainability regulations, and emerging technologies.
- Supplier Qualification & Development
- Identify, evaluate, qualify, and onboard packaging material suppliers.
- Coordinate supplier audits, quality assessments, technical evaluations, and compliance reviews.
- Work with Quality and Regulatory teams to ensure suppliers meet Herbalife standards and applicable regulatory requirements.
- Assess supplier capabilities, manufacturing infrastructure, quality systems, capacity, and business continuity plans.
- Maintain approved supplier databases, capability matrices, and supplier performance records.
- Support supplier development programs focused on quality improvement, service enhancement, innovation, and sustainability.
- Packaging Commercialization & New Product Development Support
- Support sourcing activities for new product launches, packaging refreshes, artwork changes, and product transfers.
- Collaborate with Packaging Development and R&D teams to identify suitable packaging materials and technologies.
- Coordinate supplier involvement in packaging trials, pilot runs, validation activities, and commercial launches.
- Ensure timely availability of packaging materials to support project milestones.
- Support packaging specification development and supplier technical documentation review.
- Facilitate packaging change management and commercialization processes.
- Cost Management & Value Engineering
- Conduct commercial evaluations, cost breakdown analysis, should-cost assessments, and supplier bid comparisons.
- Support RFQs, RFPs, sourcing events, and supplier negotiations.
- Lead cost reduction and productivity initiatives through value engineering and packaging optimization.
- Benchmark supplier pricing and market competitiveness.
- Identify opportunities for material substitution, pack-size optimization, and packaging standardization.
- Support annual budgeting and savings target delivery for packaging spend categories.
- Track procurement savings, cost avoidance, and productivity metrics.
- Supply Assurance & Operational Support
- Partner with Supply Planning and Manufacturing teams to ensure uninterrupted packaging material supply.
- Monitor supplier delivery performance, lead-times, inventory positions, and service levels.
- Manage supplier escalations related to quality, delivery, capacity, and service issues.
- Support inventory optimization strategies while balancing supply continuity requirements.
- Coordinate recovery plans during supply disruptions and capacity constraints.
- Develop alternate sourcing and dual-sourcing strategies for business-critical packaging materials.
- Supplier Relationship Management
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with packaging suppliers and strategic partners.
- Conduct supplier performance reviews using established KPIs.
- Facilitate supplier business reviews and improvement action plans.
- Collaborate with suppliers to resolve technical, operational, and commercial challenges.
- Encourage supplier-driven innovation and introduction of new packaging technologies.
- Support long-term supplier partnership development and performance improvement initiatives.
- Sustainability & Compliance
- Support sustainable packaging initiatives and ESG objectives.
- Identify opportunities to increase recyclability, reduce material usage, enhance circularity, and improve environmental performance.
- Ensure supplier compliance with GMP, FSSAI, food contact regulations, packaging regulations, and Herbalife quality standards.
- Support packaging compliance programs and regulatory documentation requirements.
- Monitor emerging sustainability regulations and industry best practices.
- Drive responsible sourcing initiatives within packaging supply categories.
- Risk Management & Business Continuity
- Monitor risks associated with packaging materials, supplier concentration, regulatory changes, geopolitical events, and commodity volatility.
- Develop mitigation plans and contingency sourcing strategies.
- Maintain risk assessments for critical suppliers and packaging categories.
- Support business continuity planning and supplier risk monitoring activities.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to proactively address packaging supply vulnerabilities.
- Ensure robust supply network resilience for critical packaging materials.
- Reporting & Analytics
- Analyze packaging spend, supplier performance, market trends, and sourcing effectiveness.
- Develop meaningful reports and dashboards for management review.
- Track supplier KPIs, cost savings, inventory health, and sourcing metrics.
- Generate data-driven insights to improve decision-making and category performance.
- Support leadership reviews through analytical reporting and business recommendations.
WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT THE TEAM: The Global Product Sourcing team is newly rebranded and reorganized to leverage global category management and category expertise. Working with a team of over 50+ Direct Sourcing colleagues around the world, the team is focused on identifying the best opportunity to source for any region, delivering incremental value and external innovation back to the brand and customer. With the true global sourcing scale and responsibility, we concentrate on the sync process and encourage regular collaboration to source the best Products at a global scale
SENIOR OFFICERY RESPONSIBILITIES:
SKILLS AND BACKGROUND REQUIRED TO BE SUCCESSFUL:
Skills:
- Strong understanding of packaging materials, packaging processes, and supplier management principles.
- Knowledge of flexibles, folding cartons, corrugated packaging, labels, plastic containers, closures, and printing technologies.
- Strong commercial negotiation and cost analysis skills.
- Understanding of packaging regulations, food contact requirements, quality systems, and compliance standards.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and stakeholder management capabilities.
- Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and influencing skills.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and procurement analytics tools.
Experience:
- 3-6 years of experience in Packaging Procurement, Packaging Development, Strategic Sourcing, Category Management, Supply Chain, or Supplier Management.
- Experience in FMCG, Nutraceutical, Pharmaceutical, Food, Consumer Healthcare, Cosmetics, or Consumer Products industries preferred.
- Experience managing packaging categories such as labels, cartons, flexible packaging, plastics, corrugates, bottles, closures, and printed materials.
- Experience working in GMP/FSSAI regulated manufacturing environments is preferred.
Education:
- Bachelor's Degree in Packaging Technology, Printing Technology, Engineering, Food Technology, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain, Materials Science, or related discipline.
- MBA or Master's degree preferred.
- Professional certifications in Procurement, Supply Chain, Packaging Technology, Lean Six Sigma, CIPS, CPSM, or APICS are advantageous.
