Senior Buyer

The Senior Buyer, Contracted Ingredients leads procurement of the company's highest-volume, highest-dollar raw materials, including proteins, flours, oils, and other key ingredients, across two production locations. This role owns category strategy, supplier negotiations, contract management, and day-to-day purchasing execution for assigned categories. The Senior Buyer is also accountable for inventory management, end-of-month reconciliation, and the financial accuracy of their raw material positions.

Working closely with R&D, Production, Logistics, QA, and Finance, this role applies data-driven analysis and commodity market insight to optimize total cost of ownership, mitigate price and supply risk, and maintain 100% in-stock support for production demand. This is an onsite role, five days per week, reporting to the Senior Director of Purchasing.

• Own and execute procurement strategy for assigned categories of contracted raw materials, including proteins, flours, oils, and other high-value ingredients
• Source, negotiate, and execute contracts for all assigned materials across both production locations
• Develop and maintain a forward-looking buying calendar that accounts for production demand, lead times, contract windows, and commodity market cycles
• Actively pursue price reduction, cost avoidance, and total cost of ownership improvements across all managed categories
• Monitor commodity markets daily and apply market intelligence to purchasing decisions, contract timing, and risk mitigation
• Support SKU rationalization initiatives by evaluating ingredient overlap and identifying consolidation opportunities with R&D
• Travel to relevant trade shows and supplier sites as needed (approximately 10% travel)

• Place purchase orders and transfer orders? daily in Aptean ERP to support production schedules across both facilities
• Confirm order acknowledgments, delivery windows, and pricing accuracy with suppliers before each order is finalized
• Coordinate inbound delivery timing with the logistics and production teams to protect dock capacity and minimize raw material gaps
• Manage order amendments, cancellations, and expedites as supply or demand conditions change
• Maintain clean and complete PO documentation for audit readiness and financial accuracy

• Review on-hand inventory levels daily across both facilities and 3PL locations to ensure 100% in-stock support for production requirements
• Maintain raw material safety stock levels by category based on lead time, demand variability, and supplier reliability
• Monitor and manage slow-moving, aged, or at-risk inventory and elevate proactively before it creates write-off exposure
• Use data analytics and ERP reporting to balance physical inventory levels against financial targets, minimizing both stockouts and excess carrying cost
• Coordinate with the warehouse and production teams on cycle counts, physical inventory discrepancies, and receiving accuracy
• Manage ingredient lot tracking and expiration visibility to minimize waste and support FIFO execution

• Lead end-of-month close activities for all assigned raw material categories, including PO accruals, receipt reconciliation, and vendor statement review
• Reconcile purchase orders against invoices and receipts to ensure accurate cost of goods posting in Aptean ERP
• Investigate and resolve price variances, quantity discrepancies, and invoice disputes before month-end close deadlines
• Provide monthly category spend reports, contract utilization summaries, and cost vs. forecast variance analysis to the Senior Director of Purchasing and Finance
• Support annual budget preparation by providing historical spend data, forward price projections, and category-level cost assumptions

• Develop and maintain strong supplier relationships across all assigned categories, with a focus on accountability, service level, and continuous improvement
• Lead annual and mid-year contract negotiations with key suppliers, securing favorable pricing, terms, and supply commitments
• Maintain a contract management tracker with key terms, renewal dates, pricing tiers, and performance obligations
• Identify and onboard secondary or alternative sources for critical ingredients to reduce single-source supply risk
• Evaluate supplier performance against agreed KPIs and address underperformance with corrective action plans
• Support QA in qualifying new suppliers and new ingredients in compliance with food safety and regulatory requirements

• Work closely with R&D on new product introductions, ingredient substitutions, and formulation changes that impact procurement strategy
• Partner with Production and Planning to align purchase timing with production schedules and minimize raw material idle time
• Collaborate with Logistics on inbound freight strategy, import coordination, and landed cost…