Category Lead, Packaging

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Job Title: Category Lead, Packaging
Location: Wichita, KS, Midwest United States, USA

Company: Cargill, Inc
Industry Sector: Agribusiness
Industry Type: Input Retail, Cooperative and Related Crop Services
Job Type: Full Time
Salary: USD 115,000.00 - 127,000.00 per year
Job Description: Cargill's size and scale allows us to make a positive impact in the world. Our purpose is to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. We are a family company providing food, ingredients, agricultural solutions and industrial products that are vital for living. We connect farmers with markets so they can prosper. We connect customers with ingredients so they can make meals people love. And we connect families with daily essentials - from eggs to edible oils, salt to skincare, feed to alternative fuel. Our 160,000 colleagues, operating in 70 countries, make essential products that touch billions of lives each day. Join us and reach your higher purpose at Cargill.

Job Purpose and Impact

The North American Packaging Category Lead, as a member of the North America packaging procurement team, will develop procurement strategies that drive cost reduction, reduce supply chain risk, reduce carbon impact, and create competitive advantages for our businesses. In this role, you will lead with an innovation mindset, developing strategic growth projects enabled by new packaging techniques and technologies, cross functional collaboration and change leadership skills. You will help develop an overall category management framework for the packaging category and collaborate with our Buyer team in strategy execution.

Key Accountabilities

Serve as a trusted advisor to Cargill businesses by bringing deep category expertise, benchmarking insights, equipment and material innovations and industry best practices; proactively explore opportunities in an unconstrained environment and present compelling business cases to business leadership.
Lead and support strategies for critical packaging categories, balancing current opportunities with long-term value based on business needs assessments.
Manage and/or sponsor Supplier Relationship Manager (SRM) programs for key alliance/strategic partners that incorporate Procurement, Business and Functional goals.
Lead cross-enterprise stakeholder management programs to align and prioritize packaging innovation pipeline and desired outcomes.
Lead Procurement packaging sustainability roadmap: recyclability, PCR content, fiber certifications (FSC/SFI), material reduction, and design for circularity.
Plan for and model EPR fees and labeling requirements (where applicable); align specs to retailer and CPG sustainability scorecards.
You will work under minimal supervision and independently handle complex issues while referring only the most complex issues to higher-level staff.
Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor's degree OR equivalent experience
Minimum of four years of related work experience
Buying, sourcing, category management OR packaging engineering experience
Experience presenting recommendations utilizing data, category research, benchmarking and industry best practices

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Food-grade packaging experience

Compensation Data

The expected salary for this position is $115,000-$127,000. Compensation varies depending on a wide array of factors including but not limited to the specific location, certifications, education, and level of experience. The disclosed range estimate may be adjusted for any applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. This position is eligible for a discretionary incentive award. The incentive award amount is dependent upon company performance and your personal performance.

At Cargill we put people first. As part of your overall rewards, we offer a comprehensive benefit program including medical and/or other benefits dependent on the position offered and hours worked.

Visit: https://www.cargill.com/page/my-health/mh-health-and-wellness to learn more (subject to certain collective bargaining agreements for Union positions).

Minnesota Sick and Safe Leave accruals of one hour for every 30 worked, up to 48 hours per calendar year unless otherwise provided by law.

Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disability/Vet.

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Job Post Date: 01/10/26