Working from our
Brampton, Ontario location, the
Vendor Relations Manager will develop and leverage strong relationships with strategic vendors and operating companies to maximize profitability through alignment and execution. This individual will be responsible for the development and management of vendor agreements. This includes negotiating new and/or existing vendor year end rebates, terms and conditions of agreements, making recommendations of investment levels for new vendors, and determining added value of new vendor(s) while ensuring there is a minimized risk of possible duplicate product conflict. They will work with operating companies, who are responsible for profitable growth of the category, including vendor relationships and negotiations at local levels, to will develop data analytics tools to profitably grow the business. They will also assist with efforts to maximize buying actions, decisions, cost savings, and introduce new products to the organization through the management of product changes or additions.
Responsibilities:- Manage, negotiate, and implement national vendor programs to maximize alignment and financial outcomes while managing risks. Analyze profitability of key vendor product lines.
- Forecast, model, and monitor vendor incentives and rebates, ensuring maximum capture against contractual agreements and identifying gaps or underperformance in real time.
- Support organization-wide needs for due diligence, risk assessment and vendor monitoring.
- Responding to problems and resolving issues that may arise between vendors and the Company.
- Partner with Finance, Purchasing, and Operating Companies to align on KPIs, reporting cadence, and performance targets, ensuring visibility into vendor contribution to overall profitability.
- Develop and maintain trusting and respectful relationships with vendors, corporate and operating company leadership, and vendor relations' teams.
- Collaborate with operating companies to embed data-driven decision making into local vendor negotiations and purchasing strategies.
- Troubleshoot problems and support process improvements across vendors and operating companies to drive productivity and growth.
- Own end-to-end vendor performance reporting, including the design and delivery of standardized dashboards and executive-level reporting (Power BI/Excel) to track rebates, margins, growth, and ROI on vendor investments.
- Develop data analytics capabilities to support strategic vendor decision-making, including:
- Rebate performance tracking and forecasting
- Vendor profitability and product line margin analysis
- Cost-saving opportunities and purchasing optimization
- Vendor concentration and risk exposure analysis
- Establish data governance and reporting frameworks to ensure consistency and accuracy of vendor-related financial metrics across operating companies.
- Translate complex data into actionable insights and recommendations for senior leadership (VPs/GMs), influencing vendor strategy, category management, and investment decisions.
- Conduct deep-dive analysis on vendor performance trends, identifying opportunities for SKU rationalization, product substitutions, and strategic vendor expansion.
- Lead continuous improvement of analytics tools and reporting processes, leveraging automation and Power BI to enhance efficiency, scalability, and accessibility of data.
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