Category Specialist Leader - Erlanger, KY

Archer Daniels Midland•Erlanger, KY

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Procurement Category Specialist Leader is a key role within Procurement, reporting to the NA Sr. Manager of Supplier Documentation Governance. The role leads raw material approval activities supporting North America Human Nutrition including a focus on the Colors business. Responsibilities include the acceleration of raw material approval by ensuring timely and accurate supplier documentation, setting priorities, achieving goals, and resolving escalations. This position collaborates closely with cross functional entities including Quality, Regulatory, Operations and external suppliers while promoting consistent processes, compliance and strong execution across the business.

Requirements

4-year University degree in a business-related field (e.g. Supply Chain, Management, or Data Analytics) or equivalent experience.
5+ years in procurement, project management, supply chain or equivalent experience.
Demonstrated capacity to excel in a fast-paced, multi-task work environment
Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills
Proven ability to manage effectively within a team-based work environment
Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with suppliers and internal stakeholders & colleagues
Highly proficient in computer processes, Microsoft Office tools including Word, Excel, Teams, and Outlook.

Nice To Haves

Experience with AS400, SharePoint, and Power Bi a plus.

Responsibilities

New Vendor/Raw Material, Second Source and New/Revised Formula Raw Material Workflows from initiation to completion.
Manage Workflow process in AS400 (system) to ensure timely POs for customer launches.
Drive excellence in raw material category specialist priorities, escalating as needed for resolution, responding to internal customer inquiries, and providing regular status updates.
Coordinate documentation collection, review, management and workflow completion among cross-functional teams (e.g. R&D, Regulatory, and Quality).
Lead cross-functional Raw Material Workflow Priority meetings.
Identify and implement continuous improvements to minimize timelines from commencement to close.
Raw Material Inactivation and Mass Replacement workflows for all approval stages.
Vendor/supplier set-up and name/address and/or distributor change workflows and AS400 vendor file maintenance.
Utilize workflow tracking mechanisms to measure speed of workflow completion and bottlenecks.
Lead, upload and maintain all related raw material document databases (including Open Text and Trace Gains or similar data base) for NA Nutrition Sites.
Request, manage, and track samples as needed for QC workflow review and approval.
Raw material scouting and sourcing (RFX process) support when required, delivering options for new innovation or replacement raw materials.
Lead and manage procurement support for sales requests.
Support category management when necessary.