Purchasing Category Manager

Reser's Fine Foods - Corporate offices
15570 SW Jenkins Rd
Beaverton, OR 97006, USA

Benefits and Culture

We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package designed to help employees live a healthier life, build rewarding careers and save for the future. Reser’s offers choices whenever possible, because we recognize the diverse and ever-changing needs of our employees. Full-time employee benefits include medical, dental, vision, AD&D, life, 401(k) with discretionary match, wellness programs, paid time off, company paid holidays and a variety of voluntary benefit options.

We strive to be Employer of Choice. As one of our five cornerstones, this means that we go all-out to create an environment that shows we are committed to investing in employee growth and creating a culture of belonging where employees what to build a lasting career.

Visit our website to learn more about our competitive benefit programs –

Reser’s Fine Foods – Job Description

Title:

Category Manager
- Purchasing FLSA Status:
Exempt

Location:

Corporate Job Family:
Purchasing

Reports to:

Director
- Purchasing Career Track/Level: P3

Job Summary:

The Category Manager is responsible for developing, sourcing, negotiating, and managing assigned ingredient categories that support Reser's procurement, food safety, product development, and manufacturing strategies. This role leads domestic and international ingredient sourcing efforts, evaluates supplier capability and risk, supports R&D and commercialization projects, and ensures reliable supply, competitive cost, compliant documentation, and consistent material performance across Reser's facilities. The position requires strong supplier management, assertive negotiation, project ownership, forecasting discipline, and the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced corporate food manufacturing environment.

• Develop and execute sourcing strategies for assigned ingredient categories, including domestic and international suppliers, brokers, importers, and manufacturers.
• Identify, evaluate, qualify, and onboard new and alternate ingredient suppliers to support cost savings, innovation, business continuity, risk mitigation, and supply assurance.
• Partner closely with R&D, Food Safety, Regulatory, Quality, Operations, Plant Purchasing, Commercialization, and suppliers to source ingredients that meet product performance, food safety, labeling, compliance, specification, and production requirements.
• Lead supplier discovery, RFQs, RFPs, bid analysis, supplier comparisons, and award recommendations using cost, quality, service, risk, lead time, capacity, documentation, and total value as decision criteria.
• Negotiate pricing, contracts, payment terms, freight terms, lead times, minimum order quantities, stocking agreements, service expectations, claims, and cost-change requests in a firm, professional, and fact-based manner.
• Provide category forecasts, usage projections, market updates, price-change recommendations, and supply risk assessments to support planning, budgeting, inventory management, and supplier communication.
• Monitor global and domestic market conditions, tariffs, crop conditions, commodity trends, transportation constraints, regulatory changes, and supplier capacity risks that may impact cost, availability, or continuity of supply.
• Manage supplier performance through regular review of service levels, quality performance, documentation compliance, delivery reliability, responsiveness, corrective actions, and contract adherence.
• Coordinate supplier documentation and ingredient approval activities, including specifications, nutritional information, allergens, country of origin, Prop 65 statements, certificates of insurance, letters of guarantee, audits, and other required compliance documents.
• Support Food Safety and Regulatory requirements by ensuring suppliers provide complete, accurate, and timely documentation and by escalating food safety, quality, or compliance gaps when identified.
• Lead or support cross-functional projects tied to new product development, alternate supplier qualification, ingredient reformulation, cost savings, discontinuations,…