Global Category Manager Colors NPD Innovation and Supplier Development

Global Category Manager Colors NPD Innovation and Supplier Development - Erlanger, KY
This is an exempt level position.

Position Summary:
The Global Category Manager – Colors, New Product Development, Innovation & Supplier Development builds and advances the global supplier strategy required to support growth, risk management, innovation, and new product commercialization within the Colors business. This role serves as the procurement lead for supplier-enabled innovation, new and alternate raw material development. Reporting to the Global Procurement Color Leader, the successful candidate will work closely with R&D, Regulatory, Quality, and Commercial teams to ensure the business has access to the right suppliers, technologies, and capabilities to support new product development and long-term growth.

Job Responsibilities:

• Serve as the procurement lead for new product development initiatives related to natural colors, partnering with R&D, Commercial, Regulatory, and Quality to identify supplier solutions for innovation and customer projects
• Build a global supplier development roadmap, identifying suppliers with unique technologies, crop access, and processing capabilities that support the Colors innovation pipeline
• Own the strategic supplier relationship and onboarding process
• Map supplier capabilities across natural color sources (red radish, purple sweet potato, paprika, turmeric, beetroot, purple carrot, spirulina, carmine, and others) and identify emerging technologies and alternate raw material sources
• Develop new suppliers and second-source alternatives for new and existing color raw materials to strengthen supply resilience
• Lead supplier qualification, sourcing events, negotiations, and onboarding for new and innovative color raw materials
• Serve as the primary escalation point for supplier-related issues that could delay innovation, approval, or launch timing, driving resolution with internal teams
• Identify supply, quality, and regulatory risks associated with new and existing suppliers, and build risk mitigation plans across both innovation projects and standard-product supply
• Act as a key liaison between Procurement, R&D, Regulatory, Quality, and Commercial on innovation and supplier development priorities
• Provide clear updates to leadership on supplier development progress, risk mitigation status, and commercialization readiness

Required Skills:

• Knowledge of natural colors, specialty ingredients, or agricultural-based raw materials
• Strong understanding of new product development, supplier qualification, and commercialization processes
• Strong supplier relationship management skills
• Strong executive communication skills with the ability to present clear recommendations to leadership

Education Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Procurement, Business, Food Science, Agriculture, Agribusiness, Chemistry, or a related field is required. An advanced degree in Business, Supply Chain, Food Science, or Agriculture is preferred.

Required Experience:

• 10 years of experience in procurement, strategic sourcing, supplier development, or food/natural ingredients
• Strong preference for direct experience in the natural colors or food ingredient industry, or with a color house, ingredient supplier, or processor
• Proven experience supporting new product development, supplier qualification, and commercialization

Additional information:

• Ability to travel globally, up to 30%, to meet with suppliers, processors, and technical teams. Relocation assistance is available with this position.

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:111581BR