Procurement Specialist, 1st Shift (D1168)

**This position is 1st Shift Position typical work hours are: 7:00am - 3:30pm hours this is a salaried position and there may be times where you must answer calls out side of this time frame or adjust hours based on work needs**

Job title: Procurement Specialist

Reports to: Materials Manager

Location: Decatur AR Manufacturing Plant

About the Wellness Pet Company

The Wellness Pet Company is on a mission to help the next generation of pet parents fulfill a shared life of wellbeing with their pets through a foundation of proven nutrition. We are committed to crafting high-quality pet food dental chews treats and topper recipes that are made with the perfect balance of high-quality natural ingredients paired with the latest scientific research and technologies. As a community of people working together Wellies are positively obsessed with how to deliver proven health outcomes that pet parents can see and pets can taste. Wellies bring their best to work every day come ready to collaborate embrace the hard things and own their outcomes.

Our Team is based out of our Decatur Arkansas manufacturing facility where we are committed to nutritional innovation product quality and safety. To ensure our product quality we control the manufacturing process in Decatur from consistent quality checks on all raw materials coming into the plant to the shipment of our finished product to customers. Our employees take pride in the products we produce for the pets who depend on us.

What Youll Accomplish

The Procurement Specialist ensures timely cost-effective and accurate purchasing of raw materials packaging and indirect supplies to support uninterrupted production at the Decatur manufacturing facility. This role manages supplier communication monitors inbound material flow resolves quality issues and partners closely with Planning Production Inventory Control Quality and Shipping/Receiving to maintain operational continuity and inventory health.

Purchasing & Supplier Coordination

• Place purchase orders for direct and indirect materials in alignment with production requirements and established minimum/maximum inventory levels.
• Forecasting demand for long lead time ingredients/materials.
• Monitor open orders confirm deliveries and adjust shipment timing as needed to match production schedules and storage capacity.
• Maintain strong supplier relationships to ensure reliability responsiveness and on-time delivery performance.
• Communicate delivery delays quality concerns and contract discrepancies with suppliers and internal teams.
• Request and track documentation such as COAs ETAs BOLs SDS and other required regulatory materials.

Cost Compliance & Procurement Strategy

• Support development and execution of cost-effective procurement strategies to reduce detention fees demurrage expediting costs and unnecessary freight spend.
• Monitor pricing lead times and supplier performance to identify risks or improvement opportunities.
• Maintain accurate procurement records and prepare reports on supplier performance order status and material availability.

Inventory Coordination

• Monitor and help manage inventory levels in partnership with Inventory Control Planning and Warehouse teams to prevent shortages and minimize excess aging materials.
• Collaborate with the Production Planner on production schedule changes that impact material requirements.
• Work closely with Receiving and Production teams to troubleshoot discrepancies related to material receipts counts lot documentation or quality holds.

Quality & Compliance

• Create ingredient exceptions and collaborate with the QA team when quality concerns arise ensuring timely resolutions and documentation.
• Support QA in resolving supplier non-conformances and ensuring materials meet all specifications and regulatory standards.
• Escalate quality issues and maintain communication flow between suppliers QA and internal operations.

Cross-Functional Support

• Provide timely updates to Production Warehouse Planning and Quality regarding material availability supplier changes and quality issues.
• Support operational flow by troubleshooting material constraints and working with cross-functional teams to maintain steady production.
• Serve as back up to production planner to assist with tasks as needed.
• Assisting production tasks on the production floor as needed.
• Responding to requests from production as needed before and after work hours.
• This is not an exhausted list of all duties. Additional tasks will be assigned as needed.

Who Were Looking For

Were looking for a Wellie who brings strong communication organization and problem-solving skills and who thrives in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. This role is a great fit for someone who:

• Builds strong cross-functional relationships.
• Communicates clearly professionally and proactively.
• Demonstrates agility when production or supplier conditions change.
• Balances urgency with attention to detail.
• Takes ownership for accuracy timeliness and follow-through.
• Uses data and reasoning to troubleshoot issues and make decisions.
• Familiarity with computer applications such as Excel Word and PowerPoint.
• Ability to read and understand process operating procedures.
• Good verbal and mathematical capability at a high school level.
• English language proficiency sufficient to perform essential job functions including understanding written procedures safety requirements and communicating effectively with team members and customers.
• Ability to work in an environment which includes frequent exposure to odor noise heat cold dust and chemicals.

Preferred:

• 35 years of procurement supply chain or related experience.
• Experience in food manufacturing pet food or regulated CPG environments.
• Associates or Bachelors degree in Supply Chain Business or related field.
• Experience with ERP systems (IFS strongly preferred).
• Proficient with Microsoft Office such as Excel word and PowerPoint.
• Familiarity with COAs lot traceability inbound material documentation and supplier audits.

Why Work for Wellness Pet

We care about the wellbeing of our people their families and their pets. We treat every Wellie to a best-in-class benefits package a warm and welcoming environment and a place where you can learn and grow professionally. More information about what makes us special can be found on our website.

The Wellness Pet Company is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We foster an inclusive work environment and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race color ancestry religion sex national origin sexual orientation age citizenship marital status disability or veteran status.

Ready to be a part of the Wellie Team Apply here.

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