Category Lead

Overview

Category Lead - Raw Materials - Americas

Huntsman is seeking a Category Lead - Raw Materials supporting the Advanced Materials Division located in The Woodlands, TX. This position will report to Steve Hayward.

• Drive a culture of safety ownership across internal teams and supplier interactions.
• Develop and execute strategic sourcing and category management strategies in collaboration with Americas and Global business leadership.
• Lead cost synergy initiatives to position Huntsman competitively in the market while meeting internal stakeholder needs.
• Provide forward-looking visibility on raw material cost movements to support cost, margin, and profitability management.
• Ensure vendor supply security, flexibility, and performance to meet supply chain and operational requirements.
• Negotiate commercial terms, pricing formulas, and chemical supply contracts to ensure materials are competitively and strategically sourced.
• Implement and maintain a diversified global supply chain to mitigate geopolitical, cost, and lead-time risks.
• Lead sourcing initiatives for critical tail-spend items using internal platforms such as Pinpools to reduce single-source dependency.
• Provide leadership, guidance, and development support through internal platforms to drive KPIs, prioritization, and sourcing synergies.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree.
• 5+ years of experience in strategic purchasing, procurement, or supply chain roles within the chemical industry.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating direct material contracts and pricing formulations.
• Proven experience driving cost management initiatives through global synergies and active market engagement.

Skills and knowledge

• Strong strategic, analytical, and forward-thinking capability.
• Ability to support organizational change initiatives within large, complex, enterprise-level environments.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence across functions.
• Strong proficiency in Excel, total cost of ownership and should-cost models, market analytics, and negotiation techniques.
• Ability to use data to identify cost-saving opportunities, analyze market trends, and evaluate supplier performance.
• Ability to identify, assess, and mitigate procurement-related risks including supply disruptions, financial exposure, and legal risks.
• Adaptability to changing market conditions, business needs, and emerging technologies.

Preferred Qualifications

• CPM certification or MBA.
• Experience with AI-enabled tools or AI bot creation to support procurement analytics.
• Demonstrated experience in global sourcing and geopolitical risk navigation.

This position is primarily office-based and involves close collaboration with regional and global teams, suppliers, and internal stakeholders. The role requires engagement with dynamic market conditions and geopolitical considerations impacting global supply chains.

Huntsman is proud to promote equal opportunity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, or any other protected characteristic.

All unsolicited resumes presented by recruitment agencies are treated as pro bono information or service and will not be compensated.

Huntsman is aware of scams involving fraudulent job offers. We do not make job offers until after a candidate has submitted a job application and has participated in an interview. Please be advised that any job offer that requires payment or requires you to deposit a check is likely a scam. If you have questions about any open positions at Huntsman or Rubison, please visit our Careers website at

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