Purchasing Category Manager

Title: Category Manager- Purchasing FLSA Status: Exempt Location: Corporate Job Family: Purchasing Reports to: Director- Purchasing Career Track/Level: P3 Job Summary: The Category Manager is responsible for developing, sourcing, negotiating, and managing assigned ingredient categories that support Reser's procurement, food safety, product development, and manufacturing strategies. This role leads domestic and international ingredient sourcing efforts, evaluates supplier capability and risk, supports R&D and commercialization projects, and ensures reliable supply, competitive cost, compliant documentation, and consistent material performance across Reser's facilities. The position requires strong supplier management, assertive negotiation, project ownership, forecasting discipline, and the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced corporate food manufacturing environment. Essential Position Functions: • Develop and execute sourcing strategies for assigned ingredient categories, including domestic and international suppliers, brokers, importers, and manufacturers. • Identify, evaluate, qualify, and onboard new and alternate ingredient suppliers to support cost savings, innovation, business continuity, risk mitigation, and supply assurance. • Partner closely with R&D, Food Safety, Regulatory, Quality, Operations, Plant Purchasing, Commercialization, and suppliers to source ingredients that meet product performance, food safety, labeling, compliance, specification, and production requirements. • Lead supplier discovery, RFQs, RFPs, bid analysis, supplier comparisons, and award recommendations using cost, quality, service, risk, lead time, capacity, documentation, and total value as decision criteria. • Negotiate pricing, contracts, payment terms, freight terms, lead times, minimum order quantities, stocking agreements, service expectations, claims, and cost-change requests in a firm, professional, and fact-based manner. • Provide category forecasts, usage projections, market updates, price-change recommendations, and supply risk assessments to support planning, budgeting, inventory management, and supplier communication. • Monitor global and domestic market conditions, tariffs, crop conditions, commodity trends, transportation constraints, regulatory changes, and supplier capacity risks that may impact cost, availability, or continuity of supply. • Manage supplier performance through regular review of service levels, quality performance, documentation compliance, delivery reliability, responsiveness, corrective actions, and contract adherence. • Coordinate supplier documentation and ingredient approval activities, including specifications, nutritional information, allergens, country of origin, Prop 65 statements, certificates of insurance, letters of guarantee, audits, and other required compliance documents. • Support Food Safety and Regulatory requirements by ensuring suppliers provide complete, accurate, and timely documentation and by escalating food safety, quality, or compliance gaps when identified. • Lead or support cross-functional projects tied to new product development, alternate supplier qualification, ingredient reformulation, cost savings, discontinuations, item setup, contract updates, and plant-specific supply issues. • Maintain accurate supplier, item, pricing, quote, contract, and stocking-agreement records in applicable systems and shared tracking tools. • Partner with plant purchasing and operations teams to resolve shortages, delayed shipments, specification concerns, pricing discrepancies, MOQ issues, inventory imbalances, and urgent production needs. • Manage multiple priorities, deadlines, supplier requests, and internal project milestones while maintaining strong organization, follow-through, documentation, and communication. • Prepare clear written updates, supplier communications, analysis summaries, and recommendations for Purchasing leadership and cross-functional stakeholders. • Perform special projects and other related duties as assigned. Education and Experience: • Bachelor degree in Supply Chain, Business, Economics, Accounting, Finance, Food Science, or a related field preferred. Equivalent relevant experience may be considered. • 10 or more years of experience in purchasing, procurement, ingredient sourcing, category management, or supplier management within a corporate food manufacturing, CPG, or related environment preferred. • Experience sourcing food ingredients domestically and internationally strongly preferred. • Experience working with R&D, Food Safety, Regulatory, Quality, Operations, and plant purchasing teams strongly preferred. • Demonstrated experience negotiating supplier pricing, terms, contracts, cost changes, and service expectations. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: • Strong understanding of ingredient procurement, supplier qualification, specification management, food safety documentation, and supply risk management. • Working knowledge of FSMA, supplier approval requirements, food ingredient documentation, allergens, country-of-origin requirements, Prop 65 documentation, and common food manufacturing compliance expectations. • Ability to evaluate suppliers beyond price, including quality systems, manufacturing capability, documentation readiness, capacity, lead time, service reliability, financial risk, and supply chain resiliency. • Strong negotiation skills with the confidence and assertiveness to challenge unsupported price increases, protect company interests, and drive mutually beneficial supplier outcomes. • Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret pricing, consumption, inventory, market conditions, volume forecasts, supplier proposals, and total cost of ownership. • Ability to provide practical forecasts and supplier planning information based on usage history, business outlook, seasonality, lead times, contract positions, and known market risks. • Excellent project management skills, including prioritization, deadline management, cross-functional coordination, follow-through, and escalation of risks or roadblocks. • Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple categories, suppliers, projects, requests, and urgent issues without losing accuracy or accountability. • Clear and professional written and verbal communication skills with suppliers, internal stakeholders, plant teams, and leadership. • Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment, adapt to changing priorities, and make sound decisions under pressure. • Strong PC skills, including Microsoft Excel, Word, Outlook, Teams, and experience using ERP, procurement, contract, supplier documentation, or item master systems. Experience with M3, FoodLogiQ, or similar systems preferred. • Sound business judgment, ownership mindset, persistence, confidentiality, and professionalism. Physical Demands and Working Conditions: • Office environment. • Repetitive hand, wrist and finger activities. • Ability to travel approximately 5% of the time. Exempt only: This position is eligible for a bonus based on company goals/performance.