Africa Packaging, Labels and Direct Materials Planner

SOKIFY JOBS LISTING Position: Africa Packaging, Labels and Direct Materials Planner Company: Bayer Location: Kenya About the Role: Bayer is seeking a strategic and detail-oriented professional to join the Africa Regional Center Supply Planning team as the Africa Packaging, Labels and Direct Materials Planner. In this pivotal role, you will serve as the central coordinator ensuring seamless planning, execution and optimization of labels, packaging and direct materials across the African region. This position offers the opportunity to make a tangible impact within a globally recognized organization committed to solving critical challenges in health and agriculture. Key Responsibilities: Labels and Packaging Materials You will lead cross-functional initiatives bringing together teams from Regulatory, Legal, Marketing, Portfolio Management, Commercial, Import & Export Governance, Procurement and Manufacturing to conduct comprehensive seasonal reviews of label and packaging materials. Your role will ensure alignment with long-term portfolio strategies and brand guidelines while maintaining regular updates that reflect evolving commercial demand. You will manage the approval workflow across stakeholders, maintain accurate version control of labels and packaging materials, and establish an organized repository with current documentation and proper archiving protocols. Your oversight will extend to supplier and plant execution, identifying and escalating any risks that could impact production timelines or customer deliveries. You will drive consistency and standardization of processes and designs across commercial crops, trials and foundation seeds, while collaborating with the EMEA Label & Packaging Planner to identify regional synergies and best practice opportunities. Additionally, you will partner with plant operations teams to assess improvements for packaging, printing and labeling lines, supporting the implementation of system harmonization and new technologies across the region. Direct Materials Management You will maintain continuous visibility of production plans to guarantee direct materials availability and manage the critical balance between maintaining optimal inventory levels while minimizing stock-out risks and write-off exposure. Your responsibilities include steering direct materials sourcing strategies and ensuring real-time inventory transparency across all Bayer and third-party tolling facilities. You will support the development and implementation of structured forecasting and in-sourcing processes, coordinating between Seeds and Crop Protection planning teams to secure adequate supply of Bayer seed growth products for manufacturing sites. Working alongside the EMEA Direct Materials Planner, you will identify regional best practice opportunities and collaborate with Seed Applied Solution teams and planning groups across Europe and Africa to facilitate testing, industrialization and successful launch of new seed treatments. Your supplier relationship management efforts will focus on driving continuous improvement in performance, agility and supply security. You will contribute to defining formal processes for intercompany direct materials purchases in collaboration with regulatory, trade and compliance teams to enable efficient chemical transfers between sites during emergencies. You will also support regional optimization initiatives aimed at cost reduction and standardization of direct materials management across EMEA, including implementation of just-in-time automated sourcing for seeds sites and tollers. Required Qualifications: Bachelor's degree or Master's degree, or equivalent professional qualification, ideally with specialization in Supply Chain Management or Logistics. You must have a minimum of seven years of professional experience in Planning, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing or Cost Analysis Accounting roles. Essential Competencies: Strong business partnering capabilities with demonstrated ability to influence decision-making within cross-functional team environments. You should demonstrate analytical thinking, complexity management skills and results-oriented execution. Excellent communication abilities, strong organizational skills, personal integrity and proven influencing capabilities are essential. Fluency in English is required. Reference Code: 870275 Division: Crop Science Commitment to Inclusion: Bayer welcomes applications from individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of race, national origin, gender, age, physical characteristics, social origin, disability status, union membership, religion, family status or pregnancy status. Reasonable accommodations are available to support participation in the application and interview process. For accommodation requests, contact nicole.gien.ext@bayer.com.