Manager, Strategic Sourcing, Food and Beverage

We are seeking a high-impact Category Manager, Strategic Sourcing – Food & Beverage to lead sourcing strategies across key global categories. This role serves as the commercial owner for assigned categories, accountable for delivering value through cost optimization, supplier performance, innovation, and supply continuity. You will partner with cross-functional stakeholders across culinary, operations, finance, and supply chain to develop and execute data-driven sourcing strategies that support business objectives and enhance the guest experience across multiple brands. This is a highly visible role with direct influence on enterprise-level procurement outcomes, requiring a blend of strategic thinking, commercial acumen, and execution excellence.

Essential Functions:

• Development of an effective long-term strategic sourcing plan for highly complex categories and projects that create long-term value while meeting brand objectives, including value creation, supply continuity, risk mitigation, and innovation. Effective collaboration on strategic sourcing categories and projects within the organization and stakeholders; developing relationships to become a trusted sourcing partner. Ensuring cross-functional engagement and support of category projects and initiatives.

• Apply category management best practices, tools and techniques in the development and implementation of an integrated strategic sourcing strategy to assess the overall opportunity within the categories for projects. Serving as a subject matter expert on strategic sourcing categories with the stakeholders and fostering effective relationships.

• Maintain focus on project timelines and deliverables to ensure business goals and objectives are met. Strong partnership with Finance team to accurately forecast impacts of category strategy, including scenario modeling.

• Researching best practices and conducting baseline due diligence to best understand opportunities for savings, reducing TCO, improving efficiencies, quality improvement and service of the sourcing teams. Lead supplier qualification, segmentation and certification programs.

• Effective supplier relationship management; leveraging data, metrics, and internal feedback. Providing and reviewing score cards to improve supplier results. Developing early supplier involvement to ensure suppliers are utilized to their full capabilities and proactively providing input to provide low cost, efficient, and quality goods and services. Effectively influencing change and buy-in across the stakeholder group and leadership. Implement gold-standard contracts across the strategic supplier base; negotiate strategic supplier contracts and develop innovative pricing models and agreements to deliver value to brands.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Scope: Serves as the commercial owner for assigned global Food & Beverage categories, with direct influence on enterprise-level procurement outcomes across multiple brands. Owns the full category lifecycle including market analysis, sourcing, contracting, and supplier performance management, and establishes multi-year sourcing roadmaps. Partners with cross-functional stakeholders across culinary, operations, finance, legal, and supply chain, and drives alignment across brands and regions to capture global sourcing synergies (North America, Europe, APAC). Partners with shipboard personnel and collaborates across both shoreside and shipboard operations.

• Problem Solving: Analyzes global market trends, commodity dynamics, and supplier landscapes to inform sourcing strategies. Conducts advanced spend analysis, cost modeling, and market intelligence interpretation to identify opportunities for cost savings, cost avoidance, and total cost of ownership (TCO) optimization. Proactively identifies and mitigates supply chain risks including disruption, inflation, and supplier concentration, ensuring continuity of supply across geographically diverse and complex sourcing networks. Decision making is primarily operational, focused on day-to-day sourcing activities.

• Impact: Delivers measurable value through cost savings, cost avoidance, and TCO optimization, improving cost, quality, service, and working capital performance. Develops and manages category budgets, forecasts, and savings pipelines. A highly visible role with direct influence on enterprise-level procurement outcomes, supporting business objectives and enhancing the guest experience across multiple brands.

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