Buyer / Supply Chain / Procurement / Inventory

Job Title: Procurement Specialist Department: Procurement
Reports To: Senior Director of Inventory Management
Travel: Regular travel between Milwaukee facilities; Schedule: M-F 8am-5pm, 4 days on site

Rishi Tea & Botanicals is one of the fastest-growing and category-leading premium tea brands in the U.Our remarkable teas and botanicals are served in tens of thousands of premier cafés, restaurants, and hospitality destinations globally, as we partner with the most respected names in the culinary and hospitality world. Founded in 1997 by Josh Kaiser, Rishi charted a new course for the tea industry: sourcing teas and botanicals from the world’s best producers, building long-term relationships directly with farmers, and bringing exceptional quality to market without compromise and with culinary creativity. This philosophy defines our brand as both consumers and operators alike increasingly seek transparency, authenticity, and excellence.

Today, Rishi is a rapidly scaling omnichannel brand expanding across eCommerce, Away From Home, and retail with a diverse product portfolio spanning loose leaf tea, sachets, matcha, iced tea, tea concentrates, and ready-to-drink sparkling tea. Garden Direct represents the highest expression of Rishi’s sourcing expertise: ultra-small-lot teas selected directly from exceptional gardens, often harvested seasonally and produced in limited quantities. As Rishi continues to rapidly-scale and redefine the premium tea category, this is a moment to join a brand with momentum, purpose, and the ambition to shape the future of how the world experiences tea.

The Sourcing & Procurement Specialist is responsible for sourcing, purchasing, and managing packaging, promotional and other materials required to support the business. This role manages supplier relationships, pricing, purchase orders, inventory needs, production timelines, and new material development while partnering closely with Production, Marketing, Fulfillment, Quality, and Finance.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, resourceful, and comfortable managing multiple projects, suppliers, and deadlines. This individual will play an important role in ensuring materials are sourced competitively, meet quality expectations, and are available when needed to support production, promotions, and business initiatives.

Source suppliers for packaging, promotional materials, merchandise, accessories, and other business needs.

• Manage day-to-day relationships with domestic and international suppliers.
• Request, analyze, and negotiate pricing, minimum order quantities, lead times, payment terms, and other commercial requirements.
• Monitor and address supplier performance and proactively address pricing, quality, delivery, and service concerns.
• Identify alternative suppliers and sourcing opportunities to mitigate supply risk and improve cost competitiveness.
• Partner with Operations and Marketing on packaging requirements, changes, and new product launches. Coordinate packaging samples, specifications, approvals, and production timelines.
• Participate in new product launches, packaging changes, promotional campaigns, and special projects.
• Help establish realistic timelines for sourcing, production, and delivery.
• Monitor packaging inventory and purchasing requirements based on forecasts, production needs, and minimum order quantities.
• Communicate procurement timelines, supply risks, cost changes, and project status.
• Identify opportunities to reduce packaging costs, improve efficiencies, and minimize excess or obsolete inventory.
• Create and manage purchase orders for packaging, promotional materials, and other assigned materials.
• Track open purchase orders and maintain accurate delivery dates. Responsible for being aware of and following all food safety protocols as required by Rishi Tea's food safety management system, as they relate to this position
• Source quality goods or services at an acceptable cost and timeline that meet the organization’s needs
• Maintain up to date Purchasing transactions; Seamless transactional experience from Procurement to Accounts Payable
• Operations, Procurement, Inventory Management – the Procurement Specialist is a member of the Procurement team and will spend most of their time and activity working alongside this team and the broader Operations team.
• Marketing – Weekly meetings to partner on initiatives, assist with sourcing, sampling and launching of projects
• Compliance – Partnering for quality concerns as a liaison between supplier and Rishi.
• Accounting – The liaison between the supplier and Rishi cash flow for approval of invoice

2+ years of sourcing, procurement, purchasing, supply chain or a related field

• Understand financial impact of inventory transactions
• Strong organization skills with the ability to prioritize multiple projects and adapt to changing deadlines
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and purchasing/inventory systems
• Experience working with packaging manufacturers and print suppliers

Experience working with domestic and international suppliers
Creative Solutions – is open to and offers new ideas and ways of accomplishing goals; Always Seeking – is familiar with, and where applicable, the subject matter expert, for their functional area and is familiar with the methods, practices and equipment needed to be successful; maintains an up to date understanding of their field including understanding of industry, competitors, regulations, advancements in tech, etc.; Best in Class – puts forth the most accurate, presentable and complete work possible and has a clear level of pride in the quality of work produced; consistently meets or exceeds goals, KPIs and performance targets; shows a willingness to accept supervision and feedback in order to improve; shows a concern for food and people safety in their day to day decision making.