Senior Sourcing Specialist

Morton Salt is an iconic company with a strong heritage and a bright future. Since 1848, we have been improving lives and enhancing everyday moments-at home, at work, and virtually everywhere in between. We help unlock the flavors in food, make roads and sidewalks safer, improve the water in baths, pools, and homes, and keep businesses and industries running. We are a dedicated team who constantly strives to do better together, and we are passionate about building a sustainable future for our company, the communities in which we operate, and the world around us. By joining our team, you will contribute to producing and delivering every form of salt that enhances everyday life.

Job Summary

The Senior Sourcing Specialist is responsible for creating and driving strategic sourcing strategies for the procurement of packaging materials, focusing on paper products such as multiwall paper bags and corrugate in a centralized procurement environment. The Senior Sourcing Specialist collaborates with multiple business units to develop and execute optimal sourcing strategies, mitigate risk, support commercialization of new products/innovation, and meet Morton Salt business objectives. As a strategic business partner, this role routinely interfaces with various functional teams to understand customer needs, influence outcomes, and drive results to achieve customer satisfaction. This position also identifies and drives opportunities for continuous improvement of procurement processes throughout the organization and provides expertise to leadership in planning and implementing procurement strategies to achieve business goals and objectives.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead the creation and implementation of sourcing and demand management strategies for assigned categories of spend (mainly paper bags and corrugate). Manage the development of RFx documents. Prepare detailed analyses of proposals and vendor capabilities and achieve stakeholder alignment on sourcing strategy and supplier selection. Leverage key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify areas for process and strategy improvements to achieve best practices in assigned categories.
• Create, organize, and maintain packaging specifications to support business needs.
• Perform supplier management activities, including measuring supplier performance, leading periodic supplier business reviews, assessing and addressing supplier risk, and building strong, strategic supplier relationships.
• Participate in product innovation team projects to assess capabilities of new and existing PMI suppliers and provide sourcing solutions that meet the team's cost and timing objectives.
• Support plant trials, provide detailed reporting on results, and facilitate specification changes based on plant feedback.
• Counsel business unit leaders regarding procurement processes, system capabilities, and policies.
• Create, with business partners, long-term strategic plans for assigned categories, including advanced multi-year category strategies designed to anticipate organizational requirements while incorporating forecasted impacts of supply markets, industry trends, and supplier economic cycles.
• Complete and negotiate contracts with new suppliers and/or renegotiate existing contracts to accomplish the lowest TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and savings objectives.
• Conduct category spend analyses and reporting, supplier stratification, supply market, and category industry research.
• Ensure compliance within assigned categories with ethical and sustainable procurement practices of contracted goods and services, including compliance with the company Code of Conduct, corporate and departmental policies and procedures, as well as federal, state, and local regulations.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Supply Chain, Finance, Accounting, Economics, Mathematics, Marketing, or Industrial Engineering or equivalent work experience.
• Master's or post-graduate Degree from an accredited four-year college or university preferred
• 4+ years' strategic sourcing experience with experience in influencing business strategy and vendor relations
• Highly motivated, self-starter who can quickly achieve results in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment
• Knowledge of industry and market trends to develop and implement long-term strategies
• Demonstrates the ability to effectively negotiate positive outcomes with both internal and external stakeholders
• Strategic mindset with ability to communicate complex topics at all levels in the organization in a clear manner
• Self-confident with an ability to accept and respond to challenges in a positive manner
• Excels and drives results in an environment with change, ambiguity, and complexity
• Strong and effective verbal and written communication skills
• Broad understanding of business issues, industry trends, metrics, and organizational linkages
• Highly honed negotiation skills, developed through significant strategic sourcing experience
• Successful experience as part of cross-functional project teams
• Experience writing and generating RFPs, RFIs and RFQs to suppliers
• Excellent quantitative, analytical, and project management skills
• Certification in or equivalent training in Certified Purchasing Manager (CPM) preferred

At Morton Salt, we work best when we work as a team, when we treat one another with dignity and respect, and value the unique contributions of others. We are committed to equal employment opportunity and prohibit discrimination and harassment based on race, national origin, sex, religion, color, disability, marital status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law.