Senior Commercial Procurement Category Manager - Direct Materials & Innovation

Senior Commercial Procurement Category Manager – Direct Materials & Innovation

Glanbia  

Join this dynamic team focused on delivering better nutrition for every step of life’s journey 

The Opportunity 

The Senior Commercial Procurement Category Manager is responsible for the end-to-end strategy, value creation, and innovation enablement across strategically critical ingredients and pre-mix direct material categories. This role serves as a strategic business partner to R&D, Operations, Commercial, Product Strategic Management (PSM), and Finance—delivering competitive advantage through supply market intelligence, supplier innovation, total cost leadership, and speed-to-market enablement.

Essential Functions

Category Strategy & Value Roadmap

• Develop and execute multi-year category strategies aligned to enterprise growth objectives.
• Build and manage value creation roadmaps (cost savings, avoidance, innovation, working capital, resilience).
• Serve as Regional or Global Category Owner as assigned.
• Deliver measurable procurement value contribution.

Innovation & New Product Enablement

• Embed procurement into the product development lifecycle.
• Enable rapid sourcing solutions for new product launches.
• Partner with R&D to identify innovative suppliers and emerging technologies.
• Reduce commercialization cycle time through proactive supplier engagement.

Total Cost & Financial Leadership

• Develop should-cost and total cost of ownership models.
• Lead complex negotiations and contracting strategies.
• Model make-vs-buy and scenario-based cost analysis.
• Drive transparent savings tracking and benefit realization.

Supplier Ecosystem Leadership

• Act as Supplier Relationship Owner for strategic suppliers.
• Lead quarterly and annual executive supplier reviews.
• Drive joint innovation and cost-reduction initiatives.
• Establish KPIs, scorecards, and performance governance.

Risk & Supply Assurance

• Monitor global market trends and commodity risks.
• Develop risk mitigation and dual-sourcing strategies.
• Lead business continuity planning within category.

Procurement Governance & Process Leadership

• Lead end-to-end sourcing events (RFI/RFQ/RFP).
• Ensure compliance with procurement policies and contracting standards.
• Own or co-own major Procurement Work Processes.
• Drive continuous improvement in sourcing methodologies.

Cross-Functional & Executive Partnership

• Build alignment across Operations, Finance, R&D, Quality, and Commercial teams.
• Present strategy and value outcomes to senior leadership.
• Influence decision-making in a matrixed global organization.

People Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead and develop a team of sourcing professionals.
• Shape organization design and resource allocation.
• Drive talent development and succession planning.

Commercial Liaison

• Own relationship between Commercial/PSM and Category.
• Lead Customer RFP pricing responsibilities.
• Prepare and present market intelligence reports to Commercial/PSM.
• Support Traded division with market pricing and portfolio building opportunities. 

The Skills you will bring to the team

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, Finance, or related field.

• 7+ years progressive strategic procurement experience in food, ingredient, or FMCG industry.
• 3+ years leading complex cross-functional projects.
• MBA or CPSM/CPM certification preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in innovation sourcing and category strategy ownership.

Where and how you will work  

The opportunity will be based in West Haven, CT or remote.

Compensation

Compensation for roles at Glanbia varies depending on a wide range of factors including but not limited to the specific office location, role, skill set and level of experience.  Glanbia provides a reasonable range of compensation for roles that may be hired in IL. This range may not be applicable to other locations. Factors that could be used to determine your actual salary may include your specific skills, years of experience and comparison to current employees already in this role. The typical candidate is hired below midpoint of the range.  The annual salary for this role is $145,000 - $170,000 with an annual bonus.      

What we would like to offer you!  

The opportunity to develop your career on a global stage, continuous learning through an on-demand learning platform, and a competitive compensation package including staff discounts, generous family leave policy, health & dental plan, competitive salary, 401K.  

About Glanbia  

Glanbia is a better nutrition company with three divisions: Performance Nutrition, Health & Nutrition and Dairy Nutrition. Collectively and with our partners we offer an incredible breadth of expertise in nutrition. We employ a team of 5800 people, work with global food and beverage companies, and sell our award-winning and market-leading brands and ingredients in more than 100 countries worldwide

At Glanbia, we celebrate diversity, because we know that our individual strengths make us stronger together. We welcome and encourage interest from a variety of candidates, we will give your application consideration, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status.

At Glanbia, our culture celebrates individuality, knowing that together we are more.