Procurement Category Manager

Balchem Corp.; Montvale (NJ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and benefits package

Job summary

Balchem Corp. is seeking a Category Manager for procurement strategies and supplier stewardship in Montvale, New Jersey. This role involves defining sourcing strategies and managing stakeholder alignment to improve costs and innovation.

Candidate should have a Bachelor’s degree and at least 5 years of experience in procurement, with strong negotiation and analytical skills. The role offers a competitive salary, benefits, and room for professional growth.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of procurement experience and at least 3 years in project management.
• Strong understanding of direct category management.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Excel.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute procurement strategies that ensure supply continuity and optimize costs.
• Drive project execution and governance across sourcing initiatives.
• Manage strategic supplier relationships to enhance operational performance.

Skills

Communication skills

Leadership

Negotiation

Analytical skills

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, Finance, Operations, Business Management, or Engineering

MBA and/or CPM certification

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Word

Microsoft PowerPoint

Job description

This role develops and executes procurement strategies that drive innovation, ensures supply continuity, optimizes cost, and strengthens supplier stewardship across Balchem’s direct spend categories in the U.S. and Europe.

The Category Manager defines sourcing strategies, manages stakeholder alignment, and delivers total cost of ownership improvements through market insight, risk management, and disciplined execution.

This high-visibility role partners across business units and cross-functional teams to build a best-in-class supplier network that delivers innovation, financial improvement, and reliable supply.

Essential Functions

The manager will create an Annual Work Plan and review quarterly with their manager to ensure alignment on priorities and deliverables.

Strategy Development and Sourcing Execution

• Build stakeholder alignment around sourcing, implementation, and compliance initiatives.
• Provide market intelligence and category expertise to inform sourcing and business strategy.
• Develop and prioritize a pipeline of sourcing and value-creation projects.
• Lead sourcing events, negotiation strategies, and end-to-end supplier selection processes.
• Manage RFIs/RFPs, contracts, SLAs, and related strategic sourcing activities.
• Challenge specifications and identify innovative supply solutions that create a competitive advantage for Balchem.
• Drive project execution, governance, and progress reporting against strategy and performance goals.
• Build cost models, should-cost analyses, and make-versus-buy scenarios to improve total cost of ownership.
• Support process improvements and drive change management across the organization to elevate the impact of Procurement on Balchem business objectives.
• Regular KPI reporting to senior leadership.

Supplier Management and Capability Development

• Identify and qualify new suppliers to strengthen cost, service, and capability options.
• Manage strategic supplier relationships to improve financial and operational performance.
• Promote supplier innovation aligned with stakeholders and business goals.
• Resolve supplier performance issues affecting cost, quality, or service.
• Support supplier scorecards, KPIs, contract compliance, and performance feedback.
• Lead collaborative sessions to identify total cost of ownership reduction opportunities.

Business, R&D, and Supply Chain Partnership

• Support and communicate procurement objectives, strategies, and vision for direct materials.
• Influence business, innovation, and supply chain strategies through cross-functional leadership engagement.
• Build and advance continuous improvement and value-creation project pipelines.
• Lead supplier and raw material qualification initiatives to improve speed, resilience, and efficiency.
• Drive contract implementation, compliance, process efficiency, and executive reporting on strategy, savings, and KPIs.
• Improve cross-functional processes that accelerate new material approvals, trials, and supplier onboarding.

Tactical Procurement Support

• Maintain project documentation, tools, and templates in shared knowledge repositories.
• Track payment terms, savings, contract compliance, and other key performance metrics.
• Help mitigate supply continuity risks and resolve tactical supply issues as needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in supply chain, Finance, Operations, Business Management, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of procurement experience and at least 3 years of project management experience.
• Preferred: MBA and/or CPM certification.
• Strong understanding of direct category management; food ingredients or chemicals industry experience preferred.
• Excellent communication, leadership, negotiation, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to influence in a highly matrixed environment and clearly communicate Procurement strategy.
• Proven track record in partnering with senior leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze data, model business scenarios, and identify measurable value opportunities.
• Working knowledge of contracts, sourcing processes, and continuous improvement principles.
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; advanced Excel skills preferred.

Balchem Corporation, and its subsidiaries, offers a competitive salary and benefits package and is an Equal Opportunity Employer.