Senior Procurement Category Manager, Specialty Flavors

Senior Procurement Category Manager, Specialty Flavors

HUNT VALLEY, MD, US, 21031 Geneva, IL, US, 60134

You may know McCormick as a leader in herbs, spices, seasonings, and condiments – and we're only getting started. At McCormick, we're always looking for new people to bring their unique flavor to our team. McCormick employees – all 14,000 of us across the world – are what makes this company a great place to work. We are looking to hire a Senior Procurement Category Manager, Specialty Flavors immediately in a Hybrid (50/50) capacity at our Global Headquarters in Hunt Valley, MD or at the McCormick Flavor Solutions site in Geneva, IL.

The best people deserve the best rewards. In addition to the benefits you'd expect from a global leader (401k, health insurance, paid time off, etc.) we also offer:

• Competitive compensation
• Career growth opportunities
• Flexibility and support for diverse life stages and choices

Position Overview

The Senior Procurement Category Manager, Specialty Flavors is responsible for developing and executing procurement strategies for assigned categories. This role leads sourcing, supplier relationship management, negotiations, risk mitigation, and value delivery for categories in scope. The role partners closely with R&D, Product Development, Quality, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Commercial, Finance, and regional procurement teams to ensure supply continuity, competitive total cost of ownership, supplier performance, innovation support, and compliance with McCormick quality and business requirements.

This position is an individual contributor role with significant cross-functional leadership responsibility. The role may lead project teams, supplier initiatives, and category work streams, but does not have direct people management accountability unless otherwise assigned.

Category Strategy, Supplier Management, and Value Delivery

• Lead the development and execution of procurement strategies, including supplier selection, negotiations, contracting, supplier relationship management, and performance improvement.
• Deliver value through total cost of ownership optimization, cost savings, supply continuity, supplier rationalization, innovation support, quality and service performance, and risk mitigation.
• Partner with internal stakeholders and suppliers to ensure solutions meet business, technical, quality, regulatory, and commercial requirements.

Cross-Functional Business Partnership

• Partner with R&D, Product Development, Quality, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Commercial, Finance, and regional teams to support new product development, reformulation, supplier qualification, specification alignment, service recovery, and business continuity needs.

Market Intelligence, Risk Management, and Supply Continuity

• Develop and document market, supplier, raw material, and supply chain insights.
• Monitor market trends, supply risks, capacity constraints, geopolitical impacts, regulatory changes, and supplier financial or operational risk.
• Recommend mitigation plans, including alternative sources and contingency strategies.

Financial Planning, Forecasting, and Governance

• Support budgeting, standard cost setting, price variance analysis, savings tracking, reporting, and category governance.
• Provide clear explanations of cost drivers, inflation, deflation, and supplier pricing changes to stakeholders.

• Establishes and executes strategies for their categories globally.
• Leads supplier business reviews and supports performance management strategies to assure optimal value delivery across key metrics.
• Participate and lead change management efforts while creating true alignment & integration internally and externally.
• Act as an internal subject matter expert for assigned categories.

Bachelor's Degree in Supply Chain, Business, Finance, Accounting or applicable field of study required Minimum of 8 years of experience in Procurement, Supply Chain, Strategic Sourcing, Category Management, or a related business function. Experience managing direct materials, food ingredients, flavors, seasonings, extracts, specialty ingredients, or other technically complex…