Senior Ingredient Procurement Strategist

Perdue Farms Inc.; Salisbury (MD); On-site; USD 128,000 - 192,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Rx

401(k) with employer match after 1 yr

Critical illness

Accident insurance

Dental

Vision

Life insurance

Short-term disability protection

Long-term disability protection

Flexible spending accounts

Paid time off

Job summary

Perdue Foods is seeking a Senior Category Manager, Ingredients Procurement to lead category strategies and supplier partnerships across key ingredient areas. You will drive savings, improve performance metrics, and align procurement with R&D and Marketing initiatives.

In this role, you will oversee complex sourcing events, manage contracts, and mentor procurement talent while ensuring compliance and risk mitigation. Strong collaboration across functions is essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in procurement, sourcing, or category management.
• 3–5 years in ingredient procurement.
• Proven negotiations, RFx management, and contract execution.
• Cross-functional collaboration with operations, finance, and legal.
• Advanced proficiency in ERP and SAP Ariba.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and execution of long-term ingredient category strategies and savings plans.
• Perform advanced spend analysis, market research, and benchmarking.
• Drive supplier performance improvement through KPIs and reviews.
• Lead complex sourcing events (RFIs, RFPs, auctions) for ingredient categories.
• Develop and implement innovative sourcing solutions to meet evolving needs.
• Negotiate contracts with ingredient suppliers to create value for Perdue.
• Partner cross-functionally with R&D and Marketing on strategies, innovation, optimization.
• Standardize sourcing templates and tools with Procurement CoE.
• Ensure contracts meet standards.
• Track contract milestones and renewals.
• Act as primary contact for ingredient suppliers.
• Monitor and resolve supplier performance issues and lead development.
• Identify and mitigate supply risks.
• Adhere to procurement policies and workflows.
• Lead high-profile or complex sourcing projects.
• Champion process improvements and best practice adoption.
• Lead knowledge-sharing and capability building across procurement.
• Support talent development within the function.

Skills

Procurement leadership

Sourcing strategy

Contract negotiations

RFx management

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

SAP Ariba

Job description

Perdue Foods is seeking a Senior Category Manager, Ingredients Procurement to lead category strategies and supplier partnerships across key ingredient areas. You will drive savings, improve performance metrics, and align procurement with R&D and Marketing initiatives.

In this role, you will oversee complex sourcing events, manage contracts, and mentor procurement talent while ensuring compliance and risk mitigation. Strong collaboration across functions is essential.