Job Description
This position can be based out of our Louisville or Bardstown offices. What the Role Is The Sourcing Category Manager is responsible for developing and executing sourcing strategies across key direct and indirect spend categories, including packaging, raw materials and co-manufacturing services. This role serves as a critical interface between suppliers, operations, quality, R&D, and commercial teams to deliver cost savings, secure supply continuity and support innovation. The Category Manager is both strategic and hands-on, requiring analytical rigor, cross-functional collaboration, and supplier relationship management expertise to ensure alignment with the organization's operational and brand priorities.
How You Will Spend Your Time? - Lead the development and execution of long-term sourcing strategies for assigned categories (e.g., glass, closures, labels, ingredients, contract packaging).
- Conduct detailed category analyses, including market trends, risk assessment, supplier capabilities, cost structures, and internal demand profiles.
- Build and maintain comprehensive category profiles, including spend data, supplier performance, contractual status, and sustainability commitments.
- Define sourcing roadmaps aligned with business goals such as cost optimization, innovation, ESG targets, and risk mitigation.
- Lead RFx processes (RFI, RFQ, RFP) and cost negotiations to achieve target savings and value objectives.
- Evaluate total cost of ownership (TCO), including freight, tariffs, minimum order quantities, and inventory holding costs.
- Collaborate with Finance, Legal, and Operations to execute contracts, pricing agreements, and service-level terms.
- Lead the centralization of procurement activities across multiple production facilities, driving consistency in sourcing practices, leveraging scale for cost efficiencies, and establishing standardized supplier management processes
- Track realized cost savings and value creation against annual sourcing targets.
- Serve as the primary relationship manager for key suppliers within the assigned category portfolio.
- Lead quarterly business reviews (QBRs) to track KPIs, service levels, innovation performance, and continuous improvement.
- Implement supplier scorecards and corrective action plans to drive accountability and alignment with strategic objectives.
- Partner with suppliers on cost-saving initiatives, lead time reduction, and quality enhancement opportunities.
- Identify and proactively mitigate sourcing risks such as single-sourcing, regulatory changes, raw material volatility, and capacity constraints.
- Lead supplier risk assessments and business continuity planning for critical supply categories.
- Support the organization's sustainability goals through supplier engagement, recyclable/renewable material strategies, and traceability programs.
- Leverage procurement and analytics platforms to enable data-driven decision-making (e.g., spend analysis, contract management, supplier portals).
- Maintain accurate and updated sourcing records, contracts, and supplier documentation.
- Contribute to the development and refinement of sourcing processes, tools, and best practices across the function.
- Collaborate with R&D, Packaging Engineering, and Brand teams to align supplier capabilities with new product development (NPD) and packaging innovation.
- Participate in early-stage design reviews to influence material selection, lead time planning, and cost modeling.
- Work with Quality and Operations to ensure suppliers meet compliance, product integrity, and production reliability standards.
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Job Tags
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