Sourcing & Category Manager

About Misfits Market:

Misfits Market is a mission-driven, high-growth startup dedicated to reducing food waste and making shopping for sustainable, high-quality groceries easier and more affordable. We deliver organic produce, high-quality meats and seafood, plant-based proteins, dairy, bakery, wine, and other grocery items to nearly every zip code in 48 states at up to 30 percent off traditional grocery store prices. In 2022, Misfits Market acquired sustainable e-grocer Imperfect Foods and now leverages its in-house transportation network to deliver directly to consumers with one of the most carbon-efficient grocery delivery models on the market. By tackling inefficiencies in the food system, our passionate and motivated team of problem solvers helps save an average of 500,000 pounds of food per week from waste or lesser outcomes, with an all-time savings of 190+ million pounds of food.

As Misfits we support our customers and mission by embracing our core values of

Prioritizing our Customers                             

Doing more with less

Thinking Differently         

Respecting one another                             

Moving deliberately and quickly                   

Taking initiative and delivering 

About the Role:

The 3P Sourcing and Category Manager is a dual-purpose role responsible for owning third-party (3P) procurement and account management for key customers while simultaneously serving as the Category Manager for assigned parent and sub-categories. This individual drives ingredient sourcing, vendor management, and oversees the demand planning process.

Key Responsibilities

3P Sourcing & Account Management

• Own end-to-end procurement and account management for 3P customers across multiple facilities, including new ingredient sourcing, demand forecasting, and cost negotiations.
• Act as the lead representative for assigned categories to major accounts, delivering proactive communication and ensuring a superior client experience.
• Lead category sourcing for assigned Produce or Grocery categories, identifying new suppliers and unique product innovations to meet 3P requirements.
• Manage and oversee short-term purchasing while developing long-term strategies for sustainable business outcomes.

Vendor & Process Leadership

• Partner with the 1st Party Misfits Merchandising team to negotiate contracts, pricing, and terms with suppliers to ensure competitive advantage and quality standards.
• Monitor vendor performance (reliability, quality, compliance) and implement corrective actions as needed.
• Develop and execute contingency plans for supply chain disruptions, process challenges, and quality issues.
• Manage a direct report (Buyer Analyst) responsible for demand planning and purchase order management; provide coaching, feedback, and professional development.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner across Inventory Planning, Merchandising, Operations, and Transportation to align demand projections with operational feasibility.
• Proactively drive solutions for cross-functional conflicts, ensuring business needs and customer commitments are balanced.

Core Values

This role is expected to demonstrate Misfits Market's core values at the Level 3

Misfits Prioritize Our Customer - Business Acumen

• Represents Misfits Market at an external level and is responsible for creating external partnerships.
• Revisits strategy and uses new information to make course corrections ahead of any problems.

Misfits Respect One Another - Business & Professional Communication

• Has a strong track record of collaborating productively with peers and wastes little time on internal politics; gains confidence and trust through honesty, integrity, and authenticity; keeps confidences.
• Effectively communicates purpose, goals, and updates to affected stakeholders with sufficient lead time to ensure they are aligned and prepared.

Misfits Do More With Less - Project Management

• Creates short and long-term goals based on 3P client needs
• Leverages resources across teams to improve efficiency and do more with less

Misfits Take Initiative & Deliver - Handling Ambiguity / Resilience

• Independently identifies issues, root causes, and retrieves information required to solve a broad range of issues on their own. 
• Layers in own technical knowledge and experience, strategic industry/competitive benchmarks and trends, company goals, and other inputs to generate a variety of possible solutions
• Always has a contingency plan to ensure work is completed as close to 'on time' as possible.

Misfits Move Quickly and Deliberately - Digital Fluency

• Able to gather and analyze data from multiple sources in order to make business recommendations. Able to find trends in data and influential factors. Able to create 3-6 month action plans based on their analysis.
• In the absence of documentation, is able to use their knowledge of a topic to document a process and validate it with peers, leaders, and data. 
• Able to present findings or recommendations in a manner that clearly conveys important takeaways.

Misfits Think Differently - Innovation & Improvement

• Figures out better and simpler processes for getting things done; sees hidden opportunities for synergy and integration

Qualifications

Experience

• 2-4 years of experience in Category Management and/or wholesale procurement / 3P account management.
• If supporting Produce: produce experience required; overall food experience preferred.
• Ecommerce and digital experience preferred, Meal Kit experience preferred

Education

• Bachelor's Degree and/or relevant experience + 3 years.

Technical & Industry Knowledge

• Considers the impact to customers and what matters to them; can draw from industry insights.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills.
• Strong understanding of financial principles, including forecasting and profitability analysis.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and Google Suite (Docs, Sheets, Drive, Calendar).
• Experience with contract process management.
• Product Knowledge: deep knowledge of technical specifications and features of products in the category - e.g., nutritional standards for food, materials used in packaged goods.
• Industry Standards & Certifications: knowledge of certifications such as USDA Organic, Fair Trade, and applicable food safety regulations.
• Quality Control: technical expertise in product quality standards and processes (shelf life, packaging durability, food safety).

Additional Requirements

All compliance requirements must be completed on time:

• Annual Harassment Prevention Training
• EHS/OSHA Training
• Workplace Violence Prevention Training
• IT Security Training
• Manager Training

Details of Position & Benefits:

• Salary range: $95,000 - $105,000/yr.
• Full-time exempt position
• Salary and employee stock options commensurate with experience
• Unlimited PTO
• Multiple health, dental, and vision plan options
• Life Insurance
• 401K plan