Category Specialist - Colors - Erlanger, KY

About the role

The Category Specialist – Colors is a dedicated role within the Procurement organization responsible for coordinating and managing workflow activity related to new raw materials, second-sourced raw materials, supplier/distributor changes, and vendor setup for the Colors category. This role serves as the central coordination point between Procurement, Quality, Regulatory, PD&A, Supply Chain, Commercial, and external suppliers to ensure required documentation, approvals, and system setup activities are completed accurately and on time.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and manage workflow activity for new raw materials, second-sourced raw materials, supplier changes, distributor changes, and vendor setup for the Colors category.
• Initiate, track, lead, and close raw material workflows through all required approval stages, ensuring timely completion and proper documentation.
• Partner closely with Procurement, Quality, Regulatory, PD&A (R&D), Supply Chain, and Commercial teams to ensure workflow requirements are clearly understood and completed on time.
• Gather, review, organize, upload, and maintain required supplier and raw material documentation in OpenText and other applicable systems.
• Carefully coordinate new vendor and new ingredient setup activities, including collection of supplier documentation needed for workflow approval and payment setup.
• Maintain workflow trackers, approval databases, and related reporting to provide visibility to workflow status, risks, delays, and upcoming priorities.
• Champion the weekly cross-functional Raw Material Priority Workflow – Colors meeting, including agenda development, status updates, issue tracking, and follow-up actions.
• Identify workflow bottlenecks, escalate risks, and drive timely resolution of open issues impacting raw material approval or launch timing.
• Support color-related commercial launches by ensuring required raw material approvals are completed in alignment with project timelines.
• Manage and track sample requests for PD&A (R&D), Strategic Procurement, Quality, and Regulatory review when needed.
• Carefully coordinate required supplier regulatory, quality and compliance documentation.
• Support supplier documentation governance by ensuring records are accurate, complete, current, and audit-ready.
• Provide procurement support for sales or commercial requests related to raw material approval status including status of supplier documentation collection.
• Support root-cause analysis and corrective action follow-up when workflow delays, documentation gaps, or approval issues occur.

Qualifications

• A four-year degree in Business, Supply Chain, Procurement, Data Analytics, or a related field preferred.
• Experience in procurement, supply chain, supplier documentation, quality systems, regulatory coordination, or workflow management preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to manage detailed, time-sensitive work in a team-based environment.
• Effective working relationships with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
• Experience with OpenText, AS400, Power BI, or workflow management tools is a plus.
• Ability to sit for prolonged periods and perform frequent computer and phone-based work.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong follow-up skills and ability to drive accountability across functions.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Problem-solving and critical-thinking capabilities.
• Results-oriented mindset with ability to meet time-sensitive deadlines.
• High level of professionalism when working with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Strong internal customer service mindset.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively.
• Learning agility and flexibility to adapt to changing priorities.

Benefits

• Physical wellness – medical/Rx, dental, vision and on-site wellness center access or gym reimbursement (as applicable).
• Financial wellness – flexible spending accounts, health savings account, 401(k) with matching contributions and cash balance plan, discounted employee stock purchasing program, life insurance, disability, workers’ compensation, legal assistance, identity theft protection.
• Mental and social wellness – Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Colleague Giving Programs (ADM Cares).
• Paid time off including paid holidays.
• Adoption assistance and paid maternity and parental leave.
• Company-sponsored training and development resources, such as LinkedIn Learning, language training and mentoring programs.