Global Category Manager Bioactives - Kennesaw, GA

Global Category Manager Bioactives - Kennesaw, GA

Job Purpose: (short summary of the role)

The Global Category Manager - Bioactives is accountable for defining and executing the global sourcing and category strategy for bioactive ingredients, ensuring security of supply, competitive cost structures, regulatory compliance, innovation enablement, and risk resilience across the end‑to‑end value chain.

The role exists to maximize long‑term total value by balancing:

• Supplier innovation and technical capability
• Regulatory, quality, and sustainability requirements
• Cost competitiveness and cash impact
• Supply continuity in volatile and capacity‑constrained markets

Main Responsibilities: (8-10 key responsibilities)

• Define and lead the global category strategy for Bioactives, aligned with business growth, innovation priorities, and long‑term supply resilience.
• Shape and manage the global supplier landscape, including supplier selection, qualification, consolidation, and strategic partnerships.
• Lead global commercial negotiations and contracting, delivering sustainable value through optimized total cost of ownership and risk management.
• Ensure uninterrupted supply for critical bioactives by eliminating single‑source dependencies and implementing approved mitigation plans for high‑risk materials
• Act as a key business partner to R&D, Quality, Regulatory, and Operations, enabling innovation while ensuring compliant and scalable sourcing solutions.
• Own delivery of category value targets across cost, margin, cash, and risk, with full accountability for gap‑closing actions.
• Monitor global markets, technologies, and regulatory trends to anticipate structural shifts and emerging sourcing opportunities.
• Drive supplier performance and relationship management (SRM), including quality, service, innovation contribution, and sustainability.
• Establish and enforce global category governance, standards, and decision frameworks across regions.

Skills & Abilities: (Languages, computer skills etc.)

Core (Must‑Have)

• Global category strategy & execution in complex, regulated ingredient environments.
• Senior stakeholder influence across R&D, Quality, Regulatory, Operations, and Finance.
• Advanced negotiation & contracting, including long‑term agreements, risk allocation, and TCO.
• Supplier & risk management: supply continuity, capacity, regulatory, and geopolitical exposure.

Advanced (Strong Differentiators)

• Strategic SRM leadership, building partnerships that deliver innovation, resilience, and performance.
• Analytical decision‑making, structuring ambiguity and using data to drive trade‑offs and outcomes.
• Market & technology sensing, anticipating structural shifts and sourcing implications.

Future‑Ready (Highly Desirable)

• AI‑enabled procurement capability, leveraging AI and advanced analytics for spend insights, market research, supplier risk sensing, and opportunity identification.
• Digital fluency, translating procurement systems and data into business impact.
• Transformation mindset, driving new ways of working across digitalization, ESG, and portfolio simplification.

Education

• Bachelor's degree required in Food Sciences, Engineering, Chemistry, Life Sciences, or a related field.
• Master's degree (MBA or equivalent) strongly preferred.
• Formal training or certification in Strategic Procurement / Category Management is a plus.

Experience

• 8-10+ years of progressive experience in strategic procurement and global category management.
• Proven track record managing complex, high‑value ingredient or technology‑driven categories in regulated environments (e.g., nutrition, pharma, specialty chemicals, food ingredients, biotech).
• Demonstrated success in defining and executing global category strategies, leading global negotiations and long‑term supplier agreements, and delivering sustainable value beyond price (cost, margin, cash, risk)
• Experience working closely with R&D, Quality, Regulatory, and Operations in innovation‑driven contexts.
• Exposure to digital procurement tools and AI‑enabled analytics for spend analysis, forecasting, or risk sensing is highly desirable.
• Experience operating in global, matrix organizations with senior stakeholder interaction.

Excited about this role but don't think you meet every requirement listed? We encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings.

ADM requires the successful completion of a background check.

REF:107144BR