Reformulation & Value Engineering Category Lead

Build your career at Sazerac! With almost 400 years of rich history, Sazerac Company has thrived as an independent, American family-owned company with operations in the United States and around the world. Since the 2000s, Sazerac has averaged double digit growth every year! Sazerac Company produces and markets the most award-winning bourbons and whiskeys in the world, including Buffalo Trace, Pappy Van Winkle, Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, Traveller, and Sazerac Rye. Additionally, Sazerac owns many popular brands across a range of spirits, including Fireball, Svedka, Wheatley, BuzzBallz, Southern Comfort, Seagram’s V.O., Myers’s, Goldschläger, Parrot Bay, 99 Brand, and Platinum Vodka.

We’re proud of our award-winning culture and distilleries. Our Louisville office has been named one of the “Best Places to Work in Kentucky” four times, and our Buffalo Trace Distillery has earned the title of “world’s most award-winning distillery” through the dedication of our craftsmen for well over 200 years. Whether you’re a recent graduate or an experienced professional, Sazerac provides extraordinary opportunities for growth with competitive salaries and benefits in an exciting, entrepreneurial industry.

The Reformulation & Value Engineering Category Lead drives sustainable cost and tax efficiency initiatives through R&D-led ingredient reformulation and manufacturing optimization. Working at the intersection of Procurement, R&D, Manufacturing, Finance, and Brand, this role focuses on lowering Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and enabling tax-efficient sourcing strategies while maintaining product integrity, quality, and brand standards. This position requires a highly independent leader who can assess opportunities, define and prioritize a value optimization roadmap, build strong financial and business cases, and lead cross-functional initiatives from concept through execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and research ingredients, formulation, and manufacturing optimization opportunities that deliver measurable value.
• Evaluate, size, and prioritize opportunities using rigorous financial and analytical methods, balancing impact, complexity, and resource requirements.
• Develop detailed financial models and business cases outlining COGS, margin, and tax implications, and lead approval processes.
• Execute approved initiatives end-to-end to reduce COGS and tax exposure while preserving product performance, compliance, and quality.
• Partner closely with R&D/NBD, Manufacturing, Procurement, and Finance to assess feasibility and implement reformulation, sourcing, and process improvements.
• Collaborate with Brand and Commercial teams to ensure alignment, transparency, and support for proposed changes.
• Maintain a structured pipeline of opportunities and a delivery roadmap, including scenario modeling for alternative sourcing, reformulation, and manufacturing strategies.
• Engage senior stakeholders across functions, support supplier engagement and negotiations as needed, and implement post-launch tracking to confirm sustained value delivery.

A career at Sazerac offers you the opportunity to reach your full potential as part of a creative, decisive, high-performance team. Sazerac values the needs and wants of our team members and offers inclusive benefits to attract and retain the best talent. Our culture is built upon the values of hard work, diligence and personal responsibility.

Sazerac Team Members enjoy:

• Competitive Pay
• Comprehensive Benefits from Day One including medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance.
• Family Coverage: Options to cover family members, including domestic partners.
• 401(k) Plan: Immediate access to a matching 401(k) plan.
• Flexible Time Away: Enjoy paid time off (PTO), holidays, and parental leave.
• Mental Health and Wellness: Access to mental health care and wellness incentive programs.
• Educational Support: Benefit from tuition reimbursement and our scholarship program for dependents of Sazerac team members.
• Fun Extras: Enjoy branded apparel, fun events, and a team member bottle purchase program.
• Training and Development: Opportunities for professional growth and development.

Benefits, salary range, and programs may vary by role or location. For roles within our commercial team - the Salary range refers to base salary only and does not include car allowance, annual bonus, fuel or cell phone reimbursement. Please ask your Talent Acquisition Partner for more information about our total rewards package. Sazerac is committed to equality of opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, veteran status, age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disability or any other legally protected status.