Agricultural Operations Jr. Manager

You may know McCormick as a leader in herbs, spices, seasonings, and condiments – and we’re only getting started. At McCormick, we’re always looking for new people to bring their unique flavor to our team.

McCormick employees – all 14,000 of us across the world – are what makes this company a great place to work.

We are looking to hire a Agricultural Operations Jr. Manager in a Hybrid (60/40) capacity for our site in Mexico City. This is 3 days in the office and 2 days remote.

Please submit your CV in English.

What We Bring To The Table:

The best people deserve the best rewards. In addition to the benefits, you’d expect from a global leader (health insurance, paid time off, etc.) we also offer:

• Competitive compensation
• Career growth opportunities
• Flexibility and Support for Diverse Life Stages and Choices
• We prioritize our communities and the planet we share
• Wellbeing programs including Physical, Mental and Financial wellness

McCormick & Company, Inc., a global leader in the spice, flavor, and seasonings industry, is seeking a full-time  Agricultural Operations Jr. Manager based in Chihuahua, Mexico with frequent travel to the production facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Agricultural Operations Jr. Manager will report to the Senior Agricultural Operations Manager in the Procurement Department.

McCormick & Company, Incorporated is a global leader in flavor with approximately 14,000 employees worldwide. With over $6 billion in annual sales across 160 countries and territories, we manufacture, market, and distribute spices, seasoning mixes, condiments, and other flavorful products to the entire food industry including e-commerce, retail, food manufacturers and foodservice businesses. Our most popular brands include McCormick, French's, Frank's RedHot, Stubb's, OLD BAY, Lawry's, Zatarain's, Ducros, Vahiné, Cholula, Schwartz, Kamis, DaQiao, Club House, Aeroplane, and Gourmet Garden. Every day, no matter where or what you eat or drink, you can enjoy food flavored by McCormick. Our Purpose is "To Stand Together for the Future of Flavor and our Vision is "A World United by Flavor—where healthy, sustainable and delicious go hand in hand."

As a company recognized for its exceptional commitment to employees, McCormick offers a wide variety of benefits, programs, and services. Benefits include, but are not limited to, tuition assistance, medical, dental, vision, disability, group life insurance, 401(k), profit sharing, paid holidays, and vacations.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

This is a new role at McCormick that will be responsible for executing agricultural operations of McCormick’s Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and supporting related strategic activities. Primary activities of the role will include supporting with the planning and forecast each year’s crop plan, directly contracting cayenne growers in accordance with the plan and budget; and assisting in the oversight of all aspects of grower cultivation and harvesting.  This role will also support commercial seed development activities.

The main focus of the role will be grower relationship management to include all aspects of monitoring the crop to ensure the crop hits each years’ planned forecast.  This includes providing growers with feedback and recommendations, ensuring compliance to all regulations and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), and reporting on grower pre-plant, plant, cultivation management, and harvest activities. The Agricultural Operations Manager will support harvest readiness and planning under the guidance of the Agricultural Operations Director and will work with other team members are the processing plant during harvest to coordinate grower deliveries to the plant.

Finally, this role will also support the Senior Agricultural Operations Manager and broader procurement team in the development a long-term yield improvement strategy and implementation of that strategy.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Grower Relationship Management, Grower Contracting, and Field Scouting

• Visit each potential growers’ fields prior to contracting to identify optimum fields for growing
• Take soil and water samples and oversee tracking of results and analytics
• Support the development of market intelligence and grower pricing by helping to gather and stay current on local costs of pesticides, fertilizer, irrigation equip, water quality & availability at each farm & delivery to field, farm equipment, availability & cost of labor, transportation costs & distance estimates etc.
• Gather info on processor & competitor pricing and price of competing crops
• Review existing grower contracts and recommend updates, changes and adds to develop standardization and ensure MKC goals are met
• Lead the development of a McCormick Grower Handbook for chile growers
• Meet growers regularly to build trust & rapport
• Contract acreage
• Review MKC Supplier Code of Conduct and sustainable agriculture code w/ growers and obtain signatures
• Participate in local grower / community events

2. Crop Forecasting, Planning, and Industry Participation

• Support the execution of the annual grower contracting plan
• Support yield forecasting participating in regular team meetings and providing relevant insights from the field / grower meetings and knowledge
• Support the development of related briefings to management and team members
• Participate in relevant industry boards and trade associations as approved
• Cultivate and support relationships w/R&D and University partners (NMSU especially) for program improvement thru field trials, soil health programs, and local presence / community development

3. Crop Cultivation Oversight and Reporting

• Distribute seed and transplants to growers
• Check fields for proper pre-plant practices (e.g. no plastic use for bed coverage).
• Understand and track all relevant data points and KPIs for each grower to provide accurate yield forecasting and crop improvement strategies (including and not limited to: plant dates, bed sizes, irrigation methods, date of first flowering, 1st chili pod, and date of first red pod, pod size, no. pods per plant avg., and presence of pests, disease and weather damage)
• Ensure that all seed & seedlings distributed match acres planted
• Observe & track germination rates
• Visit assigned growers / fields on determined schedule to oversee /manage crop progress
• Ensure growers are following recommended IPM, fertilization, and watering schedule and report deviations to Agricultural Operations Director.
• Provide advice and remediation according to determined MKC standards as necessary to ensure yields.
• Support / train growers on regenerative practices to support MKC claims
• Work with growers to obtain appropriate certifications and improve practices to meet standards (Minimum + future improvements to sustainable and regenerative)
• Support sustainability and marketing teams to meet growers and to gather stories to support PLP

4. Harvest Readiness & Harvest Management

• Provide relevant updates to crop forecast model and participate in regular reviews with procurement and operations team
• Train growers on appropriate harvest methods to reduce foreign material and reduce other known or identified risks
• Ensure minimum standards for social conditions are met by assigned growers (e.g. water provided for laborers, bathrooms available, documentation, fair wages etc.)
• Support the coordination of the harvest schedule and logistics to optimize delivery to mash facilities and maximum yield
• Ensure assigned growers’ actual crop is delivered to facility and best quality
• Work w/internal team to develop improved harvesting/ transition to mechanical harvesting to reduce cost and improve yield and efficiency

5. Seed Management / Commercial Seed & Varietal Development Integration

• Support seed development activities as required.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture, Agriculture Business, Ag Tech, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in contracting growers and close monitoring of cultivation and harvest activities.
• Experience in supporting and influencing farmers for continuous improvement and sustainability initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of agricultural certification schemes including FSA/SAI, Global GAAP.
• Knowledge of chile pepper cultivation for fresh harvest STRONGLY preferred.
• Knowledge, relationships, and experience in the U.S. southwest and Mexico growing regions strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated effective execution skills with some direction or oversight provided.
• Strong computer skills; primarily the ability to work effectively in MS Excel and MS PowerPoint.
• Solid organizational skills including attention to detail and multi-tasking skills.
• Proven effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Fluency in Spanish and English is a MUST.
• Valid driver’s license, passports and US visa.

As an Equal Opportunities employer, McCormick is committed to an inclusive workforce.