Category Buyer

• Department: Procurement
• Reports to: Ingredients Procurement Director
• Location: Irwindale

Make a greater impact at Bonduelle Americas!

Bonduelle Americas is a certified B Corp inviting people to embrace a flexitarian lifestyle with an expanding portfolio of plant-rich products available in and beyond the produce aisle. We operate four facilities and employ nearly 3,000 Associates in the US.


Bonduelle Americas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Groupe Bonduelle (BON.PA), an established global brand with more than 170 years of family heritage bringing the joy of plants to tables around the world. Globally, our ready-to-eat plant-rich food products are grown on 173,000 acres by our grower partners and marketed in nearly 100 countries. Our mission is to inspire the transition toward a plant-rich diet to contribute to people's well-being and planet health.


Join us at Bonduelle Americas for an opportunity to advance your career in a culture that places people first. As a valued member of our company, you will work in a mission-driven environment aimed at preserving the planet's resources while providing healthy plant-based products to millions of consumers around the world.

Position Summary:

The category Buyer will be accountable for the creation, implementation, management, and performance of sourcing strategies for ingredients categories.


He/she will assess, select and develop strategic suppliers to improve cost structure, risk management and performance goals while leveraging the business stakeholders and suppliers collaboration platforms. You will be directly responsible for the sourcing decisions, the cost analytics and negotiations, the contracting excellence and the supplier relationship management.


This role will support our environmental and social initiatives to drive progress against our corporate social responsibility and B Corp ambitions.


Key Responsibilities:

• Set ambitious vision and objectives in competitiveness, innovation and sustainability to reach and develop procurement categories Strategy for the company
• Understand needs, brands strategies and business priorities linked to his or her packaging categories.
• Build and share market analysis taking into account brands and business priorities.
• Select & validate suppliers /Optimize suppliers portfolio according to strategy and negotiate contracts and supply agreements & ensure implementation
• Guaranty category performance: risk management, suppliers capacity, quality, Total Cost, security of supply, sustainability program...
• Manage and enhance the overall performance of Procurement through effective relationships and communication with key stakeholders.
• Ensure effective relationships with suppliers (SRM): ensure fundamentals in place (Safety, Legal, Quality and Environmental compliance), drive growth and capture innovation through collaboration, managing suppliers risk to ensure business continuity and avoid potential crisis.
• Launch Request For Quotation (RFQ), manage tenders process in coordination with Stakeholders.
• Ensure contracts and pricing agreements are in place and implemented
• Spread Cost-Out-Value-In initiatives in the procurement teams and support innovation coming from outside to inside
• Represent Procurement outside the company (purchasing and suppliers associations, etc) building effective relationships.
• Manage P&L impact of prices and predictability through Market Risk Management.
• Map & identify sustainability stakes and risks and address them in the strategy
• Leverage key connections across the broader Bonduelle Group to improve Bonduelle Americas approach to ingredients Procurement
• Manage the spend across a set of categories of Ingredients ($60M)

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Procurement, Supply Chain or any related business/ technical background in food.
• 5 years of experience with visible progression in capability and leadership in Procurement.
• Proficiency level in the specific areas of category management, strategic sourcing, risk management, fact-based decision making, decision analytics
• Demonstrated experience in analytics

Procurement Competencies
• Excellent negotiation, communication and supplier management skills
• Good networking capabilities
• Be able to interface and exert influence across multiple functions in the organization
• Ability to design and implement tenders using e-sourcing tools
• Goal & Performance oriented
• Employment of CSR governance & policies


Leadership Competencies
• Strategic agility
• Business acumen
• Autonomy
• Approachability
• Action-oriented
• Interpersonal Maturity


Main interfaces
• CPO, Operations peers
• Finance, R&D, I&D, packaging engineering, quality, HR and Marketing teams,
• Suppliers and trade associations


Key performance indicators
• Security of Business: Contracts in place, Safety & Food Safety compliance, no supply shortage, time to market, effective SRM
• CSR: Bpact compliance
• Quality & Environment contribution to Quality performance and sustainable sourcing
• Service Level : quality of services & Service Level Agreement
• Cost & Cash : contribution to cost competitiveness of Bonduelle's products
• Innovation & Development: value creation/innovation brought to Top Line