Sourcing Manager

This role owns how new products and ingredients get sourced and brought to market at Salted. You'll partner with our brands and culinary teams to take an idea and turn it into a supplied, spec'd, priced, food-safe item running in our kitchens.

You'll find and qualify co-manufacturers and specialty suppliers, manage sample and cutting cycles, build the cost models that tell us whether an idea is viable, and run the qualification work that keeps us compliant and protected. Where our existing suppliers can't deliver what our brands want, you go find who can.

You'll also negotiate the commercial terms behind every new item and own the demand plan that makes those terms achievable. Getting a good price depends on committing to volume with confidence, so forecasting new and transitioning items accurately is central to this role, not an afterthought.

This role suits someone who has commercialized food products before and knows the co-manufacturing and ingredient landscape well enough to make calls quickly. You'll report to our VP of Finance, who continues to own our largest supplier relationships and overall supply chain strategy, so your focus stays on what's new and what's next.

Your Impact:

• Source new ingredients and new formats of existing ingredients that improve quality, cost, or kitchen labor
• Identify, vet, and onboard co-manufacturers and specialty producers for finished and semi-finished products
• Run product briefs from concept to first production run, including spec development, sample rounds, cuttings with the culinary team, pilot runs, and launch handoff
• Build landed cost and yield models, and lead make vs. buy analysis so leadership can decide with real numbers
• Run RFIs and RFPs, compare quotes, and negotiate pricing, MOQs, lead times, and commercial terms with new suppliers and co-manufacturers
• Own the demand plan for new and transitioning items, forecasting volume across our kitchens to size production runs, set inventory levels, and support the volume commitments that earn better pricing
• Own supplier and co-manufacturer qualification, including food safety certifications, HACCP plans, allergen controls, continuing guarantees, insurance, specs, and nutritional and labeling data
• Partner with distribution on new item setup, stocking levels, and backup supply plans
• Maintain the specs, documentation, and supplier records behind every new item

• 5-10 years in sourcing, procurement, or product commercialization in food manufacturing, restaurant, or CPG
• Direct experience finding, qualifying, and managing co-manufacturers, with a track record taking food products from concept to production
• Demonstrated negotiation experience covering pricing, terms, and volume commitments
• Cross functional leadership experience
• Working knowledge of food safety and regulatory fundamentals, including GFSI schemes (SQF, BRC), allergen controls, and FDA labeling
• Strong Excel or Google Sheets skills for cost, yield, and quote comparison models
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, comfortable with evolving priorities, and able to explain technical topics to non-technical partners