Lead Sourcing Manager

Worldwide Grocery Stores (WWGS) is a global retail organization dedicated to revolutionizing the grocery shopping experience through enhanced efficiency, quality, and affordability. At its core, WWGS Private Brands (PB) serves as a crucial strategic division that develops, sources, and manages our Whole Foods Market (WFM) and Amazon-branded proprietary food products across all geographic regions. This team also leads the Whole Body assortment, which includes non-food and health/wellness products for WFM. Operating as a unified force, Private Brands supports both North American and International operations by leveraging cross-functional expertise in product development, sourcing, sensory, commercialization and quality assurance to bring our products to market end-to-end across all WFM and Amazon channels. Through the integration of Whole Foods Market (WFM) and Amazon-branded products, Private Brands enables WWGS to deliver high-quality, innovative products and brands while maintaining operational excellence across diverse global markets. This collaborative structure allows WWGS to rapidly scale its food portfolio while maintaining consistent quality standards and efficient processes throughout its worldwide operations. This team manages the Amazon Saver, Amazon Grocery, byAmazon, Aplenty, Amazon Kitchen, 365 by WFM (including our organic products), and Whole Foods Market brands.

About the Role
The Sr. Manager, Sourcing Grocery and Whole Body serves as the product owner and internal champion for our WW Grocery Store Private Brand business. They will own categories such as ambient foods as well as our Whole Body categories, which span personal and home care products. They will own managing, developing, and improving the structural profitability of our private brand assortment across our Amazon and WFM-branded products. This role is unique in that it spans both Food and Non-Food categories, serving all Grocery channels including WFM Stores but also Amazon Stores and online. In this role, you will work backwards from customer needs to develop and execute a comprehensive sourcing strategy that delivers exceptional products while meeting financial guardrails and targets across all channels. This leader will manage a team of 13, including another manager and will need to be a passionate and effective people leader. They will be the trusted advisor for our category teams across Grocery channels and will be the subject matter expert in their categories. Additionally, this leader will need to be a master negotiator, as they own our supplier/vendor partnership, and will need to optimize those partnerships over time to meet the needs of our customers.

This role will need to be an effective collaborator and owner, making decisive decisions across a varied multi-functional team including product development, channel category merchandising, partner private brands teams, and our quality and commercialization functions. Lastly, given that this leader will run our Whole Body, WFM PB assortment, this leader will need to be passionate about WFM’s mission to nourish people and the plant.

A day in the life
Product Strategy & Development

* Own the end-to-end product lifecycle for assigned categories, working backwards from customer needs to develop a compelling product roadmap
* Create and maintain detailed product requirement documents, PRFAQs, and six-pagers to articulate product vision and strategy
* Be subject matter expert on their categories with in the private labeling space, understanding the supplier landscape and optimizing our portfolio
* Drive both new product creation and renovation of existing products to ensure the total portfolio is optimized to support business objectives
* Identify opportunities to fill the innovation pipeline through customer insights, market research, and cross-functional collaboration
* Partner with Product Commercialization, R&D, Legal, and Quality Assurance to bring products to market efficiently while managing risk
* Establish and track meaningful metrics to measure product performance and customer satisfaction

Business Ownership & Analytics

* Own the P&L for your product portfolio, ensuring delivery of financial targets and growth objectives
* Conduct weekly, monthly and quarterly business reviews with data-driven insights and root cause analysis
* Develop and maintain product dashboards with key performance indicators to track progress against goals
* Understand the critical Ps of Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion working with their partner teams to ensure their products are brought to life effectively for our customers.
* Make data-informed decisions by leveraging both qualitative and quantitative customer insights
* Collaborate with NA Category Merchant stakeholders across multiple teams on achieving financial plans and category objectives

Sourcing Excellence

* Operate as a subject matter expert in your product category, including industry knowledge and supplier landscape
* Develop and nurture strategic supplier partnerships to drive innovation and operational excellence
* Implement supplier scorecarding and performance management systems to ensure quality, sustainability, and business outcomes
* Champion Organics, Fair Trade, Animal Welfare, Sustainability and Quality Standards to advance the mission of Whole Foods Market
* Partner with Global Purchasing Teams, Distribution, and Regions to ensure alignment to category strategy

Product Experience Optimization

* Drive packaging innovation that enhances customer experience while supporting sustainability goals
* Influence product placement decisions through data-driven insights and customer decision tree methodology
* Collaborate with Pricing team to ensure products meet target price positions while maintaining margin requirements
* Balance customer value proposition with profit targets to deliver on our Conscious Capitalism principles

Leadership & Team Development

* Hire and develop the best talent, raising the bar with each hiring decision
* Mentor and train Associate Sourcing Leaders and other team members
* Communicate, represent, and uphold Whole Foods Market core values and leadership principles
* Demonstrate bias for action, ownership mentality, and customer obsession in all activities