Network Capital Buyer

fairlife, LLC is a Chicago-based nutrition company that creates great-tasting, nutrition-rich and dairy products to nourish consumers.

With over $3B in annual retail sales, fairlife's portfolio of delicious, lactose-free, real dairy products includes: fairlife® ultra-filtered milk ; Core Power® High Protein Shakes, a sports nutrition drink to support post-workout recovery; fairlife® nutrition plan™ , a nutrition shake to support the journey to better health.

A wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola company, fairlife, LLC has been recognized by both Fast Company and Nielsen for its industry leading innovation.

To learn more about fairlife and its complete line of products, please visit fairlife.com.

job purpose :

We are seeking a proactive and detail-oriented Base Capital Buyer to own capital expenditure administration, procurement operations, vendor relationships, and financial controls across our 4 manufacturing sites. This role is critical to ensuring cost-effective investments, operational efficiency, compliance, and governance across all base capital projects.

responsibilities

• Vendor Management
• Partner with internal strategic sourcing team
• To build and maintain strong relationships with suppliers. .
• Lead contract negotiations, onboarding, and periodic reviews of suppliers in close engagement with legal team.
• Develop and execute network-wide capital sourcing and pricing strategies that maximize leverage, and ensure market competitive pricing across all sites.
• Evaluate vendor performance based on quality, reliability, and compliance.
• Hold suppliers accountable to fairlife's high standards.
• Capital Expenditure Administration
• Assist Plant Base Capital Engineering team in managing the End to End of Purchase Order (PO) lifecycle capital projects from early vendor engagements building relationships, ideation, PO creation, execution, and project close out.
• Partner with engineering, production, accounting and finance teams to help enable business cases for plant capital projects.
• Controls & Compliance
• Enforce internal controls for capital expenditure and procurement processes as directed by fairlife accounting and finance internal guidelines & policies
• Ensure compliance with documentation requirements, corporate policies, and audit standards.
• Conduct periodic risk assessments and implement corrective actions to mitigate financial and operational risks.
• Procurement Management
• End to End PO Life Cycle Management, ensuring vendor adherence to procurement negotiated category pricing and terms
• Oversee procurement and negotiation annual plant Capital spend.
• Parter with engineering and strategic procurement teams to develop sourcing strategies that ensure quality, cost-efficiency, and timely delivery and execution of engineering projects.
• Collaborate with quality, safety, environmental, and production teams to align acceptable standards across those functions.

skills/qualifications required:

• Bachelor's degree in supply chain, Engineering, Finance, or related field.
• 3-5 years of experience in procurement, supply chain, capital expenditure management, or similar within a manufacturing environment.
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and analytical skills.
• Experience with capital projects in dairy or beverage plants (e.g., pasteurization, bottling, refrigeration), preferred.
• Strategic thinker with a hands-on approach and a passion for operational excellence, preferred.

position location:

Chicago/Webster/Coopersville

reports to : Sr Director, Plant Capital Engineering

travel requirements: 25 % or less

exempt/nonexempt: Exempt  

• Base pay offered may vary depending on geography, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. A full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position, is offered.

Base pay range:

$80,000—$90,000 USD

fairlife, LLC is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. All qualified applicants and employees will be given equal opportunity. Selection decisions are based on job-related factors.

In addition to its nondiscrimination commitment, the Company will also provide reasonable accommodation of qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the Company. If you have a disability and would like to request accommodation in order to apply for a position with us, please email [email protected] .

For Recruitment Agencies

At fairlife, we manage the majority of our hiring internally through our dedicated Talent Acquisition team, which is actively engaged in direct candidate sourcing. Most of our roles are filled through applications submitted via our careers site or through direct outreach by our team.

As our recruitment is primarily handled in-house, we work only occasionally with external agencies, and only those on our existing, pre-approved vendor list. At this time, we are not reviewing or expanding that list.

Unsolicited resumes or submissions from external agencies not authorized by our Talent Acquisition team will be considered direct candidate applications. As such, fairlife will not assume responsibility for any placement fees associated with these submissions.