Senior Manager of Category Management

Perdue Farms is a fourth-generation, family-owned food and agricultural business deeply rooted in tradition yet with a forward-thinking mindset. We believe that success starts with our people, and our culture is built on a foundation of teamwork, integrity, and respect, where every voice matters and everyone is encouraged to contribute to our shared goals. We are dedicated to creating a supportive, inclusive environment where associates feel valued and inspired to make an impact, both within the company and in the communities we serve. From promoting growth and development to prioritizing work-life balance, we’re committed to helping our team members thrive. That's Perdue.

Summary

As a Senior Manager of Category Management, you will shape and elevate the organization's strategic sourcing capabilities by building consistent, enterprise-wide category management practices that drive measurable business value. You will partner with category leaders to strengthen sourcing strategies, enhance supplier value beyond cost savings, and champion best practices through playbooks, data-driven insights, and coaching. This role is ideal for a strategic procurement leader who is passionate about developing high-performing teams, influencing cross-functional stakeholders, and driving continuous improvement across the procurement organization.

The salary range for this position is $128,000 - $192,000 per year, based on experience and qualifications with annual bonus available (variable depending on performance).  

In addition to the base salary, Perdue offers a competitive benefits package, including medical/Rx, 401(k) with employer match after 1 year, critical illness, accident insurance, dental, vision, life insurance, optional group life insurance, short-term and long-term disability protection, flexible spending accounts and paid time off.  

Principal Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Define and maintain category strategy standards, templates, and playbooks to improve consistency and strategic rigor across all categories.
• Support category leaders in developing and pressure-testing category strategies to ensure alignment with business priorities.
• Elevate strategy quality by embedding market intelligence, value levers, and structured decision frameworks.
• Develop and manage a standardized value framework (savings, cost avoidance, working capital, risk mitigation, innovation).
• Partner with Finance and Category teams to ensure consistent value-tracking inputs and benefit attribution.
• Strengthen initiative hygiene and pipeline discipline to improve visibility and comparability of value delivery.
• Establish best-practice sourcing methodologies, including negotiation strategies, cost modeling, and supplier selection frameworks.
• Curate and disseminate market benchmarks and cost-driver insights to enhance sourcing outcomes.
• Continuously refine sourcing playbooks to reflect lessons learned and market shifts.
• Provide prioritized advisory support to category teams on high-impact initiatives rather than open-ended execution support.
• Coach category managers on advanced strategic sourcing and value-creation techniques.
• Enable categories to independently execute stronger strategies through capability transfer.
• Design and deliver training, playbooks, and knowledge-sharing forums to build enterprise category management maturity.
• Serve as a thought partner to procurement leadership on evolving category excellence practices.
• Institutionalize learning to reduce dependency on ad hoc support.
• Collaborate with digital and analytics teams to improve data, tools, and reporting.
• Support rollout of key initiatives (e.g., sourcing platforms, tail spend, new processes).
• Partner with Governance, Policy, and Process leaders to ensure compliance with governance frameworks related to sourcing and category management.

Minimum Education and Experience

• 7–10+ years of experience in procurement, category management, and/or strategic sourcing with demonstrated category strategy leadership.
• Proven track record of delivering measurable value using structured sourcing and category methodologies (e.g., total cost of ownership, cost modeling, supplier-led innovation).
• Experience operating in a matrixed environment with strong stakeholder influence across functions.

Physical Requirements and Environmental Factors

• Position is mostly sedentary but may require occasional moving to other offices or buildings.
• May need to move light equipment or supplies from one place to another.
• May need to access files, supplies and equipment.
• Work activity is in an office, open-partitioned, cubicle environment.

Perdue Farms Inc. is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.